Ezekiel 32:17-32
New English Translation
17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month,[a] the Lord’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, wail[b] over the horde of Egypt. Bring it down;[c] bring[d] her[e] and the daughters of powerful nations down to the lower parts of the earth, along with those who descend to the Pit. 19 Say to them,[f] ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?[g] Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!’ 20 They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; they carry her and all her hordes away. 21 The bravest of the warriors will speak to him from the midst of Sheol along with his allies, saying: ‘The uncircumcised have come down; they lie still, killed by the sword.’
22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave,[h] all of them struck down by the sword.[i] 23 Their[j] graves are located in the remote slopes of the Pit.[k] Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit. 25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave.[l] All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the Pit; they are placed among the dead.
26 “Meshech Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave.[m] All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times,[n] who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones,[o] when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.
28 “But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those killed by the sword.
29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the Pit.
30 “All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit.
31 “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled over all his hordes who were killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, declares the Sovereign Lord. 32 Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ezekiel 32:17 tn March 17, 585 b.c. The LXX adds “first month.”
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
- Ezekiel 32:18 sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
- Ezekiel 32:19 tc The LXX places this verse after v. 21.tn The words “say to them” are added in the translation for clarity to indicate the shift in addressee from the prophet to Egypt.
- Ezekiel 32:19 tn Heb “pleasantness.”
- Ezekiel 32:22 tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.
- Ezekiel 32:22 tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.
- Ezekiel 32:23 tn Heb “whose.”
- Ezekiel 32:23 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the Pit” is in Isa 14:15.
- Ezekiel 32:25 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
- Ezekiel 32:26 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
- Ezekiel 32:27 tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.
- Ezekiel 32:27 tc Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear. In light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend עֲוֹנֹתָם (ʿavonotam; “their iniquities”) to צִנּוֹתָם or צִנָּתָם (tsinnotam or tsinnatam; “their shields” or “their shield”) See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.
Ezekiel 32:17-32
New American Standard Bible
17 In the (A)twelfth year, on the (B)fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, (C)lament for the hordes of Egypt and (D)bring it down, her and the daughters of the mighty nations, to the (E)netherworld, with those who go down to the pit;
19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and make your bed with the (F)uncircumcised.’
20 They shall fall in the midst of those who are killed by the sword. [a]She is turned over to the sword; they have (G)dragged her and all her hordes away. 21 The (H)strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol: ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword.’
22 “(I)Assyria is there and all her company; [b]her graves are all around [c]her. All of them killed, fallen by the sword, 23 whose (J)graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them killed, fallen by the sword, who [d]spread terror in the land of the living.
24 “(K)Elam is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them killed, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the (L)lower parts of the earth, who inflicted their terror on the (M)land of the living, and (N)bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. 25 They have made a (O)bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it, they are all uncircumcised, killed by the sword (although their terror was [e]inflicted on the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; [f]they were put in the midst of the slain.
26 “(P)Meshech, (Q)Tubal, and all their hordes are there; their graves [g]surround them. All of them were killed by the sword (R)uncircumcised, though they inflicted their terror on the land of the living. 27 (S)Nor do they lie beside the fallen [h](T)heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were placed under their heads; but the punishment for their (U)wrongdoing rested on their bones, though the terror of these [i]heroes was once in the land of the living. 28 But in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those killed by the sword.
29 “There also is (V)Edom, its kings and all its [j]princes, who [k]despite all their might are laid with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.
30 “There also are the [l]chiefs of the (W)north, all of them, and all the (X)Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those killed by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.
31 “These Pharaoh will see, and he will (Y)find consolation regarding all his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army,” declares the Lord God. 32 “Though I inflicted the terror of him on the land of the living, yet he will be laid to rest among the uncircumcised along with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares the Lord God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ezekiel 32:20 Or The sword is given
- Ezekiel 32:22 Lit his
- Ezekiel 32:22 Lit him
- Ezekiel 32:23 Lit gave, and so throughout the ch
- Ezekiel 32:25 Lit given
- Ezekiel 32:25 As in ancient versions; MT he was
- Ezekiel 32:26 Lit are around him
- Ezekiel 32:27 Or mighty ones
- Ezekiel 32:27 Or mighty ones
- Ezekiel 32:29 Or leaders
- Ezekiel 32:29 Lit in
- Ezekiel 32:30 Or leaders
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