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
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Proclamation against Egypt
29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt;(A) 3 speak and say: Thus says the Lord God:
I am against you,
Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon sprawling
in the midst of its channels,
saying, “My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.”(B)
4 I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales.
I will draw you up from your channels,
with all the fish of your channels
sticking to your scales.(C)
5 I will fling you into the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your channels;
you shall fall in the open field
and not be gathered or picked up.
To the animals of the earth and to the birds of the air
I have given you as food.(D)
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