Ezekiel 32 contains two oracles against Egypt. The first (vv. 1-16) is a qinah — a funeral dirge — for Pharaoh, dated to the twelfth year, twelfth month, first day (March 585 BCE). Pharaoh imagines himself a lion among the nations, but God calls him a thrashing sea-monster (tannim) caught in a divine net, his carcass strewn across mountains and valleys, his blood filling the ravines. The cosmic response is total: stars darkened, sun veiled, moon extinguished. The second oracle (vv. 17-32) is dated to the fifteenth of the same month and is one of the most extraordinary passages in the Hebrew Bible — a guided tour of Sheol, the underworld, where fallen empires lie in organized sections. Assyria, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the Sidonians, and the princes of the north all lie in their graves, each 'bearing their shame' among the uncircumcised dead. Pharaoh descends to join them, and — in a twist of grim irony — is 'comforted' by seeing that he is not alone in ruin.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The Sheol descent (vv. 17-32) is without parallel in the Hebrew Bible. While Isaiah 14 briefly depicts the king of Babylon arriving in Sheol, Ezekiel provides a systematic survey of the underworld — mapping it as a stratified necropolis where each fallen empire occupies its own section. The repetitive formulaic structure ('There is X... all of them slain, fallen by the sword... they bear their shame with those who descend to the pit') creates a liturgical cadence, as though the prophet is leading a processional through a vast cemetery of civilizations. The shame vocabulary is relentless: each nation 'bears its shame' (nas'u kelimmatam) among the uncircumcised dead — circumcision status becomes the marker of dignity even in death. Pharaoh's 'comfort' at seeing the other slain (v. 31) is deeply ironic: the only consolation the dead can offer is shared disgrace. We rendered the Sheol tour as poetry, preserving the formulaic repetitions that give it its ritual power.
Translation Friction
The tannim ('sea-monster, dragon') in verse 2 is debated — it could be a crocodile (fitting Egyptian ecology), a mythological sea-dragon (fitting ancient Near Eastern combat myths), or both simultaneously. We render 'monster in the seas' to preserve the ambiguity. The date in verse 17 presents a text-critical issue: the MT does not specify the month, leading some scholars to assume it is the same twelfth month as verse 1, while others propose a different month. We follow the majority reading that places both oracles in the twelfth month. The repetitive Sheol formulae pose a translation challenge: they must be consistent enough to create the liturgical effect but varied enough to avoid monotony. We maintained the core formula while allowing natural variation in the connective language.
Connections
The sea-monster imagery connects to the chaoskampf tradition — God's battle against the primordial sea-monster (Psalm 74:13-14, Isaiah 27:1, Job 26:12-13). The cosmic darkening (vv. 7-8) parallels Joel 2:31, Isaiah 13:10, and anticipates the apocalyptic signs in Mark 13:24-25 and Revelation 6:12-13. The Sheol tour connects to Isaiah 14:3-21 (Babylon's king in Sheol), Ezekiel 31:15-17 (Assyria's descent), and the broader ancient Near Eastern tradition of underworld journeys (the Descent of Ishtar, the Gilgamesh Epic tablet XII). The nations listed in the Sheol tour correspond to the oracles against the nations in chapters 25-31, creating a structural closure: each nation that received a judgment oracle now receives a burial notice.
In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
KJV And 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,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The date places this oracle in March 585 BCE — approximately seven months after the fall of Jerusalem (August 586 BCE). The sequence of Egypt oracles (29:1, 30:20, 31:1, 32:1, 32:17) spans from January 587 to March 585, bracketing Jerusalem's destruction. By this point, the siege and fall are accomplished facts, and Egypt's failure to save Jerusalem is complete.
Son of man, raise a dirge over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
You compared yourself to a young lion among the nations,
but you are a monster in the seas.
You thrashed in your rivers,
muddied the waters with your feet,
and fouled their streams.
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.
The tannim occupies the boundary between natural and mythological. In Egyptian context, the Nile crocodile is the immediate referent; in theological context, the primordial chaos-monster that God subdues (Psalm 74:13, Isaiah 27:1). Ezekiel exploits both dimensions — Pharaoh is a creature of chaos who will be captured by the Creator.
קִינָהqinah
"dirge"—dirge, lament, funeral song, elegy
The funeral genre — the same form used in chapter 19 for Israel's princes. Singing a dirge over a living king pronounces him already dead.
Translator Notes
The contrast between kephir ('young lion') and tannim ('sea-monster, dragon') is deliberate: Pharaoh sees himself as a majestic lion, but God sees him as a chaotic water-beast. The tannim evokes both the Nile crocodile (Egyptian ecology) and the primordial sea-monster of chaos mythology (ancient Near Eastern theology). The verbs tagach ('thrashed, burst forth'), tidlach ('muddied'), and tirpos ('fouled, trampled') depict destructive, chaotic activity — not powerful rule but senseless disruption. Pharaoh's 'rivers' (naharot) likely refer to the Nile's branches and canals.
This is what the Lord GOD says:
I will spread my net over you
with a host of many peoples,
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
KJV Thus 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The fishing metaphor reverses Pharaoh's self-image as a powerful sea-creature: the monster will be caught. The rishti ('my net') and chermi ('my dragnet') are God's instruments — even the Babylonian armies that will defeat Egypt are tools in God's hand. The qehal ammim rabbim ('host of many peoples') refers to the multinational composition of Nebuchadnezzar's forces.
I will fling you onto the land,
hurl you onto the open field.
I will make all the birds of the sky settle on you
and gorge the wild animals of the whole earth with your flesh.
KJV Then 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verbs escalate: natash ('fling, abandon'), atil ('hurl, cast'). The sea-monster is dragged from the water and left to rot on dry land — a reversal of its natural habitat. The image of birds and beasts feeding on the carcass echoes the covenant-curse tradition (Deuteronomy 28:26) and anticipates the great feast of God in 39:17-20. The verb hisba'ti ('I will gorge, satisfy') implies feasting to excess — the carrion is so abundant that every scavenger on earth is sated.
I will pile your flesh on the mountains
and fill the valleys with your carcass.
KJV And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word ramutekha is difficult — it could derive from rum ('height'), yielding 'your height/mass,' or from rimah ('worm, maggot'), yielding 'your worms/decay.' The KJV's 'thy height' follows the first derivation; we render 'your carcass' to capture the physical sense of a body so massive it fills valleys. The mountains-and-valleys pairing echoes 31:12, where the fallen cedar's branches littered the landscape.
I will drench the land with your flowing blood,
up to the mountains;
the ravines will be filled with you.
KJV I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb hishqeiti ('I will drench, water, irrigate') is agricultural language repurposed for horror — the land will be 'irrigated' with blood instead of water. The word tsaphatekha is debated: it may derive from tsuf ('to flow, swim') or from a root meaning 'overflow.' The image of blood reaching 'up to the mountains' and filling ravines conveys catastrophic slaughter on a landscape scale — Egypt's blood will reshape the geography.
When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens
and darken their stars.
I will veil the sun with cloud,
and the moon will not shed its light.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb kavah ('to extinguish, snuff out') treats Pharaoh as a flame to be quenched — cosmic language for political annihilation. The darkening of heavens, stars, sun, and moon forms a four-part de-creation sequence that reverses Genesis 1:14-18, where God set the luminaries in the sky. Pharaoh's destruction undoes creation itself, at least symbolically. This cosmic darkness language appears in Joel 2:31, Isaiah 13:10, and is taken up in the synoptic apocalypse (Mark 13:24-25) and Revelation 6:12-13.
All the luminaries that shine in the heavens —
I will darken them over you
and bring darkness over your land,
declares the Lord GOD.
KJV All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The me'orei or ('luminaries of light') is the same term used in Genesis 1:14-16 for the celestial bodies God created. The deliberate echo turns Egypt's fall into a localized un-creation. The word choshekh ('darkness') over Egypt's land inevitably recalls the ninth plague — the darkness over Egypt in Exodus 10:21-23. Ezekiel, the priestly prophet, draws on Exodus traditions to frame Egypt's future judgment in terms of its past punishment.
I will trouble the hearts of many peoples
when I bring news of your destruction among the nations,
to lands you have never known.
KJV I 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb hikh'asti ('I will trouble, vex, provoke') describes the emotional shock that Egypt's fall will cause among distant peoples. The phrase 'lands you have never known' emphasizes that Egypt's catastrophe will reverberate beyond its sphere of influence — nations that never dealt with Egypt will hear of its destruction and be shaken. The word shivrekha ('your destruction, your shattering') from the root shavar ('to break') conveys total collapse, not mere defeat.
I will make many peoples appalled at you,
and their kings will shudder with horror over you
when I brandish my sword before their faces.
They will tremble every moment,
each one fearing for his own life,
on the day of your fall.
KJV Yea, 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb yis'aru ('will shudder') is related to se'ar ('storm, tempest') — the kings' fear is described as a storm tearing through them. The image of God brandishing 'my sword' (charbi) before the faces of foreign kings is extraordinary: God personally wields the weapon, with Babylon serving merely as its physical carrier. The phrase ish le-nafsho ('each one for his own life') captures the self-preserving panic that sets in when an empire falls — former allies immediately look to their own survival.
For this is what the Lord GOD says: The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you.
KJV For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
After the mythological and cosmic imagery of verses 2-10, the oracle abruptly names the historical agent: Babylon. The brevity of this verse is striking — a single short sentence after the elaborate poetic imagery. The 'sword of the king of Babylon' is both a literal military threat and the same divine sword of verse 10. The simplicity functions as a shock: after dragons, cosmic darkness, and divine net-casting, the actual instrument is a familiar earthly power.
By the swords of warriors I will bring down your hordes —
the most ruthless of the nations, all of them.
They will plunder the pride of Egypt,
and all its masses will be destroyed.
KJV By 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase aritsei goyim ('the most ruthless of the nations') is Ezekiel's stock epithet for Babylon's forces (28:7, 30:11, 31:12). The word ge'on ('pride, majesty, pomp') carries both positive and negative connotations — Egypt's genuine cultural magnificence and its arrogant self-exaltation. The double use of hamon ('hordes, masses') in this verse — hamonekhah and hamonah — hammers the word that characterizes Egypt throughout these oracles: it is a land of teeming multitudes, all of whom will be destroyed.
I will destroy all its livestock from beside the abundant waters,
and no human foot will muddy them again,
nor will the hooves of cattle churn them.
KJV I 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This verse reverses verse 2, where Pharaoh (the sea-monster) muddied the waters with his feet. After Egypt's judgment, the waters will run clear because no one — human or animal — will be left to disturb them. The eerie calm of undisturbed waters is an image of total depopulation. The verb dalach ('to muddy, make turbid') connects the verse directly to 34:18-19, where God condemns leaders who muddy the water that others must drink.
Then I will let their waters settle
and make their rivers flow like oil,
declares the Lord GOD.
KJV Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The simile 'like oil' (ka-shemen) describes water so still and clear it flows with the smooth, viscous quality of olive oil — a beautiful image that masks a horrifying cause. The waters are calm because everyone is dead. The verb ashqi'a ('I will cause to settle, make sink') means the sediment will settle to the bottom — the turbulence of human and animal activity has ceased permanently.
When I make the land of Egypt a desolation,
and the land is stripped of everything that filled it,
when I strike down all who live in it —
then they will know that I am the LORD.
KJV When 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The recognition formula — 'then they will know that I am the LORD' (veya'du ki ani YHWH) — is Ezekiel's theological signature, appearing over sixty times in the book. Every act of judgment and every act of restoration drives toward the same end: the knowledge of God. The pair shemamah/neshammah ('desolation/destitution') creates a paronomasia — the words sound alike, reinforcing the completeness of the devastation.
This is a dirge — they will chant it.
The daughters of the nations will chant it.
Over Egypt and all her hordes they will chant it,
declares the Lord GOD.
KJV This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The triple repetition of the verb qonen ('chant, wail, lament') creates a ritual cadence — the dirge is not merely spoken but performed. The 'daughters of the nations' are the professional mourning women (see Jeremiah 9:17) who lead communal laments. The verse functions as a colophon to the first oracle, identifying its genre (qinah) and prescribing its liturgical use. The self-referential quality — 'This is a dirge' — mirrors 19:14 and breaks the fourth wall of the prophetic text.
On the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
KJV It 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,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The MT reads 'in the fifteenth year' (ba-chamesh esreh shanah), but this appears to be a scribal error for 'in the twelfth year' — the same year as verse 1. Many Hebrew manuscripts and the LXX read 'twelfth year.' The month is not specified in the MT; most scholars assume it is the same twelfth month as verse 1, placing this oracle two weeks after the first. We translate the date as given but note the text-critical issue. The second oracle of the chapter now begins — the descent to Sheol.
Son of man, wail over the hordes of Egypt
and bring them down —
her and the daughters of mighty nations —
to the underworld,
with those who descend to the pit.
KJV Son 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The prophet is commanded not merely to announce judgment but to perform it — his wailing (neheh) enacts the descent. The imperative horideihu ('bring them down') gives the prophet's word a performative force: by speaking, he consigns them to the underworld. The 'daughters of mighty nations' (benot goyim addirim) are the populations of the great empires already in Sheol, whom Egypt will join. The erets tachtiyyot ('underworld,' literally 'lowest lands') introduces the Sheol tour that follows.
Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and lie with the uncircumcised.
KJV Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The rhetorical question echoes 31:2, 18 — 'Whom do you surpass?' The answer is: no one. Egypt is not exempt from the fate of other empires. The command redah ('go down, descend') is a direct imperative — Egypt is ordered to descend to the underworld. The phrase 'lie with the uncircumcised' (hushkevah et arelim) introduces the shame-category that dominates the Sheol tour: the uncircumcised dead occupy the lowest, most disgraceful position. For Egypt, which practiced circumcision, this is a deliberate stripping of cultural dignity.
Among those slain by the sword they will fall.
The sword is appointed.
Drag her away, with all her hordes.
KJV They 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The terse, staccato commands — 'the sword is appointed,' 'drag her away' — create a pitiless rhythm. The verb mashkhu ('drag') implies forced removal — Egypt does not walk to Sheol but is dragged. The feminine pronoun ('her') treats Egypt/Pharaoh as the subject being hauled to the underworld. The passive nittanah ('is given, appointed') suggests the sword has been divinely commissioned — this is execution, not battle.
The mightiest warriors will speak to him from the depths of Sheol,
along with his allies:
'They have gone down; they lie among the uncircumcised,
slain by the sword.'
KJV The 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The dead speak. The elei gibborim ('mightiest warriors') — the champions of fallen empires already in Sheol — address Pharaoh as he arrives. This is the same motif as Isaiah 14:9-10, where the shades of dead kings rise to greet the king of Babylon. The verb yedabberu ('they will speak') implies intelligible speech from the dead — Ezekiel's Sheol is not a place of total oblivion but a twilight existence where the dead retain enough consciousness to mock or 'comfort' new arrivals.
Assyria is there, with all her assembly.
Its graves surround it —
all of them slain, fallen by the sword.
KJV Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Sheol tour begins with Assyria — the great empire of chapter 31, now seen in its underworld resting place. The word qehalah ('her assembly, her congregation') uses cultic language for a political entity, as if Assyria's dead maintain a grim parody of communal life in the underworld. The phrase 'its graves surround it' envisions Sheol as a necropolis with organized burial plots — each empire occupying a defined section with its dead arranged around a central figure.
Their graves are set in the deepest recesses of the pit,
and her assembly surrounds her burial place —
all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
those who spread terror in the land of the living.
KJV Whose 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase yarketei vor ('the deepest recesses of the pit') places Assyria's graves at the very bottom of Sheol — the remotest, lowest region. The contrast between 'the land of the living' (erets chayyim) and the pit is the fundamental spatial theology of these verses: those who terrorized the living world now occupy the dead world's deepest corners. The verb natnu chittit ('they spread terror') acknowledges Assyria's historical power even as it records its permanent defeat.
Elam is there, with all her hordes around her grave —
all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
who went down uncircumcised to the underworld,
those who spread their terror in the land of the living.
Now they bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.
KJV There 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
כְּלִמָּהkelimmah
"shame"—shame, disgrace, humiliation, reproach
The defining condition of the underworld dead in Ezekiel's vision. Each fallen empire 'bears its shame' — the disgrace is not a temporary punishment but a permanent state. In life they spread terror; in death they carry shame.
Translator Notes
Elam, the ancient kingdom east of Mesopotamia (modern southwestern Iran), was a major military power that fell to Assyria and later to Babylon. The formulaic structure repeats from the Assyria section but adds the shame motif: nas'u kelimmatam ('they bear their shame'). The word kelimmah ('shame, disgrace, humiliation') is the key term of the Sheol tour — each nation carries its disgrace as a permanent condition in the underworld. The phrase 'uncircumcised' (arelim) marks their degraded status in death.
In the midst of the slain they made a resting place for her,
with all her hordes.
Her graves surround it —
all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
Though their terror was spread in the land of the living,
they bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.
Among the slain she is placed.
KJV They 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word mishkav ('resting place, bed, couch') is grimly ironic — the death-bed is set 'in the midst of the slain.' The repetitive structure ('all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword... they bear their shame') creates a liturgical cadence that will repeat for each nation in the tour. The final phrase 'among the slain she is placed' (betokh chalalim nittan) serves as a refrain, emphasizing that Elam's position is fixed permanently among the violently killed.
Meshech-Tubal is there, with all her hordes.
Its graves surround it —
all of them uncircumcised, pierced by the sword,
though they spread their terror in the land of the living.
KJV There 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Meshech and Tubal are peoples of Anatolia (central modern Turkey), often paired in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5). They reappear as part of Gog's coalition in Ezekiel 38:2-3. The verb mechullelei ('pierced, profaned') from the root chalal carries a double meaning: physically 'pierced' by the sword and ritually 'profaned' — their death is both violent and defiling. The pairing Meshech-Tubal may reflect Assyrian records referring to the kingdoms of Musku and Tabal.
But they do not lie with the fallen warriors of old
who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war,
whose swords were placed under their heads
and whose shields rest upon their bones —
for the terror of these warriors was once in the land of the living.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
גִּבּוֹרִיםgibborim
"warriors"—mighty ones, warriors, heroes, champions
The same word used in Genesis 6:4 for the ancient heroes 'of old, men of renown.' Ezekiel may be referencing the primordial warrior-heroes of tradition who received honorable burial, in contrast to the nations of his own era who die in disgrace.
Translator Notes
This is one of the most debated verses in Ezekiel. The negation lo yishkevu ('they do not lie with') may mean Meshech-Tubal is denied the company of the honored ancient warriors, or it may be read without the negation (some LXX manuscripts omit it). We follow the MT with the negation, creating a contrast between the honored dead of old (buried with their weapons in dignity) and the shameful uncircumcised dead. The word avonotam ('their iniquities') literally reads 'upon their bones' — iniquity clings to the skeleton, a haunting image of guilt surviving death. The phrase kelei milchamtam ('their weapons of war') and the burial with swords under the head reflects known ancient Near Eastern burial customs attested archaeologically.
But you — you will be shattered
and lie among the uncircumcised,
with those slain by the sword.
KJV Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The direct address ('you') returns — after the survey of other nations, the prophet turns back to Egypt. The verb tishaver ('you will be shattered') from shavar ('to break') implies not merely death but destruction of form — Egypt's power structure will be broken beyond recognition. The placement 'among the uncircumcised' delivers the verdict: Egypt joins the shameful dead, not the honored warriors of verse 27.
Edom is there — her kings and all her princes,
who for all their might are laid among those slain by the sword.
They lie with the uncircumcised,
with those who descend to the pit.
KJV There 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Edom, Israel's brother-nation descended from Esau (Genesis 36), is condemned with particular bitterness throughout the prophets (Obadiah, Malachi 1:2-5, Ezekiel 25:12-14, 35:1-15). The phrase 'for all their might' (bi-gevuratam) is concessive: despite their military power, they share the same fate. The word nesi'eiha ('her princes') is Ezekiel's characteristic term for leaders (rather than sarim). The brevity of Edom's entry compared to Assyria's and Elam's is notable — Edom receives a shorter notice, perhaps because a fuller oracle against Edom has already been delivered in chapters 25 and 35.
The princes of the north are there, all of them,
and all the Sidonians,
who went down with the slain.
For all the terror they inspired through their might, they are put to shame.
They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword
and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.
KJV There 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The 'princes of the north' (nesikhei tsaphon) are likely the rulers of Phoenician and Syrian city-states north of Israel. The Sidonians represent Phoenicia, whose commercial empire was legendary but whose military fate mirrored other conquered peoples. The juxtaposition of chittitam ('the terror they inspired') with boshim ('they are put to shame') creates a devastating reversal: those who spread fear now carry disgrace. The verb bosh ('to be ashamed') is the experiential counterpart to kelimmah ('shame, disgrace') — they feel what they bear.
Pharaoh will see them and be comforted over all his hordes.
Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,
declares the Lord GOD.
KJV Pharaoh 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb nicham ('be comforted') is the theological climax of grim irony: Pharaoh's only comfort in Sheol is seeing that other great empires share his fate. This 'comfort' (the same root as the name Nahum, meaning 'comfort') is hollowed out — it is the consolation of shared disgrace, not genuine relief. The repetition of 'Pharaoh' twice in one verse hammers the personal address. The phrase ne'um Adonai YHWH seals the vision with divine authority — God has pronounced this fate and it is certain.
For I spread his terror in the land of the living,
but he will be laid among the uncircumcised,
with those slain by the sword —
Pharaoh and all his hordes,
declares the Lord GOD.
KJV For 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The final verse returns to first-person divine speech: 'I spread his terror.' God claims responsibility for both the terror Pharaoh wielded and the fate that awaits him — the same God who empowered Egypt's might now assigns its humiliation. The verb hushkav ('he will be laid') is passive — Pharaoh does not choose to lie down; he is placed among the dead by divine decree. The closing formula ne'um Adonai YHWH seals the entire two-oracle sequence. The chapter ends not with resolution but with permanent, unrelieved shame — there is no hint of restoration for these nations in Ezekiel's underworld. The Sheol tour is a one-way descent.