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Selected Verse: Ezekiel 29:1 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Eze 29:1	Strong Concordance	In the tenth [06224] year [08141], in the tenth [06224] month, in the twelfth [08147] [06240] day of the month [02320], the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],
	King James	In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The tenth year - Jerusalem had been besieged, but not taken. Jeremiah delivered his prophecy against Egypt, about the time when the approach of Pharaoh Hophra's army caused the Chaldaeans for the time to raise the siege Jer 37:5. This was the solitary instance of Egypt meddling with the affairs of Palestine or Syria after the battle of Carchemish (compare Kg2 24:7); it met with speedy punishment.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The tenth year - Jerusalem had been besieged, but not taken. Jeremiah delivered his prophecy against Egypt, about the time when the approach of Pharaoh Hophra's army caused the Chaldaeans for the time to raise the siege Jer 37:5. This was the solitary instance of Egypt meddling with the affairs of Palestine or Syria after the battle of Carchemish (compare Kg2 24:7); it met with speedy punishment.

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]
tenth month That is, January.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The Judgment upon Pharaoh and His People and Land Because Pharaoh looks upon himself as the creator of his kingdom and of his might, he is to be destroyed with his men of war (Eze 29:2-5). In order that Israel may no longer put its trust in the fragile power of Egypt, the sword shall cut off from Egypt both man and beast, the land shall be turned into a barren wilderness, and the people shall be scattered over the lands (Eze 29:5-12). But after the expiration of the time appointed for its punishment, both people and land shall be restored, though only to remain an insignificant kingdom (Eze 29:13-16). - According to Eze 29:1, this prophecy belongs to the tenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin; and as we may see by comparing it with the other oracles against Egypt of which the dates are given, it was the first word of God uttered by Ezekiel concerning this imperial kingdom. The contents also harmonize with this, inasmuch as the threat which it contains merely announces in general terms the overthrow of the might of Egypt and its king, without naming the instrument employed to execute the judgment, and at the same time the future condition of Egypt is also disclosed. Eze 29:1-12 Destruction of the might of Pharaoh, and devastation of Egypt Eze 29:1. In the tenth year, in the tenth (month), on the twelfth of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 29:2. Son of man, direct thy face against Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Eze 29:3. Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, thou great dragon which lieth in its rivers, which saith, "Mine is the river, and I have made it for myself." Eze 29:4. I will put a ring into thy jaws, and cause the fishes of thy rivers to hang upon thy scales, and draw thee out of thy rivers, and all the fishes of thy rivers which hang upon thy scales; Eze 29:5. And will cast thee into the desert, thee and all the fishes of thy rivers; upon the surface of the field wilt thou fall, thou wilt not be lifted up nor gathered together; I give thee for food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the heaven. Eze 29:6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall learn that I am Jehovah. Because it is a reed-staff to the house of Israel, - Eze 29:7. When they grasp thee by thy branches, thou crackest and tearest open all their shoulder; and when they lean upon thee, thou breakest and causest all their loins to shake, - Eze 29:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I bring upon thee the sword, and will cut off from thee man and beast; Eze 29:9. And the land of Egypt will become a waste and desolation, and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. Because he saith: "The river is mine, and I have made it," Eze 29:10. Therefore, behold, I will deal with thee and thy rivers, and will make the land of Egypt into barren waste desolations from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Cush. Eze 29:11. The foot of man will not pass through it, and the foot of beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. Eze 29:12. I make the land of Egypt a waste in the midst of devastated lands, and its cities shall be waste among desolate cities forty years; and I scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them in the lands. - The date given, viz., "in the tenth year," is defended even by Hitzig as more correct than the reading of the lxx, ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ δωδεκάτω; and he supposes the Alexandrian reading to have originated in the fact that the last date mentioned in Eze 26:1 had already brought down the account to the eleventh year. - Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, against whom the threat is first directed, is called "the great dragon" in Eze 29:3. תּנּים (here and Eze 32:2) is equivalent to תּנּין, literally, the lengthened animal, the snake; here, the water-snake, the crocodile, the standing symbol of Egypt in the prophets (cf. Isa 51:9; Isa 27:1; Psa 74:13), which is here transferred to Pharaoh, as the ruler of Egypt and representative of its power. By יארים we are to understand the arms and canals of the Nile (vid., Isa 7:18). The predicate, "lying in the midst of his rivers," points at once to the proud security in his own power to which Pharaoh gave himself up. As the crocodile lies quietly in the waters of the Nile, as though he were lord of the river; so did Pharaoh regard himself as the omnipotent lord of Egypt. His words affirm this: "the river is mine, I have made it for myself." The suffix attached to עשׂיתני stands in the place of לי, as Eze 29:9, where the suffix is wanting, clearly shows. There is an incorrectness in this use of the suffix, which evidently passed into the language of literature from the popular phraseology (cf. Ewald, 315b). The rendering of the Vulgate, ego feci memetipsum, is false. יארי is the expression used by him as a king who regards the land and its rivers as his own property; in connection with which we must bear in mind that Egypt is indebted to the Nile not only for its greatness, but for its actual existence. In this respect Pharaoh says emphatically לי, it is mine, it belongs to me, because he regards himself as the creator. The words, "I have made it for myself," simply explain the reason for the expression לי, and affirm more than "I have put myself in possession of this through my own power, or have acquired its blessings for myself" (Hvernick); or, "I have put it into its present condition by constructing canals, dams, sluices, and buildings by the river-side" (Hitzig). Pharaoh calls himself the creator of the Nile, because he regards himself as the creator of the greatness of Egypt. This pride, in which he forgets God and attributes divine power to himself, is the cause of his sin, for which he will be overthrown by God. God will draw the crocodile Pharaoh out of his Nile with hooks, and cast him upon the dry land, where he and the fishes that have been drawn out along with him upon his scales will not be gathered up, but devoured by the wild beasts and birds of prey. The figure is derived from the manner in which even in ancient times the crocodile was caught with large hooks of a peculiar construction (compare Herod. ii. 70, and the testimonies of travellers in Oedmann's Vermischten Sammlungen, III pp. 6ff., and Jomard in the Dscription de l'Egypte, I p. 27). The form חחיים with a double Yod is a copyist's error, probably occasioned by the double Yod occurring after ח in בּלחייך, which follows. A dual form for חחים is unsuitable, and is not used anywhere else even by Ezekiel (cf. Eze 19:4, Eze 19:9, and more especially Eze 38:4). The fishes which hang upon the scales of the monster, and are drawn along with it out of the Nile, are the inhabitants of Egypt, for the Nile represents the land. The casting of the beast into the wilderness, where it putrefies and is devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, must not be interpreted in the insipid manner proposed by Hitzig, namely, that Pharaoh would advance with his army into the desert of Arabia and be defeated there. The wilderness is the dry and barren land, in which animals that inhabit the water must perish; and the thought is simply that the monster will be cast upon the desert land, where it will finally become the food of the beasts of prey. In Eze 29:6 the construction is a subject of dispute, inasmuch as many of the commentators follow the Hebrew division of the verse, taking the second hemistich 'יען היותם וגו as dependent upon the first half of the verse, for which it assigns the reason, and then interpreting Eze 29:7 as a further development of Eze 29:6, and commencing a new period with Eze 29:8 (Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others). But it is decidedly wrong to connect together the two halves of the sixth verse, if only for the simple reason that the formula וידעוּ כּי אני יהוה, which occurs so frequently elsewhere in Ezekiel, invariably closes a train of thought, and is never followed by the addition of a further reason. Moreover, a sentence commencing with יען is just as invariably followed by an apodosis introduced by לכן, of which we have an example just below in Eze 29:9 and Eze 29:10. For both these reasons it is absolutely necessary that we should regard 'יען ה as the beginning of a protasis, the apodosis to which commences with לכן in Eze 29:8. The correctness of this construction is established beyond all doubt by the fact that from Eze 29:6 onwards it is no longer Pharaoh who is spoken of, as in Eze 29:3-5, but Egypt; so that יען introduces a new train of thought. But Eze 29:7 is clearly shown, both by the contents and the form, to be an explanatory intermediate clause inserted as a parenthesis. And inasmuch as the protasis is removed in consequence to some distance from its apodosis, Ezekiel has introduced the formula "thus saith the Lord Jehovah" at the commencement of the apodosis, for the purpose of giving additional emphasis to the announcement of the punishment. Eze 29:7 cannot in any case be regarded as the protasis, the apodosis to which commences with the לכן in Eze 29:8, and Hvernick maintains. The suffix attached to היותם, to which Hitzig takes exception, because he has misunderstood the construction, and which he would conjecture away, refers to מצרים as a land or kingdom. Because the kingdom of Egypt was a reed-staff to the house of Israel (a figure drawn from the physical character of the banks of the Nile, with its thick growth of tall, thick rushes, and recalling to mind Isa 36:6), the Lord would bring the sword upon it and cut off from it both man and beast. But before this apodosis the figure of the reed-staff is more clearly defined: "when they (the Israelites) take thee by thy branches, thou breakest," etc. This explanation is not to be taken as referring to any particular facts either of the past or future, but indicates the deceptive nature of Egypt as the standing characteristic of that kingdom. At the same time, to give greater vivacity to the description, the words concerning Egypt are changed into a direct address to the Egyptians, i.e., not to Pharaoh, but to the Egyptian people regarded as a single individual. The expression בכפך causes some difficulty, since the ordinary meaning of כּף (hand) is apparently unsuitable, inasmuch as the verb תּרוץ, from רצץ, to break or crack (not to break in pieces, i.e., to break quite through), clearly shows that the figure if the reed is still continued. The Keri בּכּף is a bad emendation, based upon the rendering "to grasp with the hand," which is grammatically inadmissible. תּפשׂ with ב does not mean to grasp with something, but to seize upon something, to take hold of a person (Isa 3:6; Deu 9:17), so that בכפך can only be an explanatory apposition to בּך. The meaning grip, or grasp of the hand, is also unsuitable and cannot be sustained, as the plural כּפּות alone is used in this sense in Sol 5:5. The only meaning appropriate to the figure is that of branches, which is sustained, so far as the language is concerned, by the use of the plural כּפּות for palm-branches in Lev 23:40, and of the singular כּפּה for the collection of branches in Job 15:32, and Isa 9:13; Isa 19:15; and this is apparently in perfect harmony with natural facts, since the tall reed of the Nile, more especially the papyrus, is furnished with hollow, sword-shaped leaves at the lower part of the talk. When it cracks, the reed-staff pierces the shoulder of the man who has grasped it, and tears it; and if a man lean upon it, it breaks in pieces and causes all the loins to tremble. העמיד cannot mean to cause to stand, or to set upright, still less render stiff and rigid. The latter meaning cannot be established from the usage of the language, and would be unsuitable here. For if a stick on which a man leans should break and penetrate his loins, it would inflict such injury upon them as to cause him to fall, and not to remain stiff and rigid. העמד cannot have any other meaning than that of המעד, to cause to tremble or relax, as in Psa 69:24, to shake the firmness of the loins, so that the power to stand is impaired. In the apodosis the thought of the land gives place to that of the people; hence the use of the feminine suffixes עליך and ממּך in the place of the masculine suffixes בּך and עליך in Eze 29:7. Man and beast shall be cut off, and the land made into a desert waste by the sword, i.e., by war. This is carried out still further in Eze 29:9-12; and once again in the protasis 9b (cf. Eze 29:3) the inordinate pride of the king is placed in the foreground as the reason for the devastation of his land and kingdom. The Lord will make of Egypt the most desolate wilderness. חרבות is intensified into a superlative by the double genitive חרב שׁממה, desolation of the wilderness. Throughout its whole extent from Migdol, i.e., Magdolo, according to the Itiner. Anton. p. 171 (ed. Wessel), twelve Roman miles from Pelusium; in the Coptic Meshtol, Egyptian Màktr (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. I pp. 261f.), the most northerly place in Egypt. סונה, to Syene (for the construction see Eze 30:6 and Eze 21:3), Συήνη, Sun in the inscriptions, according to Brugsch (Geogr. Inschr. I. p. 155), probably the profane designation of the place (Coptic Souan), the most southerly border town of Egypt in the direction of Cush, i.e., Ethiopia, on the eastern bank of the Nile, some ruins of which are still to be seen in the modern Assvan (Assuan, Arab. aswa=n), which is situated to the north-east of them (vid., Brugsch, Reiseber. aus. Aegypten, p. 247, and Leyrer in Herzog's Encyclopaedia). The additional clause, "and to the border of Cush," does not give a fresh terminal point, still further advanced, but simply defines with still greater clearness the boundary toward the south, viz., to Syene, where Egypt terminates and Ethiopia beings. In Eze 29:11 the desolation is more fully depicted. לא תשׁב, it will not dwell, poetical for "be inhabited," as in Joel 4 (3):20, Isa 13:20, etc. This devastation shall last for forty years, and so long shall the people of Egypt be scattered among the nations. But after the expiration of that time they shall be gathered together again (Eze 29:13). The number forty is neither a round number (Hitzig) nor a very long time (Ewald), but is a symbolical term denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence (see the comm. on Eze 4:6), which is not to be understood in a chronological sense, or capable of being calculated. Eze 29:13-16 Restoration of Egypt Eze 29:13. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians out of the nations, whither they were scattered. Eze 29:14. And I will turn the captivity of Egypt, and will bring them back into the land of Pathros, into the land of their origin, and they shall be a lowly kingdom there. Eze 29:15. Lowlier than the kingdoms shall it be, and exalt itself no more over the nations; and I will make them small, so that they shall rule no more over the nations. Eze 29:16. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance when they incline towards it; and they shall learn that I am the Lord Jehovah. - The turning of the period of Egypt's punishment is connected by כּי, which refers to the time indicated, viz., "forty years." For forty years shall Egypt be utterly laid waste; for after the expiration of that period the Lord will gather the Egyptians again from their dispersion among the nations, turn their captivity, i.e., put an end to their suffering (see the comm. on Eze 16:53), and lead them back into the land of their birth, i.e., of their origin (for מכוּרה, see Eze 16:3), namely, to Pathros. פתרוס, the Egyptian Petorēs (Παθούρης, lxx Jer 44:1), or south land, i.e., Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks and Romans. The designation of Upper Egypt as the mother country of the Egyptians, or the land of their nativity, is confirmed not only by the accounts given by Herodotus (ii. 4 and 15) and Diodorus Sic. (i. 50), but also by the Egyptian mythology, according to which the first king who reigned after the gods, viz., Menes or Mena, sprang from the city of Thinis (Thynis), Egypt. Tenj, in the neighbourhood of Abydos in Upper Egypt, and founded the city of Memphis in Lower Egypt, which became so celebrated in later times (vid., Brugsch, Histoire d'Egypte, I p. 16). But Egypt shall not attain to its former power any more. It will be and continue a lowly kingdom, that it may not again become a ground of confidence to Israel, a power upon which Israel can rely, so as to fall into guilt and punishment. The subject to ולא יהיה is Egypt as a nation, notwithstanding the fact that it has previously been construed in the feminine as a land or kingdom, and in אחריהם the Egyptians are spoken of in the plural number. For it is out of the question to take מזכּיר עון as the subject to לא יהיה in the sense of "no more shall one who calls guilt to remembrance inspire the house of Israel with confidence," as Kliefoth proposes, not only because of the arrangement of the words, but because the more precise definition of מזכּיר עון as 'בּפנותם אח clearly shows that Egypt is the subject of the sentence; whereas, in order to connect this definition in any way, Kliefoth is compelled to resort to the interpolation of the words, "which it committed." מזכּיר עון is in apposition to מבטח; making Egypt the ground of confidence, brings into remembrance before God the guilt of Israel, which consists in the fact that the Israelites turn to the Egyptians and seek salvation from them, so that He is obliged to punish them (vid., Eze 21:28-29). - The truth of the prediction in Eze 29:13-16 has been confirmed by history, inasmuch as Egypt never recovered its former power after the Chaldean period. - Moreover, if we compare the Messianic promise for Egypt in Isa 19:18-25 with the prediction in Eze 29:13-15, we are struck at once with the peculiarity of Ezekiel, already referred to in the introductory remarks on Ezekiel 25-32, namely, that he leaves entirely out of sight the Messianic future of the heathen nations.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The Judgment upon Pharaoh and His People and Land

Because Pharaoh looks upon himself as the creator of his kingdom and of his might, he is to be destroyed with his men of war (Eze 29:2-5). In order that Israel may no longer put its trust in the fragile power of Egypt, the sword shall cut off from Egypt both man and beast, the land shall be turned into a barren wilderness, and the people shall be scattered over the lands (Eze 29:5-12). But after the expiration of the time appointed for its punishment, both people and land shall be restored, though only to remain an insignificant kingdom (Eze 29:13-16). - According to Eze 29:1, this prophecy belongs to the tenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin; and as we may see by comparing it with the other oracles against Egypt of which the dates are given, it was the first word of God uttered by Ezekiel concerning this imperial kingdom. The contents also harmonize with this, inasmuch as the threat which it contains merely announces in general terms the overthrow of the might of Egypt and its king, without naming the instrument employed to execute the judgment, and at the same time the future condition of Egypt is also disclosed.

Eze 29:1-12

Destruction of the might of Pharaoh, and devastation of Egypt

Eze 29:1. In the tenth year, in the tenth (month), on the twelfth of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 29:2. Son of man, direct thy face against Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Eze 29:3. Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, thou great dragon which lieth in its rivers, which saith, "Mine is the river, and I have made it for myself." Eze 29:4. I will put a ring into thy jaws, and cause the fishes of thy rivers to hang upon thy scales, and draw thee out of thy rivers, and all the fishes of thy rivers which hang upon thy scales; Eze 29:5. And will cast thee into the desert, thee and all the fishes of thy rivers; upon the surface of the field wilt thou fall, thou wilt not be lifted up nor gathered together; I give thee for food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the heaven. Eze 29:6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall learn that I am Jehovah. Because it is a reed-staff to the house of Israel, - Eze 29:7. When they grasp thee by thy branches, thou crackest and tearest open all their shoulder; and when they lean upon thee, thou breakest and causest all their loins to shake, - Eze 29:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I bring upon thee the sword, and will cut off from thee man and beast; Eze 29:9. And the land of Egypt will become a waste and desolation, and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. Because he saith: "The river is mine, and I have made it," Eze 29:10. Therefore, behold, I will deal with thee and thy rivers, and will make the land of Egypt into barren waste desolations from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Cush. Eze 29:11. The foot of man will not pass through it, and the foot of beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. Eze 29:12. I make the land of Egypt a waste in the midst of devastated lands, and its cities shall be waste among desolate cities forty years; and I scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them in the lands. - The date given, viz., "in the tenth year," is defended even by Hitzig as more correct than the reading of the lxx, ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ δωδεκάτω; and he supposes the Alexandrian reading to have originated in the fact that the last date mentioned in Eze 26:1 had already brought down the account to the eleventh year. - Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, against whom the threat is first directed, is called "the great dragon" in Eze 29:3. תּנּים (here and Eze 32:2) is equivalent to תּנּין, literally, the lengthened animal, the snake; here, the water-snake, the crocodile, the standing symbol of Egypt in the prophets (cf. Isa 51:9; Isa 27:1; Psa 74:13), which is here transferred to Pharaoh, as the ruler of Egypt and representative of its power. By יארים we are to understand the arms and canals of the Nile (vid., Isa 7:18). The predicate, "lying in the midst of his rivers," points at once to the proud security in his own power to which Pharaoh gave himself up. As the crocodile lies quietly in the waters of the Nile, as though he were lord of the river; so did Pharaoh regard himself as the omnipotent lord of Egypt. His words affirm this: "the river is mine, I have made it for myself." The suffix attached to עשׂיתני stands in the place of לי, as Eze 29:9, where the suffix is wanting, clearly shows. There is an incorrectness in this use of the suffix, which evidently passed into the language of literature from the popular phraseology (cf. Ewald, 315b). The rendering of the Vulgate, ego feci memetipsum, is false. יארי is the expression used by him as a king who regards the land and its rivers as his own property; in connection with which we must bear in mind that Egypt is indebted to the Nile not only for its greatness, but for its actual existence. In this respect Pharaoh says emphatically לי, it is mine, it belongs to me, because he regards himself as the creator. The words, "I have made it for myself," simply explain the reason for the expression לי, and affirm more than "I have put myself in possession of this through my own power, or have acquired its blessings for myself" (Hvernick); or, "I have put it into its present condition by constructing canals, dams, sluices, and buildings by the river-side" (Hitzig). Pharaoh calls himself the creator of the Nile, because he regards himself as the creator of the greatness of Egypt. This pride, in which he forgets God and attributes divine power to himself, is the cause of his sin, for which he will be overthrown by God. God will draw the crocodile Pharaoh out of his Nile with hooks, and cast him upon the dry land, where he and the fishes that have been drawn out along with him upon his scales will not be gathered up, but devoured by the wild beasts and birds of prey. The figure is derived from the manner in which even in ancient times the crocodile was caught with large hooks of a peculiar construction (compare Herod. ii. 70, and the testimonies of travellers in Oedmann's Vermischten Sammlungen, III pp. 6ff., and Jomard in the Dscription de l'Egypte, I p. 27). The form חחיים with a double Yod is a copyist's error, probably occasioned by the double Yod occurring after ח in בּלחייך, which follows. A dual form for חחים is unsuitable, and is not used anywhere else even by Ezekiel (cf. Eze 19:4, Eze 19:9, and more especially Eze 38:4).

The fishes which hang upon the scales of the monster, and are drawn along with it out of the Nile, are the inhabitants of Egypt, for the Nile represents the land. The casting of the beast into the wilderness, where it putrefies and is devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, must not be interpreted in the insipid manner proposed by Hitzig, namely, that Pharaoh would advance with his army into the desert of Arabia and be defeated there. The wilderness is the dry and barren land, in which animals that inhabit the water must perish; and the thought is simply that the monster will be cast upon the desert land, where it will finally become the food of the beasts of prey.

In Eze 29:6 the construction is a subject of dispute, inasmuch as many of the commentators follow the Hebrew division of the verse, taking the second hemistich 'יען היותם וגו as dependent upon the first half of the verse, for which it assigns the reason, and then interpreting Eze 29:7 as a further development of Eze 29:6, and commencing a new period with Eze 29:8 (Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others). But it is decidedly wrong to connect together the two halves of the sixth verse, if only for the simple reason that the formula וידעוּ כּי אני יהוה, which occurs so frequently elsewhere in Ezekiel, invariably closes a train of thought, and is never followed by the addition of a further reason. Moreover, a sentence commencing with יען is just as invariably followed by an apodosis introduced by לכן, of which we have an example just below in Eze 29:9 and Eze 29:10. For both these reasons it is absolutely necessary that we should regard 'יען ה as the beginning of a protasis, the apodosis to which commences with לכן in Eze 29:8. The correctness of this construction is established beyond all doubt by the fact that from Eze 29:6 onwards it is no longer Pharaoh who is spoken of, as in Eze 29:3-5, but Egypt; so that יען introduces a new train of thought. But Eze 29:7 is clearly shown, both by the contents and the form, to be an explanatory intermediate clause inserted as a parenthesis. And inasmuch as the protasis is removed in consequence to some distance from its apodosis, Ezekiel has introduced the formula "thus saith the Lord Jehovah" at the commencement of the apodosis, for the purpose of giving additional emphasis to the announcement of the punishment. Eze 29:7 cannot in any case be regarded as the protasis, the apodosis to which commences with the לכן in Eze 29:8, and Hvernick maintains. The suffix attached to היותם, to which Hitzig takes exception, because he has misunderstood the construction, and which he would conjecture away, refers to מצרים as a land or kingdom. Because the kingdom of Egypt was a reed-staff to the house of Israel (a figure drawn from the physical character of the banks of the Nile, with its thick growth of tall, thick rushes, and recalling to mind Isa 36:6), the Lord would bring the sword upon it and cut off from it both man and beast. But before this apodosis the figure of the reed-staff is more clearly defined: "when they (the Israelites) take thee by thy branches, thou breakest," etc. This explanation is not to be taken as referring to any particular facts either of the past or future, but indicates the deceptive nature of Egypt as the standing characteristic of that kingdom. At the same time, to give greater vivacity to the description, the words concerning Egypt are changed into a direct address to the Egyptians, i.e., not to Pharaoh, but to the Egyptian people regarded as a single individual. The expression בכפך causes some difficulty, since the ordinary meaning of כּף (hand) is apparently unsuitable, inasmuch as the verb תּרוץ, from רצץ, to break or crack (not to break in pieces, i.e., to break quite through), clearly shows that the figure if the reed is still continued. The Keri בּכּף is a bad emendation, based upon the rendering "to grasp with the hand," which is grammatically inadmissible. תּפשׂ with ב does not mean to grasp with something, but to seize upon something, to take hold of a person (Isa 3:6; Deu 9:17), so that בכפך can only be an explanatory apposition to בּך. The meaning grip, or grasp of the hand, is also unsuitable and cannot be sustained, as the plural כּפּות alone is used in this sense in Sol 5:5. The only meaning appropriate to the figure is that of branches, which is sustained, so far as the language is concerned, by the use of the plural כּפּות for palm-branches in Lev 23:40, and of the singular כּפּה for the collection of branches in Job 15:32, and Isa 9:13; Isa 19:15; and this is apparently in perfect harmony with natural facts, since the tall reed of the Nile, more especially the papyrus, is furnished with hollow, sword-shaped leaves at the lower part of the talk. When it cracks, the reed-staff pierces the shoulder of the man who has grasped it, and tears it; and if a man lean upon it, it breaks in pieces and causes all the loins to tremble. העמיד cannot mean to cause to stand, or to set upright, still less render stiff and rigid. The latter meaning cannot be established from the usage of the language, and would be unsuitable here. For if a stick on which a man leans should break and penetrate his loins, it would inflict such injury upon them as to cause him to fall, and not to remain stiff and rigid. העמד cannot have any other meaning than that of המעד, to cause to tremble or relax, as in Psa 69:24, to shake the firmness of the loins, so that the power to stand is impaired.

In the apodosis the thought of the land gives place to that of the people; hence the use of the feminine suffixes עליך and ממּך in the place of the masculine suffixes בּך and עליך in Eze 29:7. Man and beast shall be cut off, and the land made into a desert waste by the sword, i.e., by war. This is carried out still further in Eze 29:9-12; and once again in the protasis 9b (cf. Eze 29:3) the inordinate pride of the king is placed in the foreground as the reason for the devastation of his land and kingdom. The Lord will make of Egypt the most desolate wilderness. חרבות is intensified into a superlative by the double genitive חרב שׁממה, desolation of the wilderness. Throughout its whole extent from Migdol, i.e., Magdolo, according to the Itiner. Anton. p. 171 (ed. Wessel), twelve Roman miles from Pelusium; in the Coptic Meshtol, Egyptian Màktr (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. I pp. 261f.), the most northerly place in Egypt. סונה, to Syene (for the construction see Eze 30:6 and Eze 21:3), Συήνη, Sun in the inscriptions, according to Brugsch (Geogr. Inschr. I. p. 155), probably the profane designation of the place (Coptic Souan), the most southerly border town of Egypt in the direction of Cush, i.e., Ethiopia, on the eastern bank of the Nile, some ruins of which are still to be seen in the modern Assvan (Assuan, Arab. aswa=n), which is situated to the north-east of them (vid., Brugsch, Reiseber. aus. Aegypten, p. 247, and Leyrer in Herzog's Encyclopaedia). The additional clause, "and to the border of Cush," does not give a fresh terminal point, still further advanced, but simply defines with still greater clearness the boundary toward the south, viz., to Syene, where Egypt terminates and Ethiopia beings. In Eze 29:11 the desolation is more fully depicted. לא תשׁב, it will not dwell, poetical for "be inhabited," as in Joel 4 (3):20, Isa 13:20, etc. This devastation shall last for forty years, and so long shall the people of Egypt be scattered among the nations. But after the expiration of that time they shall be gathered together again (Eze 29:13). The number forty is neither a round number (Hitzig) nor a very long time (Ewald), but is a symbolical term denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence (see the comm. on Eze 4:6), which is not to be understood in a chronological sense, or capable of being calculated.

Eze 29:13-16

Restoration of Egypt

Eze 29:13. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians out of the nations, whither they were scattered. Eze 29:14. And I will turn the captivity of Egypt, and will bring them back into the land of Pathros, into the land of their origin, and they shall be a lowly kingdom there. Eze 29:15. Lowlier than the kingdoms shall it be, and exalt itself no more over the nations; and I will make them small, so that they shall rule no more over the nations. Eze 29:16. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance when they incline towards it; and they shall learn that I am the Lord Jehovah. - The turning of the period of Egypt's punishment is connected by כּי, which refers to the time indicated, viz., "forty years." For forty years shall Egypt be utterly laid waste; for after the expiration of that period the Lord will gather the Egyptians again from their dispersion among the nations, turn their captivity, i.e., put an end to their suffering (see the comm. on Eze 16:53), and lead them back into the land of their birth, i.e., of their origin (for מכוּרה, see Eze 16:3), namely, to Pathros. פתרוס, the Egyptian Petorēs (Παθούρης, lxx Jer 44:1), or south land, i.e., Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks and Romans. The designation of Upper Egypt as the mother country of the Egyptians, or the land of their nativity, is confirmed not only by the accounts given by Herodotus (ii. 4 and 15) and Diodorus Sic. (i. 50), but also by the Egyptian mythology, according to which the first king who reigned after the gods, viz., Menes or Mena, sprang from the city of Thinis (Thynis), Egypt. Tenj, in the neighbourhood of Abydos in Upper Egypt, and founded the city of Memphis in Lower Egypt, which became so celebrated in later times (vid., Brugsch, Histoire d'Egypte, I p. 16). But Egypt shall not attain to its former power any more. It will be and continue a lowly kingdom, that it may not again become a ground of confidence to Israel, a power upon which Israel can rely, so as to fall into guilt and punishment. The subject to ולא יהיה is Egypt as a nation, notwithstanding the fact that it has previously been construed in the feminine as a land or kingdom, and in אחריהם the Egyptians are spoken of in the plural number. For it is out of the question to take מזכּיר עון as the subject to לא יהיה in the sense of "no more shall one who calls guilt to remembrance inspire the house of Israel with confidence," as Kliefoth proposes, not only because of the arrangement of the words, but because the more precise definition of מזכּיר עון as 'בּפנותם אח clearly shows that Egypt is the subject of the sentence; whereas, in order to connect this definition in any way, Kliefoth is compelled to resort to the interpolation of the words, "which it committed." מזכּיר עון is in apposition to מבטח; making Egypt the ground of confidence, brings into remembrance before God the guilt of Israel, which consists in the fact that the Israelites turn to the Egyptians and seek salvation from them, so that He is obliged to punish them (vid., Eze 21:28-29). - The truth of the prediction in Eze 29:13-16 has been confirmed by history, inasmuch as Egypt never recovered its former power after the Chaldean period. - Moreover, if we compare the Messianic promise for Egypt in Isa 19:18-25 with the prediction in Eze 29:13-15, we are struck at once with the peculiarity of Ezekiel, already referred to in the introductory remarks on Ezekiel 25-32, namely, that he leaves entirely out of sight the Messianic future of the heathen nations.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
The tenth year - Of Jeconiah's captivity.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
In the tenth year - Of Zedekiah; and tenth of the captivity of Jeconiah. The ten month, in the twelfth day of the month - Answering to Monday, the first of February, A.M. 3415.

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⁷ And the king [04428] of Egypt [04714] came [03318] not again [03254] any more out of his land [0776]: for the king [04428] of Babylon [0894] had taken [03947] from the river [05158] of Egypt [04714] unto the river [05104] Euphrates [06578] all that pertained to the king [04428] of Egypt [04714].

⁵ Then Pharaoh's [06547] army [02428] was come forth [03318] out of Egypt [04714]: and when the Chaldeans [03778] that besieged [06696] Jerusalem [03389] heard [08085] tidings [08088] of them, they departed [05927] from Jerusalem [03389].

¹³ Yet thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; At the end [07093] of forty [0705] years [08141] will I gather [06908] the Egyptians [04714] from the people [05971] whither they were scattered [06327]:
¹⁴ And I will bring again [07725] the captivity [07622] of Egypt [04714], and will cause them to return [07725] into the land [0776] of Pathros [06624], into the land [0776] of their habitation [04351]; and they shall be there a base [08217] kingdom [04467].
¹⁵ It shall be the basest [08217] of the kingdoms [04467]; neither shall it exalt [05375] itself any more above the nations [01471]: for I will diminish [04591] them, that they shall no more rule [07287] over the nations [01471].

¹⁸ In that day [03117] shall five [02568] cities [05892] in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] speak [01696] the language [08193] of Canaan [03667], and swear [07650] to the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635]; one [0259] shall be called [0559], The city [05892] of destruction [02041].
¹⁹ In that day [03117] shall there be an altar [04196] to the LORD [03068] in the midst [08432] of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], and a pillar [04676] at [0681] the border [01366] thereof to the LORD [03068].
²⁰ And it shall be for a sign [0226] and for a witness [05707] unto the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635] in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714]: for they shall cry [06817] unto the LORD [03068] because [06440] of the oppressors [03905], and he shall send [07971] them a saviour [03467], and a great one [07227], and he shall deliver [05337] them.
²¹ And the LORD [03068] shall be known [03045] to Egypt [04714], and the Egyptians [04714] shall know [03045] the LORD [03068] in that day [03117], and shall do [05647] sacrifice [02077] and oblation [04503]; yea, they shall vow [05087] a vow [05088] unto the LORD [03068], and perform [07999] it.
²² And the LORD [03068] shall smite [05062] Egypt [04714]: he shall smite [05062] and heal [07495] it: and they shall return [07725] even to the LORD [03068], and he shall be intreated [06279] of them, and shall heal [07495] them.
²³ In that day [03117] shall there be a highway [04546] out of Egypt [04714] to Assyria [0804], and the Assyrian [0804] shall come [0935] into Egypt [04714], and the Egyptian [04714] into Assyria [0804], and the Egyptians [04714] shall serve [05647] with the Assyrians [0804].
²⁴ In that day [03117] shall Israel [03478] be the third [07992] with Egypt [04714] and with Assyria [0804], even a blessing [01293] in the midst [07130] of the land [0776]:
²⁵ Whom the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635] shall bless [01288], saying [0559], Blessed [01288] be Egypt [04714] my people [05971], and Assyria [0804] the work [04639] of my hands [03027], and Israel [03478] mine inheritance [05159].

²⁸ And thou, son [01121] of man [0120], prophesy [05012] and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069] concerning the Ammonites [01121] [05983], and concerning their reproach [02781]; even say [0559] thou, The sword [02719], the sword [02719] is drawn [06605]: for the slaughter [02874] it is furbished [04803], to consume [0398] because of the glittering [01300]:
²⁹ Whiles they see [02372] vanity [07723] unto thee, whiles they divine [07080] a lie [03577] unto thee, to bring [05414] thee upon the necks [06677] of them that are slain [02491], of the wicked [07563], whose day [03117] is come [0935], when [06256] their iniquity [05771] shall have an end [07093].

¹ The word [01697] that came to Jeremiah [03414] concerning all the Jews [03064] which dwell [03427] in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], which dwell [03427] at Migdol [04024], and at Tahpanhes [08471], and at Noph [05297], and in the country [0776] of Pathros [06624], saying [0559],

³ And say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069] unto Jerusalem [03389]; Thy birth [04351] and thy nativity [04138] is of the land [0776] of Canaan [03669]; thy father [01] was an Amorite [0567], and thy mother [0517] an Hittite [02850].

⁵³ When I shall bring again [07725] their captivity [07622] [07622], the captivity [07622] [07622] of Sodom [05467] and her daughters [01323], and the captivity [07622] [07622] of Samaria [08111] and her daughters [01323], then will I bring again the captivity [07622] [07622] of thy captives [07622] in the midst [08432] of them:

¹⁶ And it shall be no more the confidence [04009] of the house [01004] of Israel [03478], which bringeth [02142] their iniquity [05771] to remembrance [02142], when they shall look [06437] after [0310] them: but they shall know [03045] that I am the Lord [0136] GOD [03069].

¹⁵ It shall be the basest [08217] of the kingdoms [04467]; neither shall it exalt [05375] itself any more above the nations [01471]: for I will diminish [04591] them, that they shall no more rule [07287] over the nations [01471].

¹⁴ And I will bring again [07725] the captivity [07622] of Egypt [04714], and will cause them to return [07725] into the land [0776] of Pathros [06624], into the land [0776] of their habitation [04351]; and they shall be there a base [08217] kingdom [04467].

⁶ And when thou hast accomplished [03615] them [0428], lie [07901] again [08145] on thy right [03233] [03227] side [06654], and thou shalt bear [05375] the iniquity [05771] of the house [01004] of Judah [03063] forty [0705] days [03117]: I have appointed [05414] thee each day [03117] [03117] for a year [08141] [08141].

²⁰ It shall never [05331] be inhabited [03427], neither shall it be dwelt [07931] in from generation [01755] to generation [01755]: neither shall the Arabian [06163] pitch tent [0167] there; neither shall the shepherds [07462] make their fold [07257] there.

¹¹ No foot [07272] of man [0120] shall pass through [05674] it, nor foot [07272] of beast [0929] shall pass through [05674] it, neither shall it be inhabited [03427] forty [0705] years [08141].

³ And say [0559] to the land [0127] of Israel [03478], Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068]; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth [03318] my sword [02719] out of his sheath [08593], and will cut off [03772] from thee the righteous [06662] and the wicked [07563].

⁶ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068]; They also that uphold [05564] Egypt [04714] shall fall [05307]; and the pride [01347] of her power [05797] shall come down [03381]: from the tower [04024] of Syene [05482] shall they fall [05307] in it by the sword [02719], saith [05002] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069].

⁹ And the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] shall be desolate [08077] and waste [02723]; and they shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068]: because he hath said [0559], The river [02975] is mine, and I have made [06213] it.
¹⁰ Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers [02975], and I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] utterly [02721] waste [02723] and desolate [08077], from the tower [04024] of Syene [05482] even unto the border [01366] of Ethiopia [03568].
¹¹ No foot [07272] of man [0120] shall pass through [05674] it, nor foot [07272] of beast [0929] shall pass through [05674] it, neither shall it be inhabited [03427] forty [0705] years [08141].
¹² And I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] desolate [08077] in the midst [08432] of the countries [0776] that are desolate [08074], and her cities [05892] among [08432] the cities [05892] that are laid waste [02717] shall be desolate [08077] forty [0705] years [08141]: and I will scatter [06327] the Egyptians [04714] among the nations [01471], and will disperse [02219] them through the countries [0776].

⁷ When they took hold [08610] of thee by thy hand [03709], thou didst break [07533], and rend [01234] all their shoulder [03802]: and when they leaned [08172] upon thee, thou brakest [07665], and madest all their loins [04975] to be at a stand [05976].

²⁴ Pour out [08210] thine indignation [02195] upon them, and let thy wrathful [02740] anger [0639] take hold [05381] of them.

¹⁵ Neither shall there be any work [04639] for Egypt [04714], which the head [07218] or tail [02180], branch [03712] or rush [0100], may do [06213].

¹³ For the people [05971] turneth [07725] not unto him that smiteth [05221] them, neither do they seek [01875] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635].

³² It shall be accomplished [04390] before [03808] his time [03117], and his branch [03712] shall not be green [07488].

⁴⁰ And ye shall take [03947] you on the first [07223] day [03117] the boughs [06529] of goodly [01926] trees [06086], branches [03709] of palm [08558] trees, and the boughs [06057] of thick [05687] trees [06086], and willows [06155] of the brook [05158]; and ye shall rejoice [08055] before [06440] the LORD [03068] your God [0430] seven [07651] days [03117].

⁵ I rose up [06965] to open [06605] to my beloved [01730]; and my hands [03027] dropped [05197] with myrrh [04753], and my fingers [0676] with sweet smelling [05674] myrrh [04753], upon the handles [03709] of the lock [04514].

¹⁷ And I took [08610] the two [08147] tables [03871], and cast [07993] them out of [05921] my two [08147] hands [03027], and brake [07665] them before your eyes [05869].

⁶ When a man [0376] shall take hold [08610] of his brother [0251] of the house [01004] of his father [01], saying, Thou hast clothing [08071], be thou our ruler [07101], and let this ruin [04384] be under thy hand [03027]:

⁶ Lo, thou trustest [0982] in the staff [04938] of this broken [07533] reed [07070], on Egypt [04714]; whereon if a man [0376] lean [05564], it will go [0935] into his hand [03709], and pierce [05344] it: so is Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714] to all that trust [0982] in him.

⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.

³ Speak [01696], and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], the great [01419] dragon [08577] that lieth [07257] in the midst [08432] of his rivers [02975], which hath said [0559], My river [02975] is mine own, and I have made [06213] it for myself.
⁴ But I will put [05414] hooks [02397] [02397] in thy jaws [03895], and I will cause the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] to stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193], and I will bring thee up [05927] out of the midst [08432] of thy rivers [02975], and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] shall stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193].
⁵ And I will leave [05203] thee thrown into the wilderness [04057], thee and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975]: thou shalt fall [05307] upon the open [06440] fields [07704]; thou shalt not be brought together [0622], nor gathered [06908]: I have given [05414] thee for meat [0402] to the beasts [02416] of the field [0776] and to the fowls [05775] of the heaven [08064].

⁶ And all the inhabitants [03427] of Egypt [04714] shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068], because they have been a staff [04938] of reed [07070] to the house [01004] of Israel [03478].

⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.

¹⁰ Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers [02975], and I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] utterly [02721] waste [02723] and desolate [08077], from the tower [04024] of Syene [05482] even unto the border [01366] of Ethiopia [03568].

⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.

⁶ And all the inhabitants [03427] of Egypt [04714] shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068], because they have been a staff [04938] of reed [07070] to the house [01004] of Israel [03478].

⁴ And I will turn thee back [07725], and put [05414] hooks [02397] into thy jaws [03895], and I will bring thee forth [03318], and all thine army [02428], horses [05483] and horsemen [06571], all of them clothed [03847] with all sorts [04358] of armour, even a great [07227] company [06951] with bucklers [06793] and shields [04043], all of them handling [08610] swords [02719]:

⁹ And they put [05414] him in ward [05474] in chains [02397], and brought [0935] him to the king [04428] of Babylon [0894]: they brought [0935] him into holds [04685], that his voice [06963] should no more be heard [08085] upon the mountains [02022] of Israel [03478].

⁴ The nations [01471] also heard [08085] of him; he was taken [08610] in their pit [07845], and they brought [0935] him with chains [02397] unto the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day [03117], that the LORD [03068] shall hiss [08319] for the fly [02070] that is in the uttermost part [07097] of the rivers [02975] of Egypt [04714], and for the bee [01682] that is in the land [0776] of Assyria [0804].

¹³ Thou didst divide [06565] the sea [03220] by thy strength [05797]: thou brakest [07665] the heads [07218] of the dragons [08577] in the waters [04325].

¹ In that day [03117] the LORD [03068] with his sore [07186] and great [01419] and strong [02389] sword [02719] shall punish [06485] leviathan [03882] the piercing [01281] serpent [05175], even leviathan [03882] that crooked [06129] serpent [05175]; and he shall slay [02026] the dragon [08577] that is in the sea [03220].

⁹ Awake [05782], awake [05782], put on [03847] strength [05797], O arm [02220] of the LORD [03068]; awake [05782], as in the ancient [06924] days [03117], in the generations [01755] of old [05769]. Art thou not it that hath cut [02672] Rahab [07294], and wounded [02490] the dragon [08577]?

² Son [01121] of man [0120], take up [05375] a lamentation [07015] for Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and say [0559] unto him, Thou art like [01819] a young lion [03715] of the nations [01471], and thou art as a whale [08577] [08565] in the seas [03220]: and thou camest forth [01518] with thy rivers [05104], and troubledst [01804] the waters [04325] with thy feet [07272], and fouledst [07515] their rivers [05104].

¹ And it came to pass in the eleventh [06249] [06240] year [08141], in the first [0259] day of the month [02320], that the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],

¹² And I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] desolate [08077] in the midst [08432] of the countries [0776] that are desolate [08074], and her cities [05892] among [08432] the cities [05892] that are laid waste [02717] shall be desolate [08077] forty [0705] years [08141]: and I will scatter [06327] the Egyptians [04714] among the nations [01471], and will disperse [02219] them through the countries [0776].

¹¹ No foot [07272] of man [0120] shall pass through [05674] it, nor foot [07272] of beast [0929] shall pass through [05674] it, neither shall it be inhabited [03427] forty [0705] years [08141].

⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.

⁶ And all the inhabitants [03427] of Egypt [04714] shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068], because they have been a staff [04938] of reed [07070] to the house [01004] of Israel [03478].

⁴ But I will put [05414] hooks [02397] [02397] in thy jaws [03895], and I will cause the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] to stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193], and I will bring thee up [05927] out of the midst [08432] of thy rivers [02975], and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] shall stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193].

² Son [01121] of man [0120], set [07760] thy face [06440] against Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and prophesy [05012] against him, and against all Egypt [04714]:

¹ In the tenth [06224] year [08141], in the tenth [06224] month, in the twelfth [08147] [06240] day of the month [02320], the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],

¹ In the tenth [06224] year [08141], in the tenth [06224] month, in the twelfth [08147] [06240] day of the month [02320], the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],
² Son [01121] of man [0120], set [07760] thy face [06440] against Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and prophesy [05012] against him, and against all Egypt [04714]:
³ Speak [01696], and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], the great [01419] dragon [08577] that lieth [07257] in the midst [08432] of his rivers [02975], which hath said [0559], My river [02975] is mine own, and I have made [06213] it for myself.
⁴ But I will put [05414] hooks [02397] [02397] in thy jaws [03895], and I will cause the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] to stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193], and I will bring thee up [05927] out of the midst [08432] of thy rivers [02975], and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] shall stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193].
⁵ And I will leave [05203] thee thrown into the wilderness [04057], thee and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975]: thou shalt fall [05307] upon the open [06440] fields [07704]; thou shalt not be brought together [0622], nor gathered [06908]: I have given [05414] thee for meat [0402] to the beasts [02416] of the field [0776] and to the fowls [05775] of the heaven [08064].
⁶ And all the inhabitants [03427] of Egypt [04714] shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068], because they have been a staff [04938] of reed [07070] to the house [01004] of Israel [03478].
⁷ When they took hold [08610] of thee by thy hand [03709], thou didst break [07533], and rend [01234] all their shoulder [03802]: and when they leaned [08172] upon thee, thou brakest [07665], and madest all their loins [04975] to be at a stand [05976].
⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.
⁹ And the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] shall be desolate [08077] and waste [02723]; and they shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068]: because he hath said [0559], The river [02975] is mine, and I have made [06213] it.
¹⁰ Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers [02975], and I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] utterly [02721] waste [02723] and desolate [08077], from the tower [04024] of Syene [05482] even unto the border [01366] of Ethiopia [03568].
¹¹ No foot [07272] of man [0120] shall pass through [05674] it, nor foot [07272] of beast [0929] shall pass through [05674] it, neither shall it be inhabited [03427] forty [0705] years [08141].
¹² And I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] desolate [08077] in the midst [08432] of the countries [0776] that are desolate [08074], and her cities [05892] among [08432] the cities [05892] that are laid waste [02717] shall be desolate [08077] forty [0705] years [08141]: and I will scatter [06327] the Egyptians [04714] among the nations [01471], and will disperse [02219] them through the countries [0776].

¹ In the tenth [06224] year [08141], in the tenth [06224] month, in the twelfth [08147] [06240] day of the month [02320], the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],

⁵ And I will leave [05203] thee thrown into the wilderness [04057], thee and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975]: thou shalt fall [05307] upon the open [06440] fields [07704]; thou shalt not be brought together [0622], nor gathered [06908]: I have given [05414] thee for meat [0402] to the beasts [02416] of the field [0776] and to the fowls [05775] of the heaven [08064].
⁶ And all the inhabitants [03427] of Egypt [04714] shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068], because they have been a staff [04938] of reed [07070] to the house [01004] of Israel [03478].
⁷ When they took hold [08610] of thee by thy hand [03709], thou didst break [07533], and rend [01234] all their shoulder [03802]: and when they leaned [08172] upon thee, thou brakest [07665], and madest all their loins [04975] to be at a stand [05976].
⁸ Therefore thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I will bring [0935] a sword [02719] upon thee, and cut off [03772] man [0120] and beast [0929] out of thee.
⁹ And the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] shall be desolate [08077] and waste [02723]; and they shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068]: because he hath said [0559], The river [02975] is mine, and I have made [06213] it.
¹⁰ Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers [02975], and I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] utterly [02721] waste [02723] and desolate [08077], from the tower [04024] of Syene [05482] even unto the border [01366] of Ethiopia [03568].
¹¹ No foot [07272] of man [0120] shall pass through [05674] it, nor foot [07272] of beast [0929] shall pass through [05674] it, neither shall it be inhabited [03427] forty [0705] years [08141].
¹² And I will make [05414] the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] desolate [08077] in the midst [08432] of the countries [0776] that are desolate [08074], and her cities [05892] among [08432] the cities [05892] that are laid waste [02717] shall be desolate [08077] forty [0705] years [08141]: and I will scatter [06327] the Egyptians [04714] among the nations [01471], and will disperse [02219] them through the countries [0776].

² Son [01121] of man [0120], set [07760] thy face [06440] against Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and prophesy [05012] against him, and against all Egypt [04714]:
³ Speak [01696], and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], the great [01419] dragon [08577] that lieth [07257] in the midst [08432] of his rivers [02975], which hath said [0559], My river [02975] is mine own, and I have made [06213] it for myself.
⁴ But I will put [05414] hooks [02397] [02397] in thy jaws [03895], and I will cause the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] to stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193], and I will bring thee up [05927] out of the midst [08432] of thy rivers [02975], and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] shall stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193].
⁵ And I will leave [05203] thee thrown into the wilderness [04057], thee and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975]: thou shalt fall [05307] upon the open [06440] fields [07704]; thou shalt not be brought together [0622], nor gathered [06908]: I have given [05414] thee for meat [0402] to the beasts [02416] of the field [0776] and to the fowls [05775] of the heaven [08064].