Ezekiel 32:2 kjv
Son 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.
Ezekiel 32:2 nkjv
"Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: 'You are like a young lion among the nations, And you are like a monster in the seas, Bursting forth in your rivers, Troubling the waters with your feet, And fouling their rivers.
Ezekiel 32:2 niv
"Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: "?'You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas thrashing about in your streams, churning the water with your feet and muddying the streams.
Ezekiel 32:2 esv
"Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: "You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers.
Ezekiel 32:2 nlt
"Son of man, mourn for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and give him this message: "You think of yourself as a strong young lion among the nations,
but you are really just a sea monster,
heaving around in your own rivers,
stirring up mud with your feet.
Ezekiel 32 2 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ezekiel 32:2 | "Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art likened unto 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 the waters with thy feet." | Ezekiel 32:2 (Verse for Analysis) |
| Isaiah 19:10 | "And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make dams [of] channels of rivers, and they that make sluices [and] all those that work in the land for hire." | Isaiah 19:10 (On Egypt's channels troubled) |
| Jeremiah 51:36 | "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry." | Jeremiah 51:36 (Lord drying up sea for judgment) |
| Jeremiah 46:2 | "Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon smote, [namely] in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah." | Jeremiah 46:2 (Pharaoh's defeat) |
| 2 Kings 23:29 | "In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria unto the river Euphrates: and Josiah the king went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him." | 2 Kings 23:29 (Pharaoh-nechoh's actions) |
| Ezekiel 29:3 | "Speak, 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." | Ezekiel 29:3 (Egypt as dragon in river) |
| Ezekiel 29:4 | "But 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." | Ezekiel 29:4 (Lord against Pharaoh's power) |
| Ezekiel 32:11 | "For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also spread my net upon thee, and thou shalt be taken in my snare, and I will bring thee up into my net, and cast thee into the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain on thee, and will fill thee with the spoils of the whole earth." | Ezekiel 32:11 (Lord's judgment with a net) |
| Amos 9:3 | "And if they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and if they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:" | Amos 9:3 (Judgment reaching the sea) |
| Psalms 18:15 | "And I heard the voice which caused the waters round about him to bow themselves before him." | Psalms 18:15 (God's powerful actions) |
| Psalms 74:13 | "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the leviathans in the waters." | Psalms 74:13 (God's power over sea creatures) |
| Job 7:12 | "Am I a sea, or a great fish, that thou settest a watch over me?" | Job 7:12 (Man compared to sea or fish) |
| Isaiah 27:1 | "In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." | Isaiah 27:1 (Serpent/dragon in the sea slain) |
| Revelation 13:1 | "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy." | Revelation 13:1 (Beast from the sea) |
| Nahum 3:11 | "Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy." | Nahum 3:11 (Drunkenness and seeking strength) |
| Nahum 3:17 | "Thy crowned are as the grasshoppers, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are." | Nahum 3:17 (Captains like grasshoppers fleeing) |
| Joel 2:2 | "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not ever been the like, neither shall be after it even to the years of many generations." | Joel 2:2 (Day of darkness and a strong people) |
| Joel 2:10 | "The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:" | Joel 2:10 (Earth quaking, heavens trembling) |
| Zephaniah 1:2 | "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD." | Zephaniah 1:2 (Consuming all things) |
| Lamentations 2:9 | "Her gates also shall sink in to the ground; he shall destroy and break the bars thereof: her king and her princes shall be among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD." | Lamentations 2:9 (King and princes among Gentiles) |
Ezekiel 32 verses
Ezekiel 32 2 Meaning
The verse describes the mighty king of Egypt, Pharaoh, who is compared to a great monster in the seas, having plunged into the waters and stirred them up, muddied them with his feet, and stirred them with his fins. This signifies his power, pride, and eventual downfall and subjugation.
Ezekiel 32 2 Context
This chapter continues Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the judgment of Egypt. The prophet is instructed to pronounce a lament over Pharaoh, King of Egypt, whom he is to liken to a powerful and destructive sea creature. The lament is framed by the surrounding prophecies against Egypt in chapters 29 and 30, emphasizing the downfall of its might and its proud ruler. Historically, this refers to a period of Egyptian decline and vulnerability to empires like Assyria and later Babylon, with Pharaoh Neco's defeat at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar being a significant event. The imagery of a sea monster speaks to Egypt's perceived invincibility and its ability to "trouble" other nations through its power and influence, like rivers affecting the waters they flow into.
Ezekiel 32 2 Word Analysis
- Son of man: (Hebrew: ben adam) - A direct address from God to Ezekiel, emphasizing his humanity and role as a messenger, as opposed to the divine source of the message. It signifies his responsibility to deliver God's word.
- take up: (Hebrew: sa) - To lift, bear, or carry. Here it means to lift up or raise a lamentation, to begin a song of mourning.
- lamentation: (Hebrew: qowlin or kinah) - A dirge, a poem or song of mourning, expressing sorrow and grief. In this context, it's a prophetic declaration of impending doom and sorrow.
- for Pharaoh king of Egypt: (Hebrew: al-par`oh melekh-mitsrayim) - Specifies the subject of the lamentation as the ruler of Egypt, identifying him by his title and nation.
- and say unto him: - An instruction for Ezekiel to directly convey the message to Pharaoh, as if speaking to him personally.
- Thou art likened: (Hebrew: damagta) - You are compared. Pharaoh is equated with a specific entity for the purpose of this prophecy.
- unto a young lion: (Hebrew: keda'ar or kepir) - Denotes strength, ferocity, youthfulness, and predatory nature. This signifies Pharaoh's aggressive and powerful but potentially immature or soon-to-be-conquered status among the nations.
- of the nations: (Hebrew: min-habarim or goim) - Indicating he was a prominent power or king amongst the surrounding peoples.
- and thou art as a whale: (Hebrew: wena`i lkha qahal qatowm) - The Hebrew can be translated in various ways; here, it's often understood as a large, powerful sea creature, often interpreted as a dragon or sea monster. It captures a sense of immense size and potential danger. This connects to the chaos-monster imagery common in Ancient Near Eastern mythology.
- in the seas: (Hebrew: bayyamim) - Within the vast oceans, a domain often associated with primordial power and chaos in ancient cosmologies.
- and thou camest forth: (Hebrew: u-batseth) - You emerged or came out. This describes his movement from his realm (the sea/river) into the world.
- with thy rivers: (Hebrew: bidnekayk or bepalginayk) - This phrase can be difficult, potentially referring to his effluents, the streams that fed him, or the canals/rivers of Egypt, which were a source of his prosperity and power. It implies his connection to the lifeblood of Egypt.
- and troubledst the waters: (Hebrew: wat-tirmey or terab) - To disturb, agitate, or muddy. Pharaoh's actions, his might and aggressive foreign policy, disturbed the stability of the political and international landscape.
- with thy feet: (Hebrew: beraglakh or beregyk) - The physical appendages that create the disturbance. This emphasizes his direct agency in causing chaos through his movements and actions.
- and fouledst the waters: (Hebrew: tith`ammesu et-hammayim) - To muddy, cloud, or make the waters turbid. This indicates that his interference not only disturbed but also corrupted or contaminated the waters of international relations, making them unclear and dangerous.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- Young lion of the nations: This comparison encapsulates Pharaoh's aggressive and dominating stance among the nations. It suggests he sees himself as a king of beasts among other nations. The "young" aspect might hint at a strength that is yet to face a final test, or a boastful pride that hasn't matured into true wisdom.
- Whale in the seas, troubling waters with feet: This entire imagery paints Pharaoh as a monstrous force from the aquatic realm, disruptive and polluting. The "sea" can represent the chaotic realm of nations. His "feet" acting to "trouble" and "foul" the waters illustrate his geopolitical interventions that destabilized regional peace and prosperity, like Egypt's past interferences in the affairs of Israel and Judah. The immense power described is not God's power, but a creaturely power that God will ultimately subdue.
Ezekiel 32 2 Bonus Section
The imagery of Egypt as a great sea creature, particularly a dragon or a leviathan, is a recurring theme in the Old Testament prophetic books. It draws upon ancient Near Eastern mythology where primeval sea monsters often symbolized chaos and opposing divine order. By attributing such a monstrous character to Egypt, and specifically to Pharaoh, Ezekiel powerfully conveys the arrogance and anti-God sentiment inherent in his pride and territorial ambitions. This serves to underscore that such earthly powers, however formidable they may seem, are ultimately subject to the sovereignty and judgment of the Almighty God. The “troubling” of waters is a clear metaphor for disrupting the peace and established order among the nations.
Ezekiel 32 2 Commentary
Ezekiel 32:2 declares a prophetic lament over Pharaoh, comparing him to a potent yet ultimately destabilizing force, a "young lion" among nations and a monstrous "whale" in the seas. This metaphor vividly portrays Egypt's power and influence, often used aggressively. Pharaoh's actions, likened to stirring and muddling the waters with his feet, represent his disruptive impact on the political and regional order. His proud arrogance and perceived invincibility are highlighted, positioning him as a formidable power that will eventually face divine judgment. The imagery is typical of prophetic critiques of powerful, oppressive nations that sow discord.