Ezekiel 32:1-16

1 It happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet are you as a monster in the seas; and you did break forth with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.

3 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples; and they shall bring you up in my net.

4 I will leave you on the land, I will cast you forth on the open field, and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you, and I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.

5 I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height.

6 I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim, even to the mountains; and the watercourses shall be full of you.

7 When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars of it dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.

8 All the bright lights of the sky will I make dark over you, and set darkness on your land, says the Lord Yahweh.

9 I will also vex the hearts of many peoples, when I shall bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.

10 Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.

11 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come on you.

12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause your multitude to fall; the terrible of the nations are they all: and they shall bring to nothing the pride of Egypt, and all the multitude of it shall be destroyed.

13 I will destroy also all the animals of it from beside many waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of animals trouble them.

14 Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, says the Lord Yahweh.

15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall strike all those who dwell therein, then shall they know that I am Yahweh.

16 This is the lamentation with which they shall lament; the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they lament therewith, says the Lord Yahweh.

Ezekiel 32:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 32

This chapter contains two more prophecies concerning the destruction of Egypt. The date of the first is given, Eze 22:1, in which the king of Egypt is compared to a large fish taken in a net, and brought to land, and left on it, to be the prey of the fowls of the air and beasts of the field, Eze 32:2-4, and the ruin of that kingdom is further amplified by the casting of it on the mountains and valleys; by the land flowing with its blood; by the darkness of the heavens; by the vexation in the hearts of many people; and by the amazement of kings and nations, Eze 32:5-10, the means and instruments of all which will be the king of Babylon and his army, Eze 32:11,12, the devastation made by him, which would be such as would cause lamentation in other nations, is described, Eze 32:13-16, then follows the other prophecy, whose date is given, Eze 32:17, the prophet is bid to lament the fall of Egypt, which is represented under the funeral of a corpse, Eze 32:18-20, saluted by those gone down to the grave before, or were become desolate; which are mentioned, to assure Egypt of its destruction, Eze 32:21 as the Assyrian empire, and all its provinces, Eze 32:22,23, the Persians and Medes, with all their dominions, Eze 32:24,25, the posterity of Meshech and Tubal, or the Scythians, those warlike people, Eze 32:26-28, the Edomites, the princes of the north, and all the Zidonians, Eze 32:29,30 which would be a comfort, though a poor one to the king of Egypt and his subjects, to have such company with them, Eze 32:31,32.