17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the first month, God's Message came to me: 18 "Son of man, lament over Egypt's pompous ways. Send her on her way. Dispatch Egypt and her proud daughter nations To the underworld, down to the country of the dead and buried. 19 Say, 'You think you're so high and mighty? Down! Take your place with the heathen in that unhallowed grave!' 20 "She'll be dumped in with those killed in battle. The sword is bared. Drag her off in all her proud pomp! 21 All the big men and their helpers down among the dead and buried will greet them: 'Welcome to the grave of the heathen! Join the ranks of the victims of war!' 22 "Assyria is there and its congregation, the whole nation a cemetery. 23 Their graves are in the deepest part of the underworld, a congregation of graves, all killed in battle, these people who terrorized the land of the living. 24 "Elam is there in all her pride, a cemetery - all killed in battle, dumped in her heathen grave with the dead and buried, these people who terrorized the land of the living. They carry their shame with them, along with the others in the grave. 25 They turned Elam into a resort for the pompous dead, landscaped with heathen graves, slaughtered in battle. They once terrorized the land of the living. Now they carry their shame down with the others in deep earth. They're in the section set aside for the slain in battle. 26 "Meshech-tubal is there in all her pride, a cemetery in uncircumcised ground, dumped in with those slaughtered in battle - just deserts for terrorizing the land of the living. Now they carry their shame down with the others in deep earth. They're in the section set aside for the slain. 27 They're segregated from the heroes, the old-time giants who entered the grave in full battle dress, their swords placed under their heads and their shields covering their bones, those heroes who spread terror through the land of the living. 28 "And you, Egypt, will be dumped in a heathen grave, along with all the rest, in the section set aside for the slain. 29 "Edom is there, with her kings and princes. In spite of her vaunted greatness, she is dumped in a heathen grave with the others headed for the grave. 30 "The princes of the north are there, the whole lot of them, and all the Sidonians who carry their shame to their graves - all that terror they spread with their brute power! - dumped in unhallowed ground with those killed in battle, carrying their shame with the others headed for deep earth. 31 "Pharaoh will see them all and, pompous old goat that he is, take comfort in the company he'll keep - Pharaoh and his slaughtered army. Decree of God, the Master. 32 "I used him to spread terror in the land of the living and now I'm dumping him in heathen ground with those killed by the sword - Pharaoh and all his pomp. Decree of God, the Master."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 32:17-32
Commentary on Ezekiel 32:17-32
(Read Ezekiel 32:17-32)
Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception; these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though Judah and Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same affliction, and by the same hand, yet the kind design for which they were afflicted, and the mercy God reserved for them, altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen. Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted; but the comfort wicked ones have after death, is poor comfort, not real, but only in fancy. The view this prophecy gives of ruined states shows something of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of human life. As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. Also of the other world; though the destruction of nations as such, seems chiefly intended, here is plain allusion to the everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived by Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely man disquiets himself in vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.