Ezekiel 30:1-19

A Lament over the Nation and Land of Egypt

1 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},
2 "Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, 'thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Wail, alas! For the day!
3 For a day [is] near; indeed, a day [is] near for Yahweh. A day of cloud, a time of [the] nations it will be.
4 And a sword will come in Egypt, and anguish will be in Cush, at the falling of [the] slain in Egypt. And they will take its wealth, and its foundation will be demolished.
5 Cush and Put and Lud and all of Arabia and Kub and the people of the land of the treaty with them--by the sword they will fall."
6 Thus says Yahweh: "And the supporters of Egypt will fall, and the majesty of its strength will go down from Migdol [to] Syene; by the sword they will fall in it," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
7 "And they will be desolate in the midst of desolate countries, and its cities will be in the midst of ruined cities.
8 And they will know that I [am] Yahweh when I put my fire in Egypt, and all of its helpers are broken.
9 On that day messengers will go down from {before me} in the ships to terrify unsuspecting Cush, and anguish will be in them on the day of Egypt; for look, [it is] coming!"
10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "And I will put an end to the crowds of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.
11 He and his people with him, [the most] ruthless of nations, [will] be brought to destroy the land. And they will draw their swords against Egypt, and they will fill the land [with] [the] slain,
12 and I will make the Nile streams dry land, and I will sell the land into [the] hand of bad [people], and I will lay waste [the] land and its fullness by [the] hand of strangers. I, Yahweh, I have spoken."
13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "And I will destroy [the] idols, and I will put an end to [the] worthless idols from Memphis. And there will {no longer be} a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
14 And I will lay waste Pathros, and I will set fire in Zoan, and I will execute judgments in No.
15 I will pour out my rage over Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will cut off the crowd of No.
16 And I will set fire in Egypt, certainly Sin will writhe, and No will be breached, and Memphis [will] face enemies {daily}.
17 The young men of On and Pi Beseth will fall by the sword, and they will go into captivity.
18 And at Tahpanhes the day will become dark when I break the yoke of Egypt, and in it the majesty of its strength will come to an end. A cloud will cover it, and its daughters will go into captivity.
19 And I will execute judgments in Egypt, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh."

Ezekiel 30:1-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 30

This chapter is a continuation of the prophecy against Egypt, both against the country and the king of it. It is introduced with expressions of lamentation, because of the destruction coming on, Eze 30:1-3, and not only Egypt, and the cities thereof, should be destroyed, but all her friends, associates, and allies; the Ethiopians, Lydians, Lybians, and others, Eze 30:4-9. Nebuchadnezzar and his army were to be the instruments of her ruin, Eze 30:10-12, particular cities are mentioned by name, which should suffer much, and become desolate, Eze 30:13-19 and then Pharaoh king of Egypt himself is threatened with broken arms, and his people to be scattered among the nations, Eze 30:20-23, and the king of Babylon is again mentioned, whose arms should be strengthened to do all this, Eze 30:24-26.

Footnotes 11

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.