Ezekiel 29:3
Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
Study Note
Study Note
'Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers' — the application of the chaos-monster (tannin) imagery to Pharaoh draws on the ancient Near Eastern combat myth while historicizing it: Egypt, as the great sea-dragon, claims the Nile as self-made ('my river is mine own, I have made it' — verse 3b), a direct blasphemy against the Creator. The defeat of Egypt thus recapitulates and extends the Exodus narrative as a new act of divine combat against the primordial powers that oppose God's order. Revelation 12's dragon and 13's sea-beast draw on this Ezekiel-Pharaoh typology, globalizing Egypt into the eschatological anti-God empire.
Other Translations
speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lieth in the midst of his rivers, that hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
Speak, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I <FI>am<Fi> against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt! The great dragon that is crouching in the midst of his floods, Who hath said, My flood <FI>is<Fi> my own, And I--I have made it <FI>for<Fi> myself.
Say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great river-beast stretched out among his Nile streams, who has said, The Nile is mine, and I have made it for myself.
Cross References
And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am …
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are …
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even …
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of …
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give Pharaoh–hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into …
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, …