Ezekiel 30:2

Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! WOE WORTH THE DAY! - i:e., Alas for the day!...

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....

Verse Ezekiel 30:2. _HOWL YE, WO WORTH THE DAY!_] My Old MS. Bible, - _Soule gee,_ _woo woo to the day!_ הילילו הה ליום heylilu, hah laiyom! "Howl ye, Alas for the day!" The reading in our present text is taken from _Coverdale's_ Bible, 1535. The expressions signify that a most dreadful calamity was about to fall on Egypt and the neighbouring countries, called here the "time of the heathen," or of the _nations_; the day of calamity to them. They are afterwards specified, Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and _Chub_, and the _mingled_ _people_, probably persons from different nations, who had followed the ill fortune of Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, when he fled from Amasis, and settled in Upper Egypt....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 30:1 THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME AGAIN, etc. The section that follows, ending with Ezekiel 30:18, is exceptional as standing without a date. It may be either (1) a continuation of the prophecy in Ezekiel 29:17, and so belong to the latest years of Ezekiel's work; or (2) that prophecy may be regarded as standing by itself—a parenthesis inserted at a later date, so that we go back to the earlier word of the Lord in Ezekiel 29:1. Jerome, Havernick, Hitzig, Rosenmüller, Kliefoth, and others are in favor of the former

SON OF MAN, PROPHESY AND SAY, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Prophesy against Egypt's king and inhabitants, and in the name of the Lord thus speak against them: HOWL YE; ye Egyptians, and also ye Ethiopians, and all others after named, which should share in the destruction of Egypt; this is said to give them notice of it, and prepare them for it: WOE WORTH THE DAY! or, "alas for the day!" d O the unhappy day! what a sad dismal day is this! O that we should ever live to see such wretched times! d הה ליום "bah diei", Munster, Vatablus; "heu diei", Cocceius, Starckius....

Ezekiel 29-30. First Egypt's desolation is announced (Ezekiel 29:1). The king of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho, who defeated King Josiah at Meggido 2 Chronicles 35:20. King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem Jeremiah 37:5. But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire. The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it with Zedekiah's doom: “Thus saith the LORD, Behold I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt,

EZEKIEL 30. THE DESOLATION OF EGYPT. The interrupted denunciation of Egypt is resumed. The neighbours and allies will be involved in her ruin, which is to be effected by Nebuchadrezzar and his terrible army (Ezekiel 30:1). (In Ezekiel 30:5, for Put and Lud see Ezekiel 27:10: for mingled people read Arabians. For Cub, read Lub = Lybians; and for the next clause read the Cretans.) The collapse of Egypt is then described in detail, the towns which are singled out for special mention being all of religious, political, or military importance (Ezekiel 30:13). (In...

SON OF MAN. See note on Ezekiel 2:1. THE LORD GOD. Hebrew. _Adonai Jehovah_. See note on Ezekiel 2:4. WORTH. This is the past tense (_weorth_) of Anglo-Saxon _weorthan_, to become. It means Woe he to the day! Hebrew. Alas for the day!...

III THE IMMINENT FALL OF EGYPT 30:1-19 TRANSLATION (1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Wail, woe be the day! (3) For the day is near, yes the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the nations. (4) And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and consternation shall be in Cush, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her abundance, and her foundations shall be broken down. (5) Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the mingled peoples, Cub, and the children of the land that are in league, shall fall with them by the sword. (6) Thus says the LORD: those who uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down; from Migdol to Syene they shall fall in her by the sword (oracle of the Lord GOD. (7) And they shall be desolate in the midst of lands that are desolate, and her cities i...

THE INVASION OF EGYPT BY NEBUCHADREZZAR No special enemy of Egypt has been mentioned in Ezekiel 29:1, but the king of Babylon is now pointed out as its conqueror....