Ezekiel 29:7

7 When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs.

Ezekiel 29:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 29:7

When they took hold of thee by thy hand
When the Israelites entered into an alliance and confederacy with the Egyptians, called for their assistance according to treaty, and put their confidence in them: thou didst break and rend all their shoulder;
as a reed which a man puts under his armhole, and leans upon, and it breaks under him, the splinters run into the flesh up to the very shoulder, and tear the flesh to pieces; so, through Zedekiah's trusting to the king of Egypt, he rebelled against the king of Babylon, which brought on his ruin, and the destruction of his kingdom: and when they leaned upon thee thou brakest, and madest all their loins
to be at a stand;
when they put their confidence in the king of Egypt, and sent to him for help when besieged by the king of Babylon, and he failed them, they were obliged to raise up themselves, as a man is forced to do when his staff breaks under him, whose loins before were bowed, but now erects himself, and stands and walks as well as he can without it; so the Jews were forced to stand upon their own legs, and exert all the force they had, and make all the efforts they could against the king of Babylon, being left in the lurch by the king of Egypt; in which, though they were rightly served for their vain confidence and not trusting in the Lord, yet the treachery of the Egyptians was resented by him, as follows:

Ezekiel 29:7 In-Context

5 I will throw you and all those fish into the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left unburied. I will give it to the birds and animals for food.

6 Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord." The Lord says, "The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick.

7 When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs.

8 Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you that I will have troops attack you with swords, and they will kill your people and your animals.

9 Egypt will become an empty wasteland. Then you will know that I am the Lord. "Because you said that the Nile is yours and you made it,

Footnotes

• [a]. [One ancient translation] wrench their backs; [Hebrew] make their backs stand.