Alward's Confused

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Joe Alward:

 On a related matter, let me ask about the use of the words "did so".  I could
be completely wrong about this, but it seems that Farrell was making the point
that the magicians "did so" with their enchantments meant that they did
everything Moses had done with his rod waving and water conversion.  Now, it
seems that "did so" in the lice story only meant that the magicians had waved
their rods in an attempt to match Aaron's magic.  Since they failed, doesn't
 that mean that "did so" in the lice plague story only meant "waved their rods
 like Aaron did"?  If so, then how can we be sure that "did so" in the blood
 plague story meant "did everything that Moses did"?  We're not told the
result
 of the magicians' rod waving, so aren't we left somewhat in the dark?  Or is
 my confusion purely the result of consulting a flawed Strongs translation?
=================
Farrell Till: 

 <Alward snips important comments he'll think about later>

 I have checked different translations of verse 18 and found entirely
 different renderings from the KJV's "did so with their enchantments."
 
<snip five translations which show that the magicians "tried to bring forth
lice">
 
 Other versions also render the verse to mean that the magicians tried but
 failed, so surely there is a textual reason for this translation.  An
 identical expression in two verses of an English translation doesn't
 necessarily mean that the expressions were identical in the original, and
 that appears to be the case here.
==================
Joe Alward:

My lack of understanding of the origins of the various translations cause me
to be suspicious, I guess.  It is hard for me to accept (blame it on naivete,
I suppose) that the exact same expression in English in the blood and lice
stories, "and the magicians did so with their enchantments", did not have
exactly the same Hebrew to back it up, especially given that the verses are so
close together in Exodus.

Believing as I do that, say, that the NIV is a politically correct KJV whose
translators arbitrarily removed some embarrassing errors, I have to wonder
whether the translators of the versions Farrell cites were just being
expedient.  Did the translators recognize the questions that would be raised
by readers who would wonder whether the magicians succeeded with the blood
plague, and therefore they arbitrarily decided to remove the ambiguity by
restructuring the words in the lice story?

In summary, let me just ask this:  Is is generally accepted that the correct
translation of the lice story is "tried to do so with their enchantments", and
not "did so"?

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