Bible Strands
Ezekiel 32:2
“Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks to Ezekiel in the twelfth year on the first day of the twelfth month, commanding him to deliver a formal mourning message to Pharaoh king of Egypt (Ezekiel 32:1).
The words — The Hebrew command שׂא קִינָה (sa ki.Nah) literally means "take up a lamentation," directing the prophet to compose a structured mourning song for the Egyptian ruler.
The thread — This directive mirrors Ezekiel 27:2 where the same command to take up a lament is issued for Tyre, and aligns with the Lord's declared opposition to Pharaoh in Ezekiel 29:3.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize Pharaoh's violent imperial ambition as a chaotic force that disturbs the waters, framing his impending defeat as a direct consequence of that arrogance rather than a mere geopolitical shift.
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
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
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.’
- Nahum 2:11 Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?
- Ezekiel 27:2 “Now you, son of man, take up a lament for Tyre.
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Jeremiah 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- Ezekiel 19:1 “As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
- Ezekiel 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
- Ezekiel 32:16 This is the lament they will chant for her; the daughters of the nations will chant it. Over Egypt and all her multitudes they will chant it, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Ezekiel 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?
- Ezekiel 38:13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to seize great spoil?’