Ezekiel 29:6

6 And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I [am] Yahweh, because of their being a staff of reed for the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 29:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 29:6

And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord,
&c.] Who could eject their king from his kingdom, and deliver him into the hands of his enemy; though he thought no God could, as he boastingly said, before observed: because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel;
alluding to the country of Egypt, which abounded with reeds that grew upon the banks of the river Nile, and other rivers. This signifies that either the Egyptians were weak, and could not help the people of Israel when they applied to them; or rather that they were treacherous and deceitful, and would not assist them, according to agreement; and were even pernicious and hurtful to them, as a broken reed; see ( Isaiah 36:6 ) . The Targum renders it, ``the staff of a reed broken.''

Ezekiel 29:6 In-Context

4 And so I will put hooks in your jawbones, and I will make the fish of your Nile streams stick to your scales, and I will bring you up from the midst of your Nile streams, and all of the fish of your Nile streams [which] cling to your scales.

5 And I will fling you [to] the desert, you and all the fish of your Nile streams. On the surface of the field you will fall; you will not be gathered, and you will not be assembled. To the animals of the field and to the birds of the heavens I will give you as food.

6 And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I [am] Yahweh, because of their being a staff of reed for the house of Israel.

7 When they took hold of you with the hand, you snapped, and you split their every shoulder. And when they leaned on you, you broke, and you caused all of their loins to wobble."

8 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I [am] bringing on you [a] sword, and I will cut off from you human and animal.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate: "you"