CHAPTER 29 Oct. 3 
Against Pharaoh and All Egypt
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is My own, and I have made it for Myself’. 4I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales; and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales. 5I’ll cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You’ll fall on the open field. You won’t be bound together, nor gathered. I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky. 6All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke, and paralyzed all of their thighs. 8Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you. 9The land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. Because you have said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it;’ 10therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia. 11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of animal shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 13For thus says the Lord Yahweh: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered; 14and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15It shall be the most base of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations; and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16It shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh. 17It came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 18Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. 19Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude and take her a spoil and take her a prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they worked for Me, says the Lord Yahweh. 21In that day will I cause a horn to bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in their midst; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

Commentary

29:12 This prophecy of forty years could have been a provisional prophecy- see on 26:7,21. See too the note on 26:7 about the fact that ancient history has blank areas- perhaps this prophecy was fulfilled but there is no record of it.
29:17-20- see on 26:7.
29:21 I will give you the opening of the mouth in their midst- In the midst of the surrounding nations. But at the time of the Lord’s return, when Israel repent and enter the new covenant with Him, they will remember all their past sins and never open their mouth any more because of their shame (16:63). They will be so ashamed that they will feel as ifthey can never open their mouth. But Yahweh will open their mouth, and they will witness. In some anticipation of this, Ezekiel as the “son of man” prophet, a representative of his people just as the Lord Jesus was to be, had his mouth shut in dumbness, and he only had his mouth opened when Israel came to know [to some degree] that “I am Yahweh” (24:27). In all these evident connections something marvellous presents itself. Those who feel as if they just cannot open their mouths in witness are the very ones whom the Father will use; He will open their mouths and use them exactly because they are ashamed of their sins! And so it should be with us.