“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword.
Parallel Translations
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“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword.
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Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
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'Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it hath not been bound up to be healed, to put a roller, that it be bound up and wax strong, that it hold the sword.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 30:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 30:13 There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines.
- Jeremiah 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you.
- Psalms 37:17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous.
- Jeremiah 48:25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh.
- Psalms 10:15 Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.
- Ezekiel 30:24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before the king of Babylon with the groaning of a mortally wounded man.
- Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
- Jeremiah 51:8-9 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let’s each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
- Nahum 3:16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.
- Revelation 18:21 A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish, Jer. 46:26.
For Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish, Jer. 46:26.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the…
Eze 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
Ver. 21. I have broken the arm.] Ita ut nulla arte vel ope; so that by no means or medicines it can be made whole again. Losses received in war can hardly be repaired.
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 I have often told thee I would break, now…
I have often told thee I would break, now I tell thee
I have broken, partly by the victory of the Chaldean over Pharaoh-necho, partly by the victory the Cyreneaus got over Pharaoh-hophra to raise the siege, from which attempt he fell with shame and loss, but more by civil wars.
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Pharaoh; Hophra or Apries.
It shall not be bound up to be healed; and this wound is incurable,
it shall never be bound up to be healed, his arm shall never be strong and fit to encounter a potent enemy, as once it was.
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 Son of man, I have broken the arm of…
Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Not Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt, whose army was overthrown at Carchemish by the king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; when the latter took from the former all that belonged to him between the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates; by which he was so weakened and dispirited, that he could not stir any more out of his own land, Jer 46:2 and of him Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; but Pharaohhophra, or Apries, who was defeated by the Cyreneans, and saved himself by flight; See Gill on Eze 29:4,
and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it; a metaphor taken from chirurgeons, who, having set broken bones, put on a bandage or rollers of linen, or such like stuff, to keep them tight; but nothing of this kind should be done; hereby suggesting that Egypt should receive such a blow or wound as would be incurable; see Jer 46:11,
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to make it strong to hold the sword; which it should not be able to do, or to make war any more, at least with success, or to defend itself.
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 Have broken - Partly by the victory of the…
Have broken - Partly by the victory of the Chaldeans over Pharaoh-necho, partly by the victory of the Cyreneans over Pharaoh-hophra. The sword - None can heal the wounds that God gives but himself. They whom he disables, cannot again hold the sword.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh]…
Verse 21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh] Perhaps this may refer to his defeat by Nebuchadnezzar, when he was coming with the Egyptian army to succour Jerusalem.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain
CHAPTER XXX.
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 broken . . . arm of Pharaoh-- (Psa 37:17;…
broken . . . arm of Pharaoh-- (Psa 37:17; Jer 48:25). Referring to the defeat which Pharaoh-hophra sustained from the Chaldeans, when trying to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer 37:5, Jer 37:7); and previous to the deprivation of Pharaoh-necho of all his conquests from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Kg2 24:7; Jer 46:2); also to the Egyptian disaster in Cyrene.
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 21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh —…
21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh — The loss by Hophra of his dependencies, because of the failure of his attempt to resist the Chaldeans (Jer_34:21; Jer_37:5) is compared to a fractured arm. (See Eze_31:17.) This loss of power will never be regained. He will not even have time to apply healing medicines and to put a splint (roller) upon it before Jehovah, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, shall be upon him to break the other arm also (Eze_30:22).
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 21. broken the arm] While the Chaldeans were besieging…
21. broken the arm] While the Chaldeans were besieging Jerusalem the army of Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) advanced and compelled them to raise the siege, Jer_37:5; cf. Jer_34:21. The Egyptians were repulsed and the siege renewed. It is possible that breaking the arm of Pharaoh refers to this circumstance. At all events the distinction between the two arms, and the threat that both the sound and the fractured one shall be altogether broken, suggest that an actual past occurrence is referred to in the figure of Eze_30:21.
a roller to bind it] i.e. a bandage. For the word cf. Eze_16:4, Job_38:9.
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 (21) I have broken.—This is in the perfect tense,…
(21) I have broken.—This is in the perfect tense, and refers to the breaking of the power of Egypt by the former conquests of Assyria, and perhaps especially to the great battle of Carchemish (about twenty years before), in which Egypt received a blow from which she never recovered. The word “roller” would be better understood now if translated bandage.
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 I have broken the arm. The metaphor was in…
I have broken the arm. The metaphor was in itself one of the most familiar. (Eze_17:9 Eze_22:6; 1Sa_2:31; Jer_48:25) What is characteristic in Ezekiel is the way in which he follows the figure, so to speak, into its surgical details. A man with a broken arm might be cured and fight again; but it was not to be so with Pharaoh. His arm was not to be bound with a roller (the equivalent of the modern process of putting it in "splints"). The Hebrew word for "roller" is not found elsewhere, and Ezekiel"s use of it is one of the instances of his knowledge of surgery. The corresponding verb is used by him of the bandages or swaddling-clothes of infancy. (Eze_16:4)
Vers. 21, 22, 24. The broken and the strengthened arm.
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have broken the arm of Pharaoh King of Egypt;" "I will strengthen the arms of the King of Babylon." These words suggest to us three things.
I GOD"S ACTION ON ALL THE NATIONS. God was in an especial sense "the God of Israel," but certainly not in an exclusive sense. He was, as he is, the God of all the nations. He was observing, directing, overruling everywhere. If Egypt fell, it was because he "broke the arm of Pharaoh;" if Babylon triumphed, it was because he made it strong in the day of battle. Statesmen and warriors were supposing that all events were the outcome of their policy and of their strategy; but, in fact, there was a power behind them and all their schemes, laying low or raising up, bringing into humiliation or causing to succeed. And there has been no age of the world, as there has been no part of the earth, in which the Divine hand has not been engaged either in breaking or in building.
II THE BROKEN ARM OF INIQUITY. We may truly say that God is continually occupied in "breaking the arm" of wrong and sin. He does so in one of two ways.
1. Either by his direct active interposition; so touching the chain of events at one of its links, as to bring about disaster; intervening at some point by the introduction of some factor which makes all the difference in the end.
2. Or by the steadfast action of his wise and holy laws those laws which compel all wrong-doing to others and all violation of what is due to ourself to lead down to weakness, to misery, to death. Iniquity often seems very strong; it is sustained by stone fortresses, by armies and navies, by high rank, by great wealth, by numbers, by deep-rooted customs, by venerable institutions. Nevertheless, it is on its way to overthrow and ruin. For God has designed to "break its arm." He may do so by unexpected means; he may take longer time than we wish he would take in the process; but he will accomplish it. He will bring Divine justice, Divine wisdom, Divine penalty, to bear upon and against it, and its power will be broken. It is a vain thing to be on the side of prevailing wrong; for if we are, God is against us, and, sooner or later, we shall "be confounded.
III THE STRENGTHENED ARM OF RECTITUDE. It may be that God will "strengthen the arm of Babylon," of some "power" or of some man who has no claim on the ground of righteousness, doing this for the accomplishment of some wise and holy purpose. But there is no promise to unrighteousness. Those who regard not the works nor the Word of the Lord need not expect that he will "build them up". (see Psa_28:5) It is those who fear him, who seek to do his will and to follow in the footsteps of his Son, it is they who may hope to have "their arm strengthened," their work crowned with success, their hopes fulfilled. Not, indeed, that all good men will receive from God all that they would like to have; for we cannot "choose our own inheritance" with any deep wisdom, and it is well for us that many things on which we set our heart should be, as they are, denied us of God. But, making all needful exceptions, the soul that earnestly seeks God"s face and strives to live his life will find that his Divine Lord will "strengthen his arm" by;
1. Directing his course in ways of competence and peace.
2. "Strengthening him with strength in his soul," and thus fitting him for all duty, trial, and temptation.
3. Making him the source of blessing to those whom he seeks to serve in the fields of sacred usefulness. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 30:21-23 broken the arm of Pharaoh: The Lord had…
30:21-23 broken the arm of Pharaoh: The Lord had already shattered the Egyptians’ strength in the defeat of Pharaoh Hophra by Nebuchadnezzar (see Jer 37:5-11). Had Hophra succeeded in his mission, the pressure on Jerusalem would have been relieved, at least temporarily; now all hope of help from Egypt was gone. There was no prospect that the broken arm would heal or even be temporarily bound up so that Pharaoh could protect Jerusalem. Egypt would be totally helpless, unable even to hold a sword as it awaited the final death thrust.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.