Ezekiel 32

God gives Ezekiel two funeral songs for Pharaoh and Egypt. The first pictures Egypt’s king as a thrashing river monster that God will haul in with a net and Babylon’s sword will destroy. The second sends Egypt down to the realm of the dead, where other fallen, once-terrifying nations already lie. The message is that no earthly power is beyond God’s judgment.

Ezekiel 32:1

Ezekiel dates this message to the twelfth year of the exile, in the same period that Jerusalem’s fall was becoming known. God speaks again about Egypt, the nation Judah had leaned on for help. Prophecy here arrives as a real event on a real day.

BSA: word (“a thing or matter”): God’s word is not just sound; it is a real thing that comes and acts.

Ezekiel 32:2

Ezekiel must sing a funeral song for a king who is still alive. Pharaoh sees himself as a lion, a prowler among nations. God sees a sea creature churning and fouling the Nile with its feet, a picture of a proud ruler who muddies everything around him.

BSA: lament (“a song of grief, a dirge”): The prophet mourns in advance, so the fall is spoken of as already certain. monster (“a dragon, a sea beast”): Pharaoh is drawn as a great water beast, mighty yet no match for God.

Hebrew: תַּנִּים (tannim, H8565) — “sea or river monsters, dragons.” The word is used for great creatures of the deep. Egypt’s king is cast as a chaos beast that God can simply catch.

See also: Ezekiel 29:3.

Ezekiel 32:3

God himself will cast the net, and a crowd of nations will help pull the monster ashore. A creature that seemed untouchable in its river is caught like a fish. The net is God’s, so the hunter is God.

BSA: net (“a net of judgment, a means of capture”): The net stands for God’s judgment closing around a nation that thought itself free.

Hebrew: רִשְׁתִּי (rishti, H7568) — “my net.” The Hebrew says plainly ‘my net.’ The nations that act against Egypt are tools in God’s hand.

Ezekiel 32:4-6

The monster is dragged out onto dry land and left to rot. Birds and wild animals feed on it, and the mountains and valleys are covered with its remains and blood. The image is vivid and grim: the greatness of Egypt ends as carrion.

BSA: abandon (“forsake, leave to fate”): God lets Egypt fall without his protection and without anyone to bury it.

Ezekiel 32:7-8

When Pharaoh’s light is put out, the sky itself goes dark: stars, sun and moon. This is the language of a great judgment, as though creation mourns. Egypt, which worshiped the sun, finds its heavens dark.

BSA: extinguish (“quench, put out”): Pharaoh’s life and power are like a lamp that God snuffs out. darken (“make mournful, be dark”): The sky is made to wear mourning, so even the heavens grieve.

See also: Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:31.

Ezekiel 32:9-10

Far-off nations will hear of Egypt’s fall and shake with fear. If a power as great as Egypt can be brought down, their own kings feel unsafe. God’s sword, wielded in judgment, makes the whole world uneasy.

BSA: appalled (“desolate, amazed”): The nations are left stunned and emptied of confidence at what they see.

Ezekiel 32:11-12

God names the instrument: the king of Babylon and his army. Babylon’s warriors, feared for their ruthlessness, will cut down Egypt’s crowds and strip away the pride Egypt boasted in. Even a harsh empire serves God’s purposes in this.

BSA: ruthless (“fearful, awe-inspiring”): Babylon’s troops were dreaded by every nation around.

See also: Jeremiah 46:25-26.

Ezekiel 32:13-14

The great herds beside the Nile will be gone, and no foot or hoof will stir the water again. The river, once churned by Pharaoh, will lie still and smooth like oil. The picture is of a land so emptied that nothing disturbs it.

BSA: oil (“olive oil”): The waters become smooth and slow like oil, which shows how silent the land has become. settle (“become calm, sink”): The muddied water clears once the monster stops thrashing.

Ezekiel 32:15

The purpose behind all this is stated: when Egypt is stripped bare, people will know that the LORD is God. Judgment is not random cruelty. It is meant to show who truly rules, in place of the false confidence of kings.

BSA: know (“recognize, understand”): This is knowing by hard experience, a recognition that cannot be argued away.

Ezekiel 32:16

The funeral song will be taken up by women of the nations, the professional mourners of the day. Egypt’s fall will be sung about far beyond Egypt. Its end becomes a lesson that other peoples repeat.

BSA: daughters (“female children, women”): These are the women who led mourning, now mourning a whole empire.

Hebrew: קִינָה (qinah, H7015) — “a funeral song, a dirge.” A qinah was sung over the dead, often with a mournful beat. Here it is sung over a nation, while it still seems to stand.

Ezekiel 32:17-18

A second message comes two weeks later. Ezekiel is to wail over Egypt’s crowds and send them, along with other mighty nations, down to the earth’s depths among the dead. The prophet’s words carry out what God has decided.

BSA: Pit (“a cistern, a place of darkness”): The grave is imagined as a deep hole, dark and far from the living. wail (“lament, mourn”): The command is to cry out in sorrow, not to speak coldly of judgment.

Hebrew: בּוֹר (bor, H953) — “pit, cistern, hole in the ground.” The same word is used for a water pit or a dungeon. It makes death feel like a deep hole with no way out.

Ezekiel 32:19

God asks Egypt a pointed question: who do you surpass? All your beauty and greatness count for nothing. Go down and lie with the uncircumcised, those outside God’s covenant people. In death, Egypt is no better than anyone.

BSA: uncircumcised (“those without covenant, or heathen”): The word marks people outside God’s covenant, and here it also carries shame in death. beauty (“loveliness, pleasantness, or delight”): Egypt’s charm and splendor are named only to show how little they save.

Hebrew: עֲרֵלִים (‘arelim, H6189) — “uncircumcised ones.” Circumcision marked belonging to God’s people. Calling the dead this label puts Egypt among those outside the covenant.

Ezekiel 32:20-21

Egypt falls among those killed by the sword, which God has already appointed. In the realm of the dead, once-mighty leaders speak, welcoming Egypt and her helpers as one more fallen nation. Death is a great leveler.

BSA: appointed (“given, ordained”): The sword is handed over by God, so the outcome is settled before the battle. Sheol (“the underworld, grave, place of no return”): Sheol is the shadowy realm where the dead are gathered.

Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל (she’ol, H7585) — “the realm of the dead, the grave.” Sheol is the Old Testament name for where all the dead go. Here it is pictured as a place where fallen leaders still seem to talk.

See also: Isaiah 14:9-10.

Ezekiel 32:22-23

Assyria is the first to greet Egypt. Once the great terror of its age, Assyria now lies in neat circles of graves, all slain. Egypt had good reason to expect the same fate. A nation that frightened the living ends as a crowd of the dead.

BSA: terror (“fear, dread”): Assyria’s fame was built on making others afraid, and that fear is now empty.

Hebrew: חִתִּית (chittit, H2851) — “terror, dread.” The word is repeated through this chapter. It stresses that the very thing these nations were proud of is what is now taken away.

Ezekiel 32:24-25

Elam, a warlike nation to the east, lies there too, with all its crowds around its graves. They once spread fear among the living, but now they bear shame in the Pit. Their power did not last, and their end carries no honor.

BSA: disgrace (“shame, reproach, a feeling of being insulted”): Their former glory turns into public shame in death.

Ezekiel 32:26-27

Meshech and Tubal, peoples from the north, lie there as well. They are not honored like the warriors of old who were buried with swords under their heads. This line is not easy, but the point is clear: those who spread terror receive no honor in the end.

BSA: weapons (“instruments”): Soldiers’ weapons were buried with them as a sign of honor, which these nations are denied.

See also: Ezekiel 38:2.

Ezekiel 32:28

God turns to Egypt directly: you too will be shattered and lie with the uncircumcised. After the tour of the fallen, Egypt is shown where it is headed. It is a warning meant to be heard while there is still time.

BSA: shattered (“broken, cut down”): Pharaoh will be broken like a pot or cut down like a tree.

Ezekiel 32:29-30

Edom, with its kings and princes, is there, and so are the northern leaders and the Sidonians of Phoenicia. All were strong, and all went down in shame. Wherever a nation’s power is, it ends in the same grave.

BSA: Edom (“the region of Esau’s descendants”): Edom was Israel’s own relative, yet it too falls with the rest. north (“Zaphon, the northern region”): This refers to northern rulers beyond Israel’s borders.

Ezekiel 32:31

Pharaoh will see the others in the realm of the dead and take a grim comfort. He is not the only one brought low. The comfort is bleak, since it is only company in judgment, not hope.

BSA: comforted (“consoled, shown pity”): The comfort is only in knowing others suffered the same, not in being rescued.

Hebrew: וְנִחַם (weniham, H5162) — “and he will be comforted, consoled.” The verb can mean being consoled, but it can also carry a sense of finding relief by seeing others share one’s fate. It is a hollow comfort.

Ezekiel 32:32

God ends on his own purpose: he will spread his terror in the land of the living, so Pharaoh and his crowds lie among the uncircumcised. The great fear that humans spread is replaced by the one fear that matters, the fear of the LORD.

BSA: laid to rest (“put to sleep, buried”): Death is called a kind of sleep, though here it is a sleep without honor.

See also: Hebrews 9:27.