Bible Strands
Ezekiel 29:5
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Pharaoh and Egypt through Ezekiel, pronouncing judgment immediately after describing the king being hauled from the Nile with hooks in his jaws.
The words — The Hebrew וּ/נְטַשְׁתּ֣י/ךָ (u./ne.tash.Ti./kha) means "and I will abandon you," and הַ/מִּדְבָּרָ֗ה (ha./mid.Ba.ra/h) translates to "the wilderness."
The thread — The image of unburied corpses becoming food for scavengers runs through Jeremiah 7:33, Jeremiah 8:2, and Jeremiah 34:20, where the text explicitly links exposed dead to divine rejection.
Why it lands — The text states the corpse will not be gathered for burial, which demands the reader acknowledge that political pride ends in total exposure and that God alone determines the fate of nations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 7:33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
- Jeremiah 8:2 They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.
- Jeremiah 34:20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
- Ezekiel 32:4 I will abandon you on the land and hurl you into the open field. I will cause all the birds of the air to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the earth to eat their fill of you.
- Psalms 110:5 The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.
- Jeremiah 25:33 Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.
- 1 Samuel 17:44 “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- Psalms 74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
- Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Ezekiel 31:18 Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”