¹第十 年 十 月 十 二 日，耶和华 的话 临到我说 ：

¹In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹ CHAPTER XXIX

This and the three following chapters foretell the conquest of

Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which he accomplished in the

twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity. The same event

is foretold by Jeremiah, Jer 46:13, &c.

The prophecy opens with God's charging the king of Egypt

(Pharaoh-hophra) with the same extravagant pride and profanity

which were in the preceding chapter laid to the charge of the

prince of Tyre. He appears, like him, to have affected Divine

honours; and boasted so much of the strength of his kingdom,

that, as an ancient historian (Herodotus) tells us, he

impiously declared that God himself could not dispossess him.

Wherefore the prophet, with great majesty, addresses him under

the image of one of those crocodiles or monsters which

inhabited that river, of whose riches and revenue he vaunted;

and assures him that, with as much ease as a fisherman drags

the fish he has hooked, God would drag him and his people into

captivity, and that their carcasses should fall a prey to the

beasts of the field and to the fowls of heaven, 1-7.

The figure is then dropped; and God is introduced denouncing,

in plain terns, the most awful judgments against him and his

nation, and declaring that the Egyptians should be subjected to

the Babylonians till the fall of the Chaldean empire, 8-12.

The prophet then foretells that Egypt, which was about to be

devastated by the Babylonians, and many of the people carried

into captivity, should again become a kingdom; but that it

should never regain its ancient political importance; for, in

the lapse of time, it should be even the BASEST of the

kingdoms, a circumstance in the prophecy most literally

fulfilled, especially under the Christian dispensation, in its

government by the Mameluke slaves, 13-16.

The prophecy, beginning at the seventeenth verse, is connected

with the foregoing, as it relates to the same subject, though

delivered about seventeen years later. Nebuchadnezzar and his

army, after the long siege of Tyre, which made every head bald

by constantly wearing their helmets, and wore the skin of off

every shoulder by carrying burdens to raise the fortifications,

were disappointed of the spoil which they expected, by the

retiring of the inhabitants to Carthage. God, therefore,

promises him Egypt for his reward, 17-20.

The chapter concludes with a prediction of the return of the

Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 21.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIX



Verse 1. In the tenth year] Of Zedekiah; and tenth of the

captivity of Jeconiah.



The tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month] Answering to

Monday, the first of February, A.M. 3415.

²人 子 啊，你要向 埃及 王 法老 预言 攻击他和埃及 全地，

²Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:

² Verse 2. Set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt] This was

Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, whom we have so frequently met

with in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and much of whose history has

been given in the notes.

³说 主 耶和华 如此说 ：埃及 王 法老 啊，我与你这卧在 自己河 中 的大 鱼 为敌。你曾说 ：这河 是我的，是我为自己造的 。

³Speak, 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.

³ Verse 3. The great dragon] hattannim should here be

translated crocodile, as that is a real animal, and numerous in

the Nile; whereas the dragon is wholly fabulous. The original

signifies any large animal.



The midst of his rivers] This refers to the several branches of

the Nile, by which this river empties itself into the

Mediterranean. The ancients termed them septem ostia Nili, "the

seven mouths of the Nile." The crocodile was the emblem of Egypt.

⁴我―耶和华必用 钩子 钩住 你的腮颊 ，又使江河 中的鱼 贴住 你的鳞甲 ；我必将你和所有贴住 你鳞甲 的鱼 ，从江河 中 拉上来 ，

⁴But 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.

⁴ Verse 4. I will put hooks in thy jaws] Amasis, one of this

king's generals, being proclaimed king by an insurrection of the

people, dethroned Apries, and seized upon the kingdom; and Apries

was obliged to flee to Upper Egypt for safety.



I will cause the fish-to stick unto thy scales] Most fish are

sorely troubled with a species of insect which bury their heads in

their flesh, under their scales, and suck out the vital juices.

The allusion seems to be to this. Pharaoh was the crocodile; the

fish, the common people; and the sticking to his scales, the

insurrection by which he was wasted and despoiled of his

kingdom.

⁵把你并江河 中的鱼 都抛在 旷野 ；你必倒在 田 间 ，不被收殓 ，不被掩埋 。我已将你给 地上 野兽 、空中 飞鸟 作食物 。

⁵And 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.^a

⁵ Verse 5. I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness] Referring

to his being obliged to take refuge in Upper Egypt. But he was

afterwards taken prisoner, and strangled by Amasis. Herod. lib.

ii. s. 169.

⁶埃及 一切的居民 ，因向以色列 家 成了芦苇 的杖 ，就知道 我是耶和华 。

⁶And 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.

⁶ Verse 6. They have been a staff of reed] An inefficient and

faithless ally. The Israelites expected assistance from them when

Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem; and they made a feint to

help them, but retired when Nebuchadnezzar went against them. Thus

were the Jews deceived and ultimately ruined, see Eze 29:7.

⁷他们用手 持住 你，你就断折 ，伤了 他们的肩 ；他们倚靠 你，你就断折 ，闪了他们的腰 。

⁷When 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.

⁸所以主 耶和华 如此说 ：我必使 刀剑 临到你，从你中间将人 与牲畜 剪除 。

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埃及 地 必荒废 凄凉 ，他们就知道 我是耶和华 。因为法老说 ：这河 是我的，是我所造的 ，

⁹And 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所以我必与你并你的江河 为敌，使 埃及 地 ，从色弗尼 塔 直到古实 境界 ，全然 荒废 凄凉 。

¹⁰Behold, 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.^{b, c, d}

¹⁰ Verse 10. From the tower of Syene] mimmigdol seveneh,

"from Migdol to Syene." Syene, now called Essuan, was the last

city in Egypt, going towards Ethiopia. It was famous for a well

into which the rays of the sun fell perpendicularly at midday.

¹¹人 的脚 、兽 的蹄 都不经过 ，四十 年之 久并无人居住 。

¹¹No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.

¹²我必使 埃及 地 在荒凉的 国 中 成为荒凉 ，使埃及城 在荒废的 城 中 变为荒废 ，共有四十 年 。我必将埃及人 分散 在列国 ，四散 在列邦 。

¹²And 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.

¹² Verse 12. Shall be desolate forty years] The country from Migdol

or Magdolan, which was on the isthmus between the Mediterranean

and the Red Sea, was so completely ruined, that it might well be

called desert; and it is probable that this desolation continued

during the whole of the reign of Amasis, which was just forty

years. See Herod. lib. iii. c. 10; and see Calmet.

¹³主 耶和华 如此说 ：满了 四十 年 ，我必招聚 分散 在各国民 中的埃及人 。

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:

¹³ Verse 13. Will I gather the Egyptians] It is probable that Cyrus

gave permission to the Egyptians brought to Babylon by

Nebuchadnezzar, to return to their own country. And if we reckon

from the commencement of the war against Pharaoh-hophra by

Nebuchadnezzar, to the third or fourth year of Cyrus, the term

will be about forty years.

¹⁴我必叫埃及 被掳的人 回来 ，使他们归回 本 地 巴忒罗 。在那里必成为低微的 国 ，

¹⁴And 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.^{e, f}

¹⁴ Verse 14. Into the land of Pathros] Supposed to mean the Delta,

a country included between the branches of the Nile, called Δ

delta, from its being in the form of the Greek letter of that

name. It may mean the Pathrusim, in Upper Egypt, near to the

Thebaid. This is most likely.



Shall be there a base kingdom.] That is, it shall continue to be

tributary. It is upwards of two thousand years since this prophecy

was delivered, and it has been uninterruptedly fulfilling to the

present hour. 1. Egypt became tributary to the Babylonians,

under Amasis. 2. After the ruin of the Babyionish empire, it

became subject to the Persians. 3. After the Persians, it came

into the hands of the Macedonians. 4. After the Macedonians it

fell into the hands of the Romans. 5. After the division of the

Roman empire it was subdued by the Saracens. 6. About A.D. 1250,

it came into the hands of the Mameluke slaves. 7. Selim, the ninth

emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamelukes, A.D. 1517, and

annexed Egypt to the Ottoman empire, of which it still continues

to be a province, governed by a pacha and twenty-four beys, who

are always advanced from servitude to the administration of public

affairs. So true is it that Egypt, once so glorious, is the basest

of kingdoms. See Newton on the prophecies.

¹⁵必为列国 中最低微的 ，也不再自高 于列国 之上。我必减少 他们，以致不再辖制 列国 。

¹⁵It 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埃及必不再作以色列 家 所倚靠的 ；以色列家仰望 埃及人的时候，便思念 罪孽 。他们就知道 我是主 耶和华 。

¹⁶And 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.

¹⁷二十 七 年 正 月 初一 日，耶和华 的话 临到我说 ：

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,

¹⁷ Verse 17. The seven and twentieth year] That is, of the

captivity of Jeconiah, fifteen years after the taking of

Jerusalem; about April 20, 3432. The preceding prophecy was

delivered one year before the taking of Jerusalem; this, sixteen

years after; and it is supposed to be the last which this prophet

wrote.

¹⁸人 子 啊，巴比伦 王 尼布甲尼撒 使他的军兵 大大 效 劳 ，攻打推罗 ，以致头 都光秃 ，肩 都磨破 ；然而他和他的军兵 攻打推罗 ，并没有从那里得甚么酬劳 。

¹⁸Son 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:

¹⁸ Verse 18. Caused his army to serve a great service against

Tyrus] He was thirteen years employed in the siege. See Joseph.

Antiq. lib. x. c. 11. In this siege his soldiers endured great

hardships. Being continually on duty, their heads became bald by

wearing their helmets; and their shoulders bruised and peeled by

carrying baskets of earth to the fortifications, and wood, &c., to

build towers, &c.



Yet had he no wages, nor his army] The Tyrians, finding it at

last impossible to defend their city, put all their wealth aboard

their vessels, sailed out of the port, and escaped for Carthage;

and thus Nebuchadnezzar lost all the spoil of one of the richest

cities in the world.

¹⁹所以主 耶和华 如此说 ：我必将埃及 地 赐给 巴比伦 王 尼布甲尼撒 ；他必掳掠 埃及群众 ，抢 其中的财为掳物 ，夺 其中的货为掠物 ，这就可以作他军兵 的酬劳 。

¹⁹Therefore 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.^g

²⁰我将埃及 地 赐给 他，酬他所效的 劳 ，因王与军兵是为我勤劳 。这是主 耶和华 说的 。

²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.^h

²⁰ Verse 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour]

Because he fulfilled the designs of God against Tyre, God promises

to reward him with the spoil of Egypt.

²¹当那日 ，我必使以色列 家 的角 发生 ，又必使 你―以西结在他们中间 得以开 口 ；他们就知道 我是耶和华 。

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.

²¹ Verse 21. Will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud]

This may refer generally to the restoration; but particularly to

Zerubbabel, who became one of the leaders of the people from

Babylon. Or it may respect Daniel, or Mordecai, or Jeconiah,

who, about this time, was brought out of prison by Evil-merodach,

and afterwards kindly treated.