Ezekiel 32

In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

1And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

NoteEzekiel dates his messages from the deportation of King Jehoiachin of Judah to Babylon in 597 BC. The twelfth year, twelfth month, first day works out to about March 585 BC, roughly a year and a half after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem.

2Son of man, sing a funeral song for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: You are like a young lion among the nations, and like a great creature in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, stirring up the water with your feet and muddying the streams.

2Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

NoteA funeral song (Hebrew qinah) was a formal lament chanted over a corpse, with its own limping rhythm. Singing one over a king who is still alive and on his throne is a deliberate insult: it treats him as already dead. The "great creature" translates a Hebrew word (tannin) used both for the Nile crocodile and for the sea-monster of old stories. The "rivers" are the Nile and the branches and canals that spread from it; Egypt's whole life depended on them, and a ruler who muddies his own water is fouling what he claims to give.

3This is what the Lord GOD says: I will spread my net over you, using a crowd of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my net.

3Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.

NoteKings in this period boasted of hunting big game with nets, and Assyrian and Babylonian art shows captured enemies dragged in nets. The picture is of a crocodile hauled out of the river by a work-gang.

4Then I will leave you on dry land and throw you out into the open field. I will make all the birds of the sky settle on you, and I will let the wild animals of the whole earth eat their fill of you.

4Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.

NoteTo be left unburied for scavenging birds and animals was the worst end an ancient reader could imagine. Proper burial mattered enormously; the corpse thrown into the open field is a body denied all honor.

5I will spread your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with what is left of your body.

5And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "what is left of your body" is rare and uncertain; it has been read as "your height," "your bulk," "your carcass," or "your rotting remains." The King James "thy height" is a literal guess at the same puzzle.

6I will soak the land where you swim with your blood, all the way to the mountains, and the streambeds will be full of you.

6I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.

Note"Streambeds" are wadis: dry ravines in the hills that fill with water only when it rains. The image is of gullies running with blood the way they run with flood water.

7When I snuff you out, I will cover the sky and darken its stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.

7And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

NoteDarkening the sun, moon and stars was the standard poetic way of announcing the collapse of a great power; ancient hearers took it as the language of national catastrophe rather than a weather report. For Egypt it also echoes the plague of darkness in the exodus story.

8All the shining lights in the sky I will darken over you, and I will bring darkness over your land, says the Lord GOD.

8All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.

9I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the nations, into countries you have never known.

9I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

10I will leave many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with horror because of you when I swing my sword in front of them. On the day you fall, every one of them will tremble moment by moment, each fearing for his own life.

10Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

NoteTo "brandish" a sword is to swing it in plain view as a threat, the way a soldier flourishes a blade before the fight.

11For this is what the Lord GOD says: The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you.

11For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.

NoteNebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 BC and had destroyed Jerusalem a few years before this message.

12I will make your crowds of people fall by the swords of strong men, the most ruthless of all the nations. They will strip away the proud splendor of Egypt, and all her crowds will be destroyed.

12By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.

NoteThe King James word "terrible" here means terrifying, inspiring dread, not "of poor quality" as it does in modern speech. It describes the Babylonian army as the most fearsome soldiers alive.

13I will also kill all her cattle that graze beside the plentiful waters. No human foot will stir up those waters again, and no cattle hooves will churn them.

13I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.

NoteEgypt's cattle grazed and watered along the Nile, and herds standing in the shallows stirred the mud. The point of killing them is that afterwards nothing at all disturbs the water, because nothing is left alive.

14Then I will let their waters settle and make their rivers run smooth as oil, says the Lord GOD.

14Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteOil pours in an unbroken, glassy stream. The image is beautiful and grim at once: the Nile at last running perfectly smooth because no person or animal is there to trouble it.

15When I make the land of Egypt empty and waste, stripped of everything that once filled it, and when I strike down everyone who lives there, then they will know that I am the LORD.

15When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD.

16This is the funeral song they will sing for her. The women of the nations will sing it. They will sing it for Egypt and for all her crowds of people, says the Lord GOD.

16This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

NotePublic mourning was a trade, and the professional mourners were women. "The daughters of the nations" are the women of each country hired or expected to chant the lament, so Egypt's funeral song gets sung across the whole known world.

17Also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

17It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

NoteThe Hebrew here gives the day but no month, which is unusual for Ezekiel; the ancient Greek translation supplies "the first month." If the month of verse 1 is meant, this comes a fortnight after the previous message.

18Son of man, wail over the crowds of Egypt. Send her down, along with the daughters of the mighty nations, to the world below, to be with those who go down into the pit.

18Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.

Note"The pit" and "the world below" both name Sheol, the underworld where the Hebrew Bible pictures all the dead lying together, kings and commoners alike. It is not a place of punishment but simply the realm of the dead, deep under the earth. The prophet is told to send Egypt down there by pronouncing the words, on the principle that a prophet's announcement sets the event in motion.

19Are you more beautiful than anyone else? Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.

19Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.

NoteCircumcision was practiced by Israel and by several of its neighbors, Egypt included, so "the uncircumcised" here works as a slur rather than a literal description: it means the dishonored dead, the foreigners and barbarians, the crowd a proud nation would be ashamed to be buried beside. Where you were buried, and with whom, was a matter of lasting honor or disgrace.

20They will fall among those killed by the sword. She is handed over to the sword; drag her away, along with all her crowds.

20They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.

21The strongest of the mighty warriors will speak from inside the world of the dead about Pharaoh and those who helped him: They have come down; they lie there uncircumcised, killed by the sword.

21The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

NoteThe King James "hell" translates Sheol, the shadowy underworld of the dead, and does not carry its later English sense of a place of fiery punishment. The dead warriors greet a newcomer the way established residents greet an arrival, a scene also found in Isaiah 14.

22Asshur, that is Assyria, is there with all her company, and her graves are all around her. Every one of them was killed, fallen by the sword.

22Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:

NoteAsshur is the Hebrew name for Assyria, the empire that dominated the Near East for centuries and terrorised Israel and Judah, until Babylon and its allies destroyed it between 612 and 609 BC, within living memory of Ezekiel's hearers. It heads the list as the most recent example of an unbeatable power now in the grave.

23Her graves are set deep in the sides of the pit, and her company lies all around her grave. Every one of them was killed, fallen by the sword, though once they spread terror through the land of the living.

23Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

Note"The land of the living" is the ordinary world above ground, where living people are, as opposed to the underworld. The phrase is the standing opposite of "the pit."

24Elam is there, with all her crowds around her grave. Every one of them was killed, fallen by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the world below, they who once spread their terror through the land of the living, and they carry their shame with those who go down into the pit.

24There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.

NoteElam was a kingdom east of Babylonia, in what is now south-western Iran, with its chief city at Susa. It was an old and feared military power, broken by Assyria in the seventh century BC.

25A bed has been made for her among the killed, along with all her crowds, and her graves are all around her. Every one of them is uncircumcised, killed by the sword. Though they spread their terror through the land of the living, they carry their shame with those who go down into the pit. She is laid among those who were killed.

25They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

Note"A bed" here means a resting place in the grave; graves and burial chambers were spoken of as beds and the dead as lying down. The pronouns switch between "her" and "him" through these verses because Hebrew treats a nation as feminine while its ruler or its army is masculine; the switching is in the original and translators generally leave it.

26Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their crowds, and their graves are all around them. Every one of them is uncircumcised, killed by the sword, because they spread their terror through the land of the living.

26There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

NoteMeshech and Tubal were peoples of eastern Asia Minor, in what is now central and eastern Turkey. Assyrian records know them as troublesome mountain kingdoms; the Bible elsewhere lists them among traders in slaves and bronze.

27They do not lie with the fallen mighty men among the uncircumcised, who went down to the world of the dead with their weapons of war, their swords laid under their heads. Instead their sins rest on their bones, though these men were once the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

27And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

NoteWarriors of rank were buried in full kit, sword laid under the head and shield over the body, so that they went down to the underworld armed and honored. This verse is one of the hardest in the chapter: the Hebrew says these men do *not* lie with those honored warriors, while the ancient Greek version reads "the fallen warriors of old" (an allusion to the legendary giants), and the phrase "their sins rest on their bones" appears in some manuscripts as "their shields rest on their bones." Translations differ accordingly.

28You too will be broken, and you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.

28Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.

29Edom is there, with her kings and all her princes. For all their strength, they are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down into the pit.

29There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

NoteEdom lay south-east of Judah, around the highlands of what is now southern Jordan. Its people were reckoned kin to Israel, descended from Esau, and were bitterly resented for taking advantage of Jerusalem's fall.

30All the rulers of the north are there, and all the Zidonians. They went down with the killed. For all the terror their strength caused, they are put to shame. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and they carry their shame with those who go down into the pit.

30There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

Note"The rulers of the north" are most likely the petty kings of Syria and the Aramean states. The Zidonians are the people of Sidon, a wealthy Phoenician port on the coast of modern Lebanon, famous as seafarers and traders.

31Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted about all his crowds of people, that is Pharaoh and his whole army, killed by the sword, says the Lord GOD.

31Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Comforted" translates a Hebrew word meaning consoled or eased. The consolation offered is simply that of company: Pharaoh finds every other great empire already lying there.

32For I spread my terror through the land of the living. And he will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, that is Pharaoh and all his crowds of people, says the Lord GOD.

32For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteThe Hebrew verb form here can be read as past or future, so translations vary between "I spread my terror" and "I will spread my terror." The ambiguity is in the original.