301 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Wail, Alas for the day! 3 For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. 4 A sword shall come on Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5 Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Cub, and the children of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. 6 Thus says Yahweh: They also who uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword, says the Lord Yahweh. 7 They shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8 They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. 9 In that day shall messengers go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes. 10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12 I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it. 13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14 I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No. 15 I will pour my wrath on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. 16 I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall be broken up; and Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime. 17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity. 18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. 19 Thus will I execute judgments on Egypt; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 30:1-19
Commentary on Ezekiel 30:1-19
(Read Ezekiel 30:1-19)
The prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full. Those who take their lot with God's enemies, shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. No place in the land of Egypt shall escape the fury of the Chaldeans. The Lord is known by the judgments he executes. Yet these are only present effects of the Divine displeasure, not worthy of our fear, compared with the wrath to come, from which Jesus delivers his people.