Bible Strands
Ezekiel 30:12
I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Ezekiel to announce judgment on Egypt during the prophetic siege narrative. The declaration occurs within a sequence detailing the imminent invasion by ruthless foreign nations.
The words — The Hebrew יְאֹרִים (ye'orim, canals) and חָֽרָבָה (chavah, dry ground) describe the drying of Egypt's waterways, while מָכַרְתִּי (macharti, I will sell) paired with רָעִים (ra'im, wicked ones) indicates transferring ownership to hostile forces.
The thread — This pattern of divine judgment through foreign hands appears in Ezekiel 29:3 against Pharaoh, Judges 2:14 where Israel is delivered to plunderers, and Isaiah 19:4 where Egypt is handed to a harsh master.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that political power and territorial control are subject to sovereign decree. It requires accepting that divine judgment operates through historical agents to enforce accountability.
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 make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the Lord have spoken it.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 29:3 Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
- Judges 2:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
- Isaiah 19:4 I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of a harsh master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 44:27 who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
- Jeremiah 50:38 A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
- Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.
- Ezekiel 28:10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. For I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Ezekiel 29:9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’
- Ezekiel 31:12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.
- Nahum 1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.