8217. 'And the Egyptians said' means their thought [then], the thought of those steeped in falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying', when something bad is impending, as thinking, as in 7094, 7107, 7244, 7937; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as those steeped in falsities arising from evil, dealt with in 8132, 8135, 8146, 8148.
