Ezekiel 29:2-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 Son of man, turn your face toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.[a](A) 3 Say to him: Thus says the Lord God:
Pay attention! I am against you,
Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
Great dragon[b] crouching
in the midst of the Nile,
Who says, “The Nile belongs to me;
I made it myself!”(B)
4 [c]I will put hooks in your jaws
and make all the fish of your Nile
Cling to your scales;
I will drag you up from your Nile,
With all the fish of your Nile
clinging to your scales.(C)
Footnotes
- 29:2 Egypt was allied with Judah against the Babylonians.
- 29:3 Dragon: Hebrew reads tannim, usually translated “jackals,” here a byform of tannin, the mythical dragon, or sea monster, representing chaos (cf. Is 27:1; 51:9; Jer 51:34; Ps 91:13; Jb 7:12), and the crocodile native to the Nile. Nile: the many rivulets of the Nile that branch out into the Delta.
- 29:4–5 Ezekiel’s repetition of detail creates a vivid picture of Egypt’s destruction: God hauls the crocodile (Pharaoh) and the fish clinging to it for protection (the Egyptian populace) out of the Nile and lands them in an open field, where their corpses are torn apart by wildlife rather than being properly buried (cf. Dt 28:26; 2 Kgs 9:36–37; Jer 34:20; Ez 39:17–20).
Ezekiel 29:2-4
New International Version
2 “Son of man, set your face against(A) Pharaoh king of Egypt(B) and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.(C) 3 Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘I am against you, Pharaoh(D) king of Egypt,
you great monster(E) lying among your streams.
You say, “The Nile(F) belongs to me;
I made it for myself.”
4 But I will put hooks(G) in your jaws
and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales.
I will pull you out from among your streams,
with all the fish sticking to your scales.(H)
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