Logos Bible Study

Ezekiel 29:3–9

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29:3Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“ ‘Look, I am against3 you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster4 lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”5

29:4I will put hooks in your jaws

and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales.

I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways,

and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales.

29:5I will leave you in the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your waterways;

you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected.6

I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.

29:6Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord

because they were a reed staff7 for the house of Israel;

29:7when they grasped you with their hand,8 you broke and tore9 their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady.10

29:8“ ‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill11 every person and every animal. 29:9The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,”

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Footnotes

  1. 3 Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (), 1:, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî êlêkâ,’ ” 45 (1933): 101–8.
  2. 4 Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9–10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., “a great crocodile”; “you monster crocodile”; “a giant crocodile”).
  3. 5 In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240–44.
  4. 6 Some Hebrew , the , and the read “buried.”
  5. 7 Compare Isa 36:6.
  6. 8 The Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) has “by your hand,” but the marginal reading (Qere) has simply “by the hand.” The reads “with their hand.”
  7. 9 Or perhaps “dislocated.”
  8. 10 Heb “you caused to stand for them all their hips.” An emendation which switches two letters but is supported by the yields the reading “you caused all their hips to shake.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (), 2:. In 2 Kgs 18:21 and Isa 36:6 trusting in the Pharaoh is compared to leaning on a staff. The oracle may reflect Hophra’s attempt to aid Jerusalem (Jer 37:5–8).
  9. 11 Heb “I will cut off from you.”

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press