Ezekiel 30:18

18 At Tahpanhes the day will turn dark when I break Egypt's power. Egypt's strong army will be defeated. Clouds will cover Egypt, and people from its villages will go into exile.

Ezekiel 30:18 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 30:18

At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened
The same with Hanes in ( Isaiah 30:4 ) and Tahapanes in ( Jeremiah 2:16 ) and Tahpanhes, ( Jeremiah 43:7-9 ) , it was a royal seat of the kings of Egypt: there was in Solomon's time a queen of Egypt of this name, and perhaps it might be so called from her, ( 1 Kings 11:19 1 Kings 11:20 ) . It is generally thought to be the Daphne of Pelusium, it being near that city; though Junius takes it to be a place in another part of Egypt, at a great distance, which Herodotus F9 calls Tahcompso, an island encompassed by the Nile; and by Ptolemy F11 called Metacompso: now at this place the day should be darkened; or should "restrain" F12, as it may be rendered; that is, its light; it should be a calamitous and mournful time with the inhabitants of it: when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt;
the yokes they put upon the necks of others, who now should be freed from them: or, "the sceptres of Egypt", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; the regalia of their kings, which might lie in this place; it being a royal seat where Pharaoh had a house, as appears from ( Jeremiah 43:9 ) : and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her;
all that grandeur and magnificence which appeared in the courts of the kings of Egypt in this place: as for her, a cloud shall cover her;
as for this city, a cloud of calamity shall cover it, so as its glory shall not be seen. The Targum is,

``a king with his army shall cover her as a cloud ascends and covers the earth:''
and her daughters shall go into captivity;
which may be taken either in a literal sense for the daughters of the inhabitants of this place, which must be a great affliction to their tender parents, to have them forced away by rude soldiers, and carried captive into distant lands; or in a figurative sense, for the villages and the inhabitants of them round about this city; it being usual to represent a city as a mother, and its villages as daughters; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi interpret it.
FOOTNOTES:

F9 Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 29.
F11 Geograph. l. 4. c. 5.
F12 (Kvx) "prohibuit", Montanus; "vitavit", Munster; "cohibuit", Cocceius; "probibebit, arcebit", Vatablus; so Ben Melech.

Ezekiel 30:18 In-Context

16 I will set fire to Egypt. Sin will be in much pain. Thebes will be broken into pieces, and Memphis will be in trouble every day.
17 The young men from Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in battle, and people from these cities will go into exile.
18 At Tahpanhes the day will turn dark when I break Egypt's power. Egypt's strong army will be defeated. Clouds will cover Egypt, and people from its villages will go into exile.
19 Then they will know that I am the LORD, because I will bring punishment on Egypt.'"
20 On the seventh day of the first month in the eleventh year, the LORD spoke his word to me. He said,
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.