Ezekiel 20:5-6

20:5 and say to them:

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore¹ to the descendants² of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore³ to them, “I am the Lord your God.” 20:6 On that day I swore⁴ to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out⁵ for them, a land flowing with milk and honey,⁶ the most beautiful of all lands.

Ezekiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against⁷ you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster⁸ lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”⁹

Ezekiel 29:19

29:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, capture her loot, and seize her plunder; it will be his army’s wages.

Ezekiel 30:21-22

30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm¹⁰ of Pharaoh king of Egypt.¹¹ 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,¹² I am against¹³ 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.

Ezekiel 30:25

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.

Ezekiel 32:2

32:2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

“‘You were like a lion¹⁴ among the nations,

but you are a monster in the seas;

you thrash about in your streams,

stir up the water with your feet,

and muddy your¹⁵ streams.

¹tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

²tn Heb “seed.”

³tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

⁴tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

⁵tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”

⁶sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).

⁷tn 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.

⁸tn 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; and 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”).

⁹sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.

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

¹¹sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.

¹³tn The word h!nn@h indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

¹⁴tn 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.

¹⁶tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).

¹⁷tc The Hebrew reads “their streams”; the LXX reads “your streams.”