Ezekiel 29 – “Doom for Egypt”

12 - Ezekiel

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
God vows to punish Pharaoh and to give Egypt to the king of Babylon.

II. Photo
God vows to punish Pharaoh: “I will haul you up from your channels, with all the fish of your channels clinging to your scales!” (v. 4b)

III. Important Verses
3-6: Speak these words: Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, Mighty monster, sprawling in your channels, Who said, My Nile is my own; I made it for myself. I will put hooks in your jaws, And make the fish of your channels Cling to your scales; I will haul you up from your channels, With all the fish of your channels Clinging to your scales. And I will fling you into the desert, With all the fish of your channels. You shall be left lying in the open, Ungathered and unburied: I have given you as food To the beasts of the earth And the birds of the sky. Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know That I am the LORD. Because you were a staff of reed To the House of Israel:
10-12: Assuredly, I am going to deal with you and your channels, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to utter ruin and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Nubia. No foot of man shall traverse it, and no foot of beast shall traverse it; and it shall remain uninhabited for forty years. For forty years I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate of desolate lands, and its cities shall be the most desolate of ruined cities. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.
18-20: O mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has made his army expend vast labor on Tyre; every head is rubbed bald and every shoulder scraped. But he and his army have had no return for the labor he expended on Tyre. Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. He shall carry off her wealth and take her spoil and seize her booty; and she shall be the recompense of his army. As the wage for which he labored, for what they did for Me, I give him the land of Egypt — declares the Lord GOD.

IV. Outline

1-16. Oracle #1
    1-3a. Introduction
    3b. Pharaoh’s conceit
    4-7. God will punish Pharaoh for harming Israel
    8-9. God will punish Egypt for Pharaoh’s pride
    10-12. God will destroy Egypt for 40 years
    13-16. Egypt will rise, but never to its former glory
17-20. Oracle #2
    17. Introduction
    18-19. Nebuchadrezzar will conquer Egypt
    20. Israel will be strengthened

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Allen, Leslie C. “Ezekiel 1-19” Word Biblical Commentary vol. 28 (Waco, Texas: Wordbook, 1994).
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Hals, Ronald M. “Ezekiel” The forms of the Old Testament Literature vol. 19 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1989)
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