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
Common English Bible
Against Egypt
29 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the Lord’s word came to me: 2 Human one, face Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt. 3 Speak and say, The Lord God proclaims:
I’m against you, Pharaoh, Egypt’s king,
great crocodile lurking
in the Nile’s canals,
who says, “The Nile is all mine;
I made it for myself!”
4 I will set hooks in your jaws;
I will make the fish from the Nile’s canals cling to your scales.
I will drag you out of the Nile’s canals,
and also all the fish from the Nile’s canals
clinging to your scales.
5 I will fling you out into the desert,
and also all the fish from the Nile’s canals.
You will fall on the open ground,
and won’t be gathered or retrieved.
I’ve given you to the beasts of the earth
and the birds in the sky for food.
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