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Ezekiel 29:12

in Ezekiel 29

I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and her cities will lie desolate for forty years among the ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

KJV

And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

This verse in Ezekiel 29

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 8 and following) Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become a desolation (or destruction) and a wilderness: and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he (or you) said, My river is mine, and I have made it (or My rivers are mine, and I have made them).

This site's exposition

from Migdol to Syene, and as far as the border of Cush

on Ezekiel 29:10-12

The desolation is given a real geography, from the tower of Syene, at Egypt's southern frontier, to the border of Ethiopia. Forty years uninhabited by man or beast is a specific and bounded sentence. Barnes notes the forty years as deliberately recalling Israel's own forty years.

This site's exposition

disperse the Egyptians among the nations

Ezekiel spoke these words of scattering over Judah in 12:15 and 22:15. Egypt now receives the sentence of the people it failed to save, dispersed among the nations and scattered through the countries. The ally shares the exile.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), so that those who thought the balance of power was in their hand should now become a contemptible people. Such a fall does a haughty spirit go before.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

This was the effect not so much of those wars spoken of before, which were made by them, but of the war which the king of Babylon made upon them. It shall be desolate from one end of the land to the other, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. The sin of pride is enough to ruin a whole nation.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Shall be desolate forty years - The country from Migdol or Magdolan, which was on the isthmus between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, was so completely ruined, that it might well be called desert; and it is probable that this desolation continued during the whole of the reign of Amasis, which was just forty years. See Herod. lib. 3 c. 10; and see Calmet.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

As Israel passed through a term of wilderness discipline (compare Eze 20:35, &c.), which was in its essential features to be repeated again, so it was to be with Egypt [FAIRBAIRN].

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

neither shall it be inhabited for forty years Forty-two years of famine were decreed in Pharaoh’s dream, corresponding to the three times the dream is written. He saw seven bad cows and seven bad ears of grain (Gen.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 29:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְנָתַתִּ֣יand I will make

    venatatiH5414 →2011 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֶרֶץ֩[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • מִצְרַ֨יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • שְׁמָמָ֜הa desolation

    shemamahH8077 →57 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְ׀in midst of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • אֲרָצ֣וֹתlands

    ʾaratzotH776 →2504 times

  • נְשַׁמּ֗וֹתmade desolate

    neshamotH8074 →86 times

  • וְעָרֶ֙יהָ֙and cities its

    veareihaH5892 →1090 times

  • בְּת֨וֹךְin midst of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • עָרִ֤יםcities

    ʾarimH5892 →1090 times

  • מָֽחֳרָבוֹת֙laid waste

    mochoravotH2717 →40 times

  • תִּֽהְיֶ֣יןָthey will be

    tihyeinaH1961 →3559 times

  • שְׁמָמָ֔הa desolation

    shemamahH8077 →57 times

  • אַרְבָּעִ֖יםforty

    ʾarbaimH705 →136 times

  • שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]

    shanahH8141 →877 times

  • וַהֲפִצֹתִ֤יand I will scatter

    vahafitzotiH6327 →67 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מִצְרַ֙יִם֙Egypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • בַּגּוֹיִ֔םamong the nations

    bagoyimH1471 →561 times

  • וְֽזֵרִיתִ֖יםand I will disperse them

    vezeritimH2219 →39 times

  • בָּאֲרָצֽוֹת׃ פamong the lands

    baaratzotH776 →2504 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 30:23

    I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 30:17–18

      The young men of On and Pi-beseth will fall by the sword, and those cities will go into captivity.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 30:26

      I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

  • Through

    Jeremiah 46:19

    Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 20:4

      so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

    • Jeremiah 48:18

      Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.

    • Ezekiel 30:13

      This is what the Lord GOD says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill…

    • Jeremiah 44:1

      This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis—and in the land of Pathros:

  • Through

    Ezekiel 30:26

    I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

    it leads to

    • Daniel 11:42

      He will extend his power over many countries, and not even the land of Egypt will escape.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 30:7

    They will be desolate among desolate lands, and their cities will lie among ruined cities.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 25:18–26

      to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, Ezekiel and the Book of His Prophecy.