Ezekiel 29:1-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 29
Egypt the Crocodile. 1 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month,[a] the word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, turn your face toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.[b](A) 3 Say to him: Thus says the Lord God:
Pay attention! I am against you,
Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
Great dragon[c] crouching
in the midst of the Nile,
Who says, “The Nile belongs to me;
I made it myself!”(B)
Footnotes
- 29:1 The date is calculated to be January 7, 587 B.C. The siege of Jerusalem had begun a year earlier; cf. 24:1.
- 29:2 Egypt was allied with Judah against the Babylonians.
- 29:3 Dragon: Hebrew reads tannim, usually translated “jackals,” here a byform of tannin, the mythical dragon, or sea monster, representing chaos (cf. Is 27:1; 51:9; Jer 51:34; Ps 91:13; Jb 7:12), and the crocodile native to the Nile. Nile: the many rivulets of the Nile that branch out into the Delta.
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