Text -- Ezekiel 30:1-25 (NET)

A Lament Over Egypt

30:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 30:2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Wail, “Alas, the day is here!” 30:3 For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of storm clouds, it will be a time of judgment for the nations. 30:4 A sword will come against Egypt and panic will overtake Ethiopia when the slain fall in Egypt and they carry away her wealth and dismantle her foundations. 30:5 Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, Libya, and the people of the covenant land will die by the sword along with them. 30:6 “‘This is what the Lord says: Egypt’s supporters will fall; her confident pride will crumble. From Migdol to Syene they will die by the sword within her, declares the sovereign Lord. 30:7 They will be desolate among desolate lands, and their cities will be among ruined cities. 30:8 They will know that I am the Lord when I ignite a fire in Egypt and all her allies are defeated. 30:9 On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overly confident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for beware– it is coming! 30:10 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt, by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. 30:11 He and his people with him, the most terrifying of the nations, will be brought there to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with corpses. 30:12 I will dry up the waterways and hand the land over to evil men. I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken! 30:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will destroy the idols, and put an end to the gods of Memphis. There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt; so I will make the land of Egypt fearful. 30:14 I will desolate Pathros, I will ignite a fire in Zoan, and I will execute judgments on Thebes. 30:15 I will pour out my anger upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt; I will cut off the hordes of Thebes. 30:16 I will ignite a fire in Egypt; Syene will writhe in agony, Thebes will be broken down, and Memphis will face enemies every day. 30:17 The young men of On and of Pi-beseth will die by the sword; and the cities will go into captivity. 30:18 In Tahpanhes the day will be dark when I break the yoke of Egypt there. Her confident pride will cease within her; a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity. 30:19 I will execute judgments on Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’” 30:20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword. 30:22 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand. 30:23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among foreign countries. 30:24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan like the fatally wounded before the king of Babylon. 30:25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 30:2

¹ tn Heb “Alas for the day.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:3

¹ tn Heb “a day of clouds.” The expression occurs also in Joel 2:2 and Zeph 1:15; it recalls the appearance of God at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:9, 16, 18).

² tn Heb “a time.” The words “of judgment” have been added in the translation for clarification (see the following verses).

NET Notes: Eze 30:5

¹ tn The same expression appears in Exod 12:38; Jer 25:20; 50:37; Neh 13:3. It may refer to foreign mercenaries serving in the armies of the nations listed here.

² tn Heb “sons.”

³ tn The expression “sons of the covenant land” possibly refers to Jews living in Egypt (Jer 44).

NET Notes: Eze 30:6

¹ tn Heb “come down.”

² sn Syene is known as Aswan today.

NET Notes: Eze 30:8

¹ tn Heb “all who aid her are broken.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:9

¹ tn Heb “in the day of Egypt.” The word “doom” has been added in the translation to clarify the nature of this day.

NET Notes: Eze 30:10

¹ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an “r” rather than an “n.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:11

¹ tn The Babylonians were known for their cruelty (2 Kgs 25:7).

NET Notes: Eze 30:12

¹ tn Heb “and I will sell the land into the hand of.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:13

¹ tn Heb “I will put fear in the land of Egypt.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:15

¹ tn Heb “Sin” (so KJV, NASB), a city commonly identified with Pelusium, a fortress on Egypt’s northeastern frontier.

² tn Or “kill.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:16

¹ tc The LXX reads “Syene,” which is Aswan in the south. The MT reads Sin, which has already been mentioned in v. 15.

NET Notes: Eze 30:17

¹ sn On and Pi-beseth are generally identified with the Egyptian cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis.

² tn Heb “they will go.” The pronoun and verb are feminine plural, indicating that the cities just mentioned are the antecedent of the pronoun and the subject of the verb. The translation makes this clear by stating the subject as “the cities.”

NET Notes: Eze 30:18

¹ sn In Zeph 1:15 darkness is associated with the day of the Lord.

NET Notes: Eze 30:20

¹ tn April 29, 587 b.c.

NET Notes: Eze 30:21

¹ sn The expression “breaking the arm” indicates the removal of power (Ps 10:15; 37:17; Job 38:15; Jer 48:25).

² sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.

NET Notes: Eze 30:22

¹ tn The word h!nn@h indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

² 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 ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

NET Notes: Eze 30:24

¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.