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Ezekiel 30

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The Day of the LORD Against Egypt 1–9

1
The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, ​
2
Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Wail ye, Alas for the day! ​
3
For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. ​
4
And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. ​
5
Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mingled people, and Cub, and the children of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. ​
6
Thus saith Jehovah: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord Jehovah. ​
7
And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
8
And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. ​
9
In that day shall messengers go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish upon them, as in the day of Egypt; for, lo, it cometh. ​

Judgment Executed by Babylon 10–19

10
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. ​
11
He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12
And I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Jehovah, have spoken it. ​
13
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. ​
14
And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments upon No. ​
15
And I will pour my wrath upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. ​
16
And I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall be broken up; and Memphis shall have adversaries in the day-time.
17
The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity.
18
At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. ​
19
Thus will I execute judgments upon Egypt; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

The Broken Arm of Pharaoh 20–26

20
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the firstmonth, in the seventhdayof the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ​
21
Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it hath not been bound up, to apply healing medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it be strong to hold the sword. ​
22
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. ​
23
And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24
And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. ​
25
And I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
26
And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 30

Verse 1

The word of the LORD came again unto me — No date is given here. The oracle stands in the book after the one of 'the seven and twentieth year' (29:17–20), a later date than those of chs.30–32, which gave Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar as 'wages for his army' after his service against Tyrus (29:18–19). Davar, 'word', is what Ezekiel receives each time.

Verse 2

Howl ye, Woe worth the day! — 'Howl' is yalal, the verb of Isaiah's call over the day of the LORD, 'Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand' (Isa 13:6). 'Woe worth' is hah, a cry of grief, 'ah!'; the word occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament.

Verse 3

the day of the LORD is near — Obadiah sets the same day over 'all the heathen' (Obad 1:15). Here it falls on Egypt and her allies, and it is 'a cloudy day' (anan), as Joel speaks of 'a day of clouds and of thick darkness' (Joel 2:2). 'The time of the heathen' is the time of the nations (goyim).

Verse 4

great pain shall be in Ethiopia — Cush, the land to Egypt's south, was her strength with Egypt, as Nahum says of No: 'Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength' (Nah 3:9). 'Pain' is chalchalah, the writhing of travail; it returns in v.9. The 'foundations' (yesod) of the land are broken down.

Verse 5

Libya, and Lydia… Chub — The Hebrew names are Put, Lud and Kub; Put is a son of Ham with Cush and Mizraim (Gen 10:6, 'Phut'). Lud and Put also served in Tyre's army (Ezek 27:10). 'The mingled people' (ereb) are the foreigners among Egypt, named beside Pharaoh in Jer 25:19–20; 'in league' is berith, covenant.

Verse 6

the tower of Syene — The same southern limit as in 29:10, 'from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia'. 'Uphold' is camak, to prop up or lean on, and Egypt's props fall with her. 'The pride of her power' (gaon, oz) comes down; it is the LORD who speaks, 'saith the Lord GOD'.

Verse 8

they shall know that I am the LORD — The phrase closes oracle after oracle in Ezekiel and occurs in 63 verses of the book, including the Egyptian oracles of 29:6, 9. Here it follows the fire the LORD sets in Egypt and the breaking of her 'helpers' (azar), as Isaiah said, 'both he that helpeth shall fall' (Isa 31:3).

Verse 9

messengers go forth from me in ships — The LORD's messengers (malak) carry the news by sea to the 'careless' Ethiopians, whose security (betach) was in Egypt. The 'great pain' (chalchalah) of v.4 comes on them 'as in the day of Egypt'. Zephaniah has the same word against Cush: 'Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword' (Zeph 2:12).

Verse 10

by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon — Egypt's 'multitude' (hamon) is the wealth and crowd that 29:19 says he will 'take'. The LORD calls him 'my servant' when he sets his throne in Egypt (Jer 43:10); Jeremiah had a word of the same kind, 'how Nebuchadrezzar… should come and smite the land of Egypt' (Jer 46:13).

Verse 12

I will make the rivers dry — 'Rivers' is ye'or, a word of Egyptian origin for the Nile and its channels. Pharaoh had said, 'My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself' (29:3). Isaiah foretold the same: 'the river shall be wasted and dried up' (Isa 19:5). The land is 'sold' (makar) to strangers.

Verse 13

the idols… their images — Two words: gillulim, the word Ezekiel uses for idols, and elilim, 'vain things'. Noph is the city called Memphis in Hos 9:6. At the Passover the LORD said, 'against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment' (Ex 12:12); here the images cease and 'no more a prince of the land of Egypt' remains.

Verse 14

Pathros… Zoan… No — Pathros is the southern part of Egypt, where Jews also lived (Jer 44:1). Zoan is the city in whose 'field' the LORD wrought wonders before Israel (Ps 78:12), and No is the Thebes of Nahum's 'populous No' (Nah 3:8). Jeremiah names the same judgment on 'the multitude of No' (Jer 46:25).

Verse 15

I will pour my fury upon Sin — Sin is an Egyptian city here, called 'the strength' (maoz, a stronghold) of Egypt. 'Pour' is shaphak; the LORD uses the same words against Israel, 'pour out my fury upon it in blood' (Ezek 14:19). 'The multitude' (hamon) of No is cut off, the word of v.10.

Verse 18

Tehaphnehes — The Tahpanhes of Jer 43:7, to which the remnant of Judah came 'for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD', and where Jeremiah said Nebuchadrezzar would set his throne (Jer 43:10). The 'yokes' (motah) are the bars of the yoke, the word of Lev 26:13, where the LORD broke the yoke of Israel's bondage.

Verse 20

in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day — The years are counted from king Jehoiachin's captivity (1:2). This oracle comes in the same year as the one against Tyrus (26:1) and nearly two months before the one dated in the third month (31:1). The fall of Jerusalem is reported to Ezekiel in the twelfth year (33:21).

Verse 21

I have broken the arm of Pharaoh — The 'arm' (zeroa) is his strength. Pharaoh's army came to help Jerusalem, but was to 'return to Egypt into their own land' (Jer 37:5, 7). 'Roller' (chittul), a bandage, occurs only here. Jeremiah said to Egypt, 'in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured' (Jer 46:11).

Verse 22

Behold, I am against Pharaoh — The words of 29:3, 'I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt', return. Both arms are broken: 'the strong' (chazaq) and the one already broken. Psalm 37:17 states the principle, 'the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous'.

Verse 24

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon — The verb chazaq is the one used in v.21 of making Pharaoh's arm strong 'to hold the sword'; the LORD now gives that strength, and 'my sword', to Babylon. 'Groanings' (neaqah) is the word used of Israel's groaning in Egypt (Ex 2:24).

Verse 26

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations — The words are those of 29:12, where the scattering is set for forty years and followed by a gathering (29:13). 'Scatter' is puts and 'disperse' is zarah, the verb of Lev 26:33. The verse ends with the same purpose as v.8, 'they shall know that I am the LORD'.