Ezekiel 29:1-5
New English Translation
A Prophecy Against Egypt
29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month,[a] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[b] Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against[c] you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster[d] lying in the midst of its waterways,
who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”[e]
4 I 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.
5 I 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.[f]
I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 29:1 tn January 7, 587 b.c.
- Ezekiel 29:2 tn Heb “set your face against.”
- Ezekiel 29:3 tn 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 (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 29:3 tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; 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., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).
- Ezekiel 29:3 sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.
- Ezekiel 29:5 tc Some Hebrew mss, the Targum, and the LXX read “buried.”
Ezekiel 29:1-5
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh’s Judgment upon Egypt
29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth[a] day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[b] to me, saying,[c] 2 “Son of man,[d] set your face against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against Egypt, all of it. 3 Speak, and you must say, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh:
“Look! I am against you,
Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
the great sea monster,
the one lying down
in the midst of his Nile streams,
who says to me, “It is my Nile, and I made it for myself.”[e]
4 And so I will put hooks in your jawbones,
and I will make the fish of your Nile streams stick to your scales,
and I will bring you up from the midst of your Nile streams,
and all of the fish of your Nile streams which cling to your scales.
5 And I will fling you to the desert,
you and all the fish of your Nile streams.
On the surface of the field you will fall;
you will not be gathered,
and you will not be assembled.
To the animals[f] of the field
and to the birds[g] of the heavens
I will give you as food.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 29:1 Literally “two ten”
- Ezekiel 29:1 Literally “was”
- Ezekiel 29:1 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 29:2 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 29:3 Hebrew “me”
- Ezekiel 29:5 Hebrew “animal”
- Ezekiel 29:5 Hebrew “bird”
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