Bible Strands
Ezekiel 32:12
I will make your hordes fall by the swords of the mighty, the most ruthless of all nations. They will ravage the pride of Egypt and all her multitudes will be destroyed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Ezekiel to the leadership of Egypt during a prophetic oracle announcing imminent military invasion. The declaration occurs immediately before detailing the total devastation of Egyptian territory and livestock.
The words — אַפִּ֣יל ('a.Pil) = I will make fall; עָרִיצֵ֥י ('a.ri.Tzei) = ruthless [ones]. These terms anchor the verse’s explicit claim that foreign warriors will execute the collapse of Egyptian forces.
The thread — The motif of ruthless foreign nations executing divine judgment recurs in Ezekiel 28:7, 29:19, and 31:11. Each passage links Babylonian conquest to the Lord’s sovereign decree against proud nations.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that national pride and military multitudes are subject to historical forces. It requires the reader to accept that political collapse follows declared judgment without exception.
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
By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 28:7 behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.
- Ezekiel 29:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This will be the wages for his army.
- Ezekiel 31:11 I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.
- Deuteronomy 28:49 The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
- Isaiah 25:2 Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
- Ezekiel 30:11 He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
- Habakkuk 1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.