1.
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
The tenth year - Jerusalem had been besieged, but not taken. Jeremiah delivered his prophecy against Egypt, about the time when the approach of Pharaoh Hophra’s army caused the Chaldaeans for the time to raise the siege Jeremiah 37:5. This was the solitary instance of Egypt meddling with the affairs of Palestine or Syria after the battle of Carchemish (compare 2 Kings 24:7); it met with speedy punishment.
2.
Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
3.
Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
The king is addressed as the embodiment of the state.
Dragon - Here the crocodile, the great monster of the Nile, which was regarded very differently in different parts of Egypt. By some it was worshipped and embalmed after death, and cities were named after it (e. g., in the Arsinoite nome). Others viewed it with the utmost abhorrence. An animal so terrible, so venerated, or so abhorred, was an apt image of the proud Egyptian monarch - the more so, perhaps, because it was in truth less formidable than it appeared, and often became an easy prey to such as assailed it with skill and courage.
Lieth in the midst of his rivers - Sais, the royal city, during the twenty-sixth dynasty was in the Delta, in the very midst of the various branches and canals of the Nile.
My river is mine own ... - It was the common boast of Hophra (Apries), that “not even a god could dispossess him of power.” The river was at all times the source of fertility and wealth to Egypt, but especially so to the Saite kings, who had their royal residence on the river, and encouraged contact with foreigners, by whose commerce the kingdom was greatly enriched.
4.
But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
Hooks in thy jaws - Compare Job 41:2. The crocodile is thus rendered an easy prey.
Fish of thy rivers - i. e., the allies of Egypt shall be involved in her ruin.
5.
And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
6.
And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
Staff of reed - The “reed” was especially appropriate to Egypt as the natural product of its river.
7.
When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
So Egypt was continually proving to Israel, to Jehoiakim and to Zedekiah. The tenses are present not past.
To be at a stand - Others, “to totter.”
8.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
9.
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
10.
Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11.
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12.
And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13.
Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
A similar respite was promised to Moab Jeremiah 48:47, to Ammon Jeremiah 49:6, and to Tyre Isaiah 23:15.
14.
And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
Pathros - The Thebaid or Upper Egypt, the original seat of the kingdom.
The land of their habitation - Rather, as margin, i. e., the home of the restored exiles.
15.
It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16.
And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
The false confidence of the Israelites “brought to remembrance,” i. e., discovered in the sight of God and man their “iniquity,” i. e., their treachery and perjury to the Chaldaeans; their falsehood being made evident when they “look after” (turn to) the Egyptians and seek their aid in rebellion. The ruin of Egypt shall put an end to all this.
17.
And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18.
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
19.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20.
I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
21.
In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.