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Ezekiel 29:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Ezekiel 29:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 29
Against Egypt.[a] 1 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, this word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against the whole of Egypt.
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- Ezekiel 29:1 After being defeated at Carchemish in 605 B.C., Egypt was no longer able to support the small Syro-Palestinian states in an effective way against the growing power of Babylon (see 2 Ki 24:7). Despite this, and despite the repeated warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, the kings of Judah did not stop flirting with the pharaoh and calling on his army for help (see Jer 37:1-10). A bad choice, since Egypt had lost its rank as a great power, and the kings only draw down upon themselves the harsh vengeance of the king of Babylon (see 2 Ki 25:1f). Jeremiah (Jer 44:26f; 46) and Ezekiel (Ezek 16:26; 17:7; 23:3; 27:7; and the chapters that follow here) were keenly critical of this policy of alliance with Egypt. In these oracles, the irony is often bitter, but the poetry is splendid.
