Bible Strands
Ezekiel 30:8
Then they will know that I am the LORD when I set fire to Egypt and all her helpers are shattered.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled community and surrounding nations regarding the impending judgment on Egypt. The declaration occurs within a prophetic oracle detailing the coming desolation of Egypt and its allies.
The words — The Hebrew יָדְעוּ (yaḏəʿû) means "they will know," and נִשְׁבְּרוּ (nišbəṣû) means "they will be broken" or "shattered." These verbs establish the sequence: destruction precedes recognition.
The thread — This pattern of enemies recognizing Yahweh through judgment appears in Ezekiel 29:6 and Ezekiel 22:31, where fire and ruin function as the means of revelation. It aligns with the structural claim in Psalms 58:11 that divine punishment confirms God's role as judge.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that Yahweh’s destructive acts against Egypt and its allies are deliberate revelations of His identity. It requires the reader to treat political collapse and military defeat as pedagogical events rather than accidental history.
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 they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 29:6 Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
- Psalms 58:11 Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- Ezekiel 22:31 So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, 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 29:16 Egypt will never again be an object of trust for the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity in turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.”
- Ezekiel 30:14 I will lay waste Pathros, set fire to Zoan, and execute judgment on Thebes.
- Ezekiel 30:16 I will set fire to Egypt, Pelusium will writhe in anguish, Thebes will be split open, and Memphis will face daily distress.
- Amos 1:4 So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.
- Amos 1:7 So I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza, to consume its citadels.
- Amos 1:10 So I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre to consume its citadels.”