Ezekiel 32:19

19 Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the uncircumcised.

Ezekiel 32:19 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 32:19

Whom dost thou pass in beauty?
&c.] This question the prophet is bid to put to Egypt; what nation is there, or has been, that thou excellest in wisdom, in riches, or in strength, in the multitude of subjects, or extent of dominions, that thou thinkest thyself secure from destruction? look over other kingdoms and states mightier than thou, or at least equal to thee, and see how they are brought to ruin, and expect that this will quickly be thy case: go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised;
go down to the grave, and take thy place, and lie there among the wicked and most profligate of mankind, and such as might be most despised by the Egyptians, since they used circumcision. The Targum is,

``go down and sleep with sinners.''

Ezekiel 32:19 In-Context

17 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me saying:
18 Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
19 Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the uncircumcised.
20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the sword: the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her people.
21 The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers and slept uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.