I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.”
“ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered. I will reverse the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth. They will be a lowly kingdom, there. It will be the lowest of the kingdoms. It won’t lift itself up above the nations any more. I will diminish them, so that they will no longer rule over the nations.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v14 Meaning, that they should not have full dominion, but…
Meaning, that they should not have full dominion, but be under the Persians, Greeks and Romans, and the cause is that the Israelites should no more put their trust in them, but learn to depend on God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Eze 29:12 And I will make the land of…
Eze 29:12 And 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.
Ver. 12. In the midst of the countries.] Palestine, Moab, Edom, Judea, &c. See Jer 46:18-20
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And her cities.] Which are said to have been twenty thousand in the reign of Amasis, the chief whereof were Alexandria, Thebes, Babylon, Memphis, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–15 This verse is a further repeated confirmation of what…
This verse is a further repeated confirmation of what was said before, and needs no new explication, every thing in it being already spoken to in the former verses.
Among the nations; some into captivity, others by a timely retirement dispersed themselves, and got among their neighbours, who escaped, and where they kept, till the forty years expired.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–15 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate…
And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate,.... As Judea and others, made desolate by the king of Babylon:
and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years; such as Thebes, Sais, Memphis, and others; which should share the same fate as Jerusalem and other principal cities in other countries, which fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar:
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and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries; such as were not carried captive into Babylon fled into other countries, as Arabia, Ethiopia, and other places, Berosus (u) makes mention of this captivity of the Egyptians under Nebuchadnezzar the son, which no other writer does.
(u) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Pathros - The southern part of Egypt, in which…
Pathros - The southern part of Egypt, in which was the famous city Thebae, known for its hundred gates. Their habitation - The ancient habitation of their fathers. A base - A low, tributary, dependent kingdom.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–14 Verse 12. Shall be desolate forty years] The country…
Verse 12. Shall be desolate forty years] The country from Migdol or Magdolan, which was on the isthmus between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, was so completely ruined, that it might well be called desert; and it is probable that this desolation continued during the whole of the reign of Amasis, which was just forty years. See Herod. lib. iii. c. 10; and see Calmet.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v14 Eze 29:14-15. And I will bring again the captivity…
Eze 29:14-15. And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt — This captivity of the Egyptians, though not taken notice of by Herodotus, is mentioned by Berosus, in one of the fragments of his history, quoted by Josephus, Antiq., 50. 10. chap. 11, and published with notes by Scaliger, at the end of his books, De Emendatione Temporum, whose remark upon the place is very observable, namely, “The calamities that befell the Egyptians are passed over by Herodotus, because the Egyptian priests would not inform him of any thing that tended to the disgrace of their nation.” And I will cause them to return into the land of Pathros — That part of Egypt which is called Thebais, as Bochart proves by several arguments. And they shall be there a base kingdom, the basest of kingdoms — “By base kingdom is meant, that it should be tributary and subject to strangers, for the much greatest part of the time. This is the purport and meaning of the prophecy; and the truth will appear by a short deduction of the history of Egypt from that time to this. It was first of all tributary to the Babylonians under Amasis; upon the ruin of the Babylonish empire, it was subject to the Persians; upon the failure of the Persian empire, it came into the hands of the Macedonians; after the Macedonians, it fell under the dominion of the Romans; after the division of the Roman empire, it was subdued by the Saracens, in the reign of Omar, their third emperor; about the year of Christ 1250, it was in the possession of the Mamelukes, a word which signifies a slave bought with money, but is appropriated to those Turkish or Circassian slaves, whom the sultans of Egypt bought young, and taught military exercises. These slaves usurped the royal authority, and by that means Egypt became their prey. But, A.D. 1517, Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamelukes, and annexed Egypt to the Ottoman empire, of which it continues to be a province to this day. By this deduction it appears, that the truth of Ezekiel’s prediction is fully attested by the whole series of the history of Egypt, from that time to the present. And who could pretend to say, upon human conjecture, that so great a kingdom, so rich and fertile a country, should ever afterward become tributary and subject to strangers? It is now a great deal above two thousand years since this prophecy was first delivered; and what likelihood or appearance was there, that the Egyptians should, for so many ages, bow under a foreign yoke, and never, in all that time, be able to recover their liberties, and have a prince of their own to reign over them? But as is the prophecy, so is the event.” — Bishop Newton.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13–14 A similar respite was promised to Moab Jer 48:47,…
A similar respite was promised to Moab Jer 48:47, to Ammon Jer 49:6, and to Tyre Isa 23:15.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v14 Low. The Jews were not more tempted to apply…
Low. The Jews were not more tempted to apply to them for aid. (Calmet) --- Amasis strove to shake off the yoke: but Cambyses came and slew many. Psammenites killed himself; (Herodotus iii. 9.) or was taken to Susa, and the country laid waste. (Ctesias) --- Egypt has almost ever since been subject to foreign princes, (Haydock) Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. The trade of Egypt, by caravans, was in a manner destroyed for forty years by Nabuchodonosor, whose victories Megesthenes and Berosus attest 300 years before Christ. (Watson)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–14 As Israel passed through a term of wilderness discipline…
As Israel passed through a term of wilderness discipline (compare Eze 20:35, &c.), which was in its essential features to be repeated again, so it was to be with Egypt [FAIRBAIRN]. Some Egyptians were to be carried to Babylon, also many "scattered" in Arabia and Ethiopia through fear; but mainly the "scattering" was to be the dissipation of their power, even though the people still remained in their own land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 12. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations…
12. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations — Every oriental conqueror took back with him strings of captives and gave them as slaves to his soldiers and allies; but certainly there was no wholesale deportation of the people, as in the case of Israel and Judah. (Compare Eze_12:15.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–14 12. Cf. Eze_12:15, Eze_26:19, Eze_30:7.
12. Cf. Eze_12:15, Eze_26:19, Eze_30:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–14 (12) Scatter the Egyptians among the nations.—Megasthenes and Berosus…
(12) Scatter the Egyptians among the nations.—Megasthenes and Berosus state that Nebuchadnezzar on his conquest of Egypt, sent great numbers of the people captive to Babylon; others doubtless, as in similar cases, took refuge in Ethiopia, Libya, and other neighbouring lands. The kind of desolation foretold for Egypt is the same as that for “desolate” cities and countries that fell under the power of the conqueror: they were to be plundered and reduced to subjection.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–15 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. As…
I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. As before, records are silent as to any such dispersion. All that we can say is that such a deportation was uniformly the sequel of the conquests of an Oriental king, as in the ease of the captivities of Samaria (2Ki_17:6) and Jerusalem, and of the nations that were settled in Samaria, (2Ki_17:6) and of the Persians by Darius; that if we find reason to believe that Egypt was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar after the destruction of Jerusalem, we may assume, with little risk of doubt, that it was followed by what Ezekiel describes.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v14 I Will bring again the Captivity of Egypt.
Eze_29:14
I Will bring again the Captivity of Egypt.
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Gods dealings with heathen nations
1. The goodness and mercy of God extend to heathens. He hath a care of them in their captivity, and after they have suffered His appointed time He will show kindness to them.
2. The afflictions of nations and persons may be long, yet not without end; they may suffer seven and seven years, yea, twenty, thirty, forty years together, which is a long time, and then see an end of their sufferings.
3. God sometimes deals more favourably with heathens than with His own people. At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians, but it was the end of seventy years before He gathered the Jews out of Babylon: His own people were thirty years, or near upon, longer under the Babylonish yoke than the Egyptians. There was just cause for this; Gods people had sinned worse than the heathens, and so provoked Him above them.
4. Nothing is too hard for God, or can hinder the fulfilling of His will. The Egyptians were scattered among the nations, here a family and there a family, and that forty years together; so mingled with the people of other countries that they had well nigh forgotten Egypt, and had so drunk in the manners and customs of the places where they lived that they were neutralised thereunto; they were so rooted among the nations that it seemed impossible to pluck them up, and plant them in their own countries; yet notwithstanding these things, saith God, I will gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered. The Jews had lain longer n Babylon, and were like dry bones in the grave, without hope (Eze_37:11); but God made good His word; He brought them out with a strong hand, breaking in pieces gates of brass, and cutting in sunder bars of iron.
5. It is the same hand, the same God, that drives men out of their countries and comforts, into deep and long afflictions abroad, and brings them back out of the same, to enjoy their countries and comforts. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Pharaoh.
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I will gather Egypt
Here "Egypt" is a metonym for the people of Egypt, and "gather" is a metaphor for causing them to return to Egypt. AT: "I will cause the people of Egypt to return to Egypt" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
among whom they were scattered
This can be translated in active form. AT: "among whom I scattered them" (See: Active or Passive)
I will restore the fortunes of Egypt
The phrase "fortunes of Egypt" is a metaphor for the people of Egypt who had been taken away to other countries. AT: "I will bring back the people of Egypt" (See: Metaphor)
the region of Pathros
the southern part of Egypt between the Delta and the land of Cush. This is also called Upper Egypt. (See: How to Translate Names)
a lowly kingdom
Here "lowly" represents unimportant. AT: "an unimportant kingdom" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Lord Yahweh
people group
restore
lowly
kingdom
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v14 29:14-16 Judah would ultimately be fully restored, but Egypt…
29:14-16 Judah would ultimately be fully restored, but Egypt would remain an unimportant . . . kingdom. Israel would never again be tempted to call on Egypt for help instead of calling on the Lord. Egypt’s restored but reduced position would make it a constant reminder of Israel’s past folly in trusting it.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.