28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” 29:10 I am against 10 you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol 11 to Syene, 12 as far as the border with Ethiopia.
30:12 I will dry up the waterways
and hand the land over to 14 evil men.
I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
1 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
2 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
3 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
4 tc The MT reads “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context, and a poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).
5 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
7 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
10 tn Heb “shoulder.”
11 tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).
12 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
13 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.
14 sn This may refer to a site in the Egyptian Delta which served as a refuge for Jews (Jer 44:1; 46:14).
15 sn Syene is known today as Aswan.
16 tn Heb “for which he worked,” referring to the assault on Tyre (v. 18).
19 tn Heb “and I will sell the land into the hand of.”
22 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
23 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.
24 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.
25 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
25 tn Heb “set your face against.”
26 sn This may refer to a Lydian king in western Asia Minor in the seventh century
27 sn One of the sons of Japheth according to Gen 10:2; 1 Chr 1:5.
28 tn Heb “the prince, the chief of Meshech and Tubal.” Some translate “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” but it is more likely that the Hebrew noun in question is a common noun in apposition to “prince,” rather than a proper name. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:434-35. As Block demonstrates, attempts by some popular writers to identify these proper names with later geographical sites in Russia are anachronistic. See as well E. Yamauchi, Foes From the Northern Frontier, 19-27.
28 tn Heb “go up against.”
29 tn Heb “come (to).”
31 tn The expression introduces the three major visions of Ezekiel (1:1; 8:3; 40:2).
32 tn The reference to a very high mountain is harmonious with Isa 2:2.