Ezekiel 32 · Verse 2

Ezekiel 32:2

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.
Ezekiel 32:2, King James Version

Ezekiel 32:2 in other translations

BSB“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.’
WEB“Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, ‘You were likened to a young lion of the nations; yet you are as a monster in the seas. You broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.’”
ASVSon of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou wast likened unto a young lion of the nations: yet art thou as a monster in the seas; and thou didst break forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
YLT‘Son of man, lift up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and thou hast said unto him: A young lion of nations thou hast been like, And thou art as a dragon in the seas, And thou comest forth with thy flowings, And dost trouble the waters with thy feet, And thou dost foul their flowings.
DARBYSon of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou wast like a young lion among the nations, and thou wast as a monster in the seas; and thou didst break forth in thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
BBESon of man, make a song of grief for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, Young lion of the nations, destruction has come on you; and you were like a sea-beast in the seas, sending out bursts of water, troubling the waters with your feet, making their streams dirty.
WebsterSon of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou didst come forth with thy rivers, and disturb the waters with thy feet, and render their rivers foul.

What does Ezekiel 32:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. Pharaoh--"Phra" in Burmah, signifies the king, high priest, and idol. whale--rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Nile. Pharaoh is as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that is, an object of terror everywhere. camest forth with thy rivers--"breakest forth" [Fairbairn]. The antithesis of "seas" and "rivers" favors Grotius rendering, "Thou camest forth from the sea into the rivers"; that is, from thy own empire into other states. However, English Version is favored by the "thy": thou camest forth with thy rivers (that is, with thy forces) and with thy feet didst fall irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, troubles the waters (that is, neighboring states).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 2 Thou art like a young lion - and thou art as a whale in the seas - Thou mayest be likened to two of the fiercest animals in the creation; to a lion, the fiercest on the land; to a crocodile, תנים tannim, (see Eze 29:3), the fiercest in the waters. It may, however, point out the hippopotamus, as there seems to be a reference to his mode of feeding. He walks deliberately into the water over head, and pursues his way in the same manner; still keeping on his feet, and feeding on the plants, etc., that grow at the bottom. Thus he fouls the water with his feet.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ezekiel 32:1-16

The fall of Egypt. (Ezek 32:1-16) It is like that of other nations. (Ezek 32:17-32) Verses 1-16 It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves. Great oppressors are, in God's account, no better than beasts of prey. Those who admire the pomp of this world, will wonder at the ruin of that pomp; which to those who know the vanity of all things here below, is no surprise. When…

Read the full comment on Ezekiel 32:1-16 →

Ezekiel 32:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

בֶּן\־ben-O son ofH1121
אָדָ֗ם'a.DamhumankindH120
שָׂ֤אsa'take upH5375
קִינָה֙ki.Naha lamentationH7015
עַל\־'al-onH5921
פַּרְעֹ֣הpar.'OhPharaohH6547
מֶֽלֶךְ\־Me.lekh-[the] king ofH4428
מִצְרַ֔יִםmitz.Ra.yimEgyptH4714
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ve.'a.mar.Taand you will sayH559
אֵלָ֔יו'e.Lavto himH413
כְּפִ֥ירke.Fira young lion ofH3715
גּוֹיִ֖םgo.YimnationsH1471
נִדְמֵ֑יתָnid.Mei.tayou became likeH1819
וְאַתָּה֙ve.'a.Tahand youH859
כַּתַּנִּ֣יםka.ta.Nim[were] like <the> sea monsterH8565
בַּיַּמִּ֔יםbai.ya.Mimin the seasH3220
וַתָּ֣גַחva.Ta.gachand you burst forthH1518
בְּנַהֲרוֹתֶ֗יךָbe.na.ha.ro.Tei.khain rivers yourH5104
וַתִּדְלַח\־va.tid.lach-and you made turbidH1804
מַ֙יִם֙ma.yimwatersH4325
בְּרַגְלֶ֔יךָbe.rag.Lei.khawith feet yourH7272
וַתִּרְפֹּ֖סva.tir.Posand you fouledH7515
נַהֲרוֹתָֽם\׃na.ha.ro.Tamrivers theirH5104

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ezekiel 32:2

  • 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.

  • Nahum 2:11-13

    Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

  • Ezekiel 27:2

    Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;

  • Ezekiel 32:16

    This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord God.

  • Isaiah 27:1

    In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

  • Jeremiah 4:7

    The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

  • Ezekiel 19:1-6

    Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. …

  • Ezekiel 28:12

    Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

  • Ezekiel 38:13

    Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

  • Ezekiel 34:18

    Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

  • Isaiah 51:9

    Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

  • Ezekiel 27:32

    And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
take up.
16,18; 19:1; 27:2,32; 28:12; Jer 9:18
Thou art like.
19:2-6; 38:13; Ge 49:9; Nu 24:9; Pr 28:15; Jer 4:7; Na 2:11-13
and thou art as.
29:3; Ps 74:13,14; Isa 27:1; 51:9
whale. or, dragon. and troubledst.
34:18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ezekiel 32:1

    And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

  • Ezekiel 32:2

    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.

  • Ezekiel 32:3

    Thus saith the Lord God; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.

Read all of Ezekiel 32

Ezekiel 32:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Hijo del hombre, levanta endechas sobre Faraón rey de Egipto, y dile: A leoncillo de gentes eres semejante, y eres como la ballena en los mares: que secabas tus ríos, y enturbiabas las aguas con tus pies, y hollabas sus riberas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Fils d’homme, élève une complainte sur le Pharaon, le roi d’Égypte, et dis-lui: Tu étais semblable à un jeune lion parmi les nations, tu étais comme un monstre dans les eaux; et tu t’élançais dans tes fleuves, et tu troublais les eaux avec tes pieds, et tu rendais bourbeux leurs fleuves.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Menschensohn, erhebe ein Klagelied über den Pharao, den König von Ägypten, und sprich zu ihm: Einem jungen Löwen unter den Nationen wurdest du verglichen; und doch warst du wie ein Seeungeheuer in den Meeren, und du brachst hervor in deinen Strömen und trübtest die Wasser mit deinen Füßen und wühltest ihre Ströme auf.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Fili hominis, assume lamentum super Pharaonem regem Ægypti, et dices ad eum: Leoni gentium assimilatus es, et draconi qui est in mari: et ventilabas cornu in fluminibus tuis, et conturbabas aquas pedibus tuis, et conculcabas flumina earum.