Ezekiel 29:3

3 Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.”

Ezekiel 29:3 in Other Translations

3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, 'My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.'

3 Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD : “I am your enemy, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt— you great monster, lurking in the streams of the Nile. For you have said, ‘The Nile River is mine; I made it for myself.’

3 Tell him, 'God, the Master, says: "'Watch yourself, Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I'm dead set against you, You lumbering old dragon, lolling and flaccid in the Nile, Saying, "It's my Nile. I made it. It's mine."

3 Speak [to him] and say: This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monsterlying in the middle of his Nile, who says: My Nile is my own; I made [it] for myself.

Ezekiel 29:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 29:3

Speak, and say, thus saith the Lord God
The one only, living, and true God, the almighty, eternal, and unchangeable Jehovah, which the gods of Egypt were not: behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt;
who, though so great a king, was not a match for God, yea, nothing in his hands; nor could he stand before him, or contend with him; or, I am above thee
^F25; though the king of Egypt was so high above others, and thought so highly of himself, as if he was a god; yet the Lord was higher than he: the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers;
the chief river of Egypt was the Nile, which opened in seven mouths or gates into the sea, and out of which canals were made to water the whole land; and which abounding with rivers and watery places, hence the king of it is compared to a great fish, a dragon or whale, or rather a crocodile, which was a fish very common, and almost peculiar to Egypt; and with which the description here agrees, as Bochart observes; and who also remarks that Pharaoh in the Arabic language signifies a crocodile; and to which he may be compared for his cruel, voracious, and mischievous nature; and is here represented as lying at ease, and rolling himself in the enjoyment of his power, riches, and pleasures: which hath said, my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself;
alluding to the river Nile, which his predecessors had by their wisdom cut out into canals, for the better watering of the land; and which he might have improved, so that it stood in no need of rain, nor of the supplies of other countries, having a sufficiency from its own product; though he chiefly designs his kingdom, which was his own, and he had established it, and made himself great in it; for the last clause may be rendered, either, "I have made it", as the Syriac version, the river Nile, ascribing that to himself which belonged to God; or, "I have made them", the rivers among whom he lay, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; or, "I have made myself", as the Vulgate Latin version; that is, a great king. So the Targum,

``the kingdom is mine, and I have subdued it.''

Herodotus says of this king, that he was so lifted up with pride, and so secure of his happy state, that he said there was no God could deprive him of his kingdom ^F26. This proud tyrannical monarch was an emblem of that beast that received his power from the dragon, and who himself spake like one; of the whore of Babylon that sits upon many waters, and boasts of her sovereignty and power, of her wealth and riches, of her ease, peace, pleasure, prosperity, and settled estate, ( Revelation 13:2 Revelation 13:11 ) ( 17:1 ) ( 18:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Kyle) "super te", Montanus.
F26 Herodot. Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 169. & l. 11. c. 163.

Ezekiel 29:3 In-Context

1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

3 Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.”

4 But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales.

5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 44:30
• 2. S Psalms 68:30; S Psalms 74:13; Isaiah 27:1; Ezekiel 32:2
• 3. S Jeremiah 46:8