Old Testament · Prophecy

Ezekiel 29

Against Egypt

Pharaoh is a great monster in the Nile. God will put hooks in your jaws and drag you out. Egypt, the perennial false hope, will be humbled.

King James Version BSB KJV

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:

3Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

4But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

5And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

7When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.

8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.

9And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.

10Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.

11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.

12And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:

14And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.

15It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

16And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

17And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

18Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:

19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.

20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.

21In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Understand This

Ezekiel 29, explained

What Ezekiel 29 is saying

Ezekiel prophesies against Pharaoh and Egypt, comparing the king to a great sea monster (tannim) in the Nile who claims to have made the river himself. Egypt will be desolated for forty years, then restored as a lowly kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar will receive Egypt as compensation for his unrewarded siege of Tyre.

The background behind it

Dated to 587 BC, this oracle targets Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), whose failed military intervention encouraged Judah's rebellion against Babylon. The forty-year desolation and the 'wages' for Nebuchadnezzar reflect the complex geo-political realities of the period.

Themes running underneath

The tannim imagery challenges Egypt's mythological self-understanding, where the pharaoh was associated with divine power over the Nile. God's sovereignty over Egypt demonstrates that no world power operates independently of divine governance.

Why it still matters

Political powers that present themselves as self-sufficient creators of their own prosperity are engaging in the same delusion Ezekiel attributes to Pharaoh. All resources and rivers ultimately belong to God.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.