Text -- Ezekiel 30:16-26 (NET)

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. 30:26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

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.