Ezekiel 29:1-16

Judgment of Egypt

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

2 "Son of man, set your face against ²Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all ³Egypt.

3 "Speak and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great ⁴monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, That ⁵has said, 'My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.'

4 "I will put ⁶hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales.

5 "I will ⁷abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or ⁸gathered. I have given you for ⁹food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.

6 "Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the LORD, Because they have been only a ¹⁰staff made of reed to the house of Israel.

7 "When they took hold of you with the hand, You ¹¹broke and tore all their hands; And when they leaned on you, You broke and made all their loins quake."

8 'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will ¹²bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast.

9 "The ¹³land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you ¹⁴said, 'The Nile is mine, and I have made it,'

10 therefore, behold, I am ¹⁵against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia.

11 "A man's foot will ¹⁶not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.

12 "So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the ¹⁷midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will ¹⁸scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands."

13 'For thus says the Lord GOD, "At the end of forty years I will ¹⁹gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom * they were scattered.

14 "I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of ²⁰Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.

15 "It will be the ²¹lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not ²²rule over the nations.

16 "And it will never again be the ²³confidence of the house of Israel, ²⁴bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.""'

Ezekiel 29:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 29

This chapter contains a prophecy against Pharaoh king of Egypt; and of the destruction of the land of Egypt; and of the restoration of it after a certain time. The time of prophecy is noted, Eze 29:1, the order to prophesy against Pharaoh, who is described as a large fish, lying in his rivers, and boasting of them, Eze 29:2,3, his destruction and the manner of it, Eze 29:4,5, the reason of it, his treachery to the Jews, Eze 29:6,7, hence the whole land of Egypt is threatened with desolation, from one end to the other, so as to be uninhabited by man or beast for the space of forty years, Eze 29:8-14, but shall not arrive to their former glory as a kingdom, nor be any more the confidence of the house of Israel, Eze 29:15,16, then follows a prophecy seventeen years after this, showing the reason why Egypt was given to the king of Babylon, Eze 29:17-20, and the chapter is closed with a promise of happiness to Israel, Eze 29:21.

Cross References

• 1. Ezekiel 26:1; Ezekiel 29:17; Ezekiel 30:20
• 2. Jeremiah 44:30
• 3. Isaiah 19:1-17; Jeremiah 46:2-26; Ezek 30:1-32:32
• 4. Isaiah 27:1; Ezekiel 32:2
• 5. Ezekiel 29:9; Ezekiel 30:12
• 6. 2 Kings 19:28; Ezekiel 38:4
• 7. Ezekiel 32:4-6
• 8. Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 25:33
• 9. Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 34:20; Ezekiel 39:4
• 10. 2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6
• 11. 2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6; Ezekiel 17:15-17
• 12. Jeremiah 46:13; Ezekiel 14:17
• 13. Ezekiel 29:10-12; Ezekiel 30:7, 8, 13-19
• 14. Proverbs 16:18; Proverbs 18:12; Ezekiel 29:3
• 15. Ezekiel 13:8; Ezekiel 21:3; Ezekiel 26:3; Ezekiel 29:3
• 16. Jeremiah 43:11, 12; Jeremiah 46:19; Ezekiel 32:13
• 17. Jeremiah 25:15-19; Jeremiah 27:6-11; Ezekiel 30:7
• 18. Jeremiah 46:19; Ezekiel 30:23, 26
• 19. Isaiah 19:22; Jeremiah 46:26
• 20. Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44:1, 15; Ezekiel 30:14
• 21. Ezekiel 17:6, 14; Ezekiel 30:13; Zechariah 10:11
• 22. Ezekiel 31:2; Ezekiel 32:2; Nahum 3:8-10
• 23. Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 30:1-3; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 36:6; Ezekiel 17:15; Ezekiel 29:6, 7
• 24. Isaiah 64:9; Jeremiah 14:10; Ezekiel 21:23; Hosea 8:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
• [b]. Lit "tannim"
• [c]. Or "Nile"
• [d]. Or "Nile"
• [e]. Or "Nile"
• [f]. Or "Nile"
• [g]. Or "Nile"
• [h]. Lit "faces of the field"
• [i]. Or with several mss and Targum, "buried"
• [j]. So with some ancient versions; M.T. "shoulders"
• [k]. Lit "stand"
• [l]. Lit "he"
• [m]. Or "Nile"
• [n]. Lit "Cush"
• [o]. Lit "where"
• [p]. Lit "causing to remember"
• [q]. Lit "after them"