Ezekiel 29:4

Eze 29:4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

Ver. 4. But I will put hooks in thy jaws.] Speaking to Tyre, a sea town, sea metaphors were made use of. Now he fetcheth them from waters and fishes, that he may frame himself to his hearers. A good precedent for preachers.

To stick unto thy scales.] Thy subjects shall all follow thee into the field, that there you may all fall together. Had they kept themselves in Egypt, they might have been far safer; for that country could hardly be come at by an enemy. But they went forth to meet their bane, as if they had been ambitions of destruction. God had a holy hand in it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 29:4-5. But I will put hooks in thy jaws — The king of Egypt being spoken of as a great fish, or a crocodile, God here, in pursuance of the same metaphor, tells him that he will put hooks in his jaws, or stop his vain-glorious designs and boastings, by raising up enemies that should gain the mastery over him, as the fisherman has the fish in his power, when he has struck the hook into its jaws. This hook to the king of Egypt was Amasis, one of his officers, who set up himself as king, by the favour of the people, and dethroned his master. I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales — I will cause even thy own people to press thee hard, and to be a torment to thee. And I will bring thee up out of thy rivers — By this is metaphorically expressed his being induced to undertake a foreign expedition. The expression alludes to the nature of a crocodile, which is not confined to the water, but uses to come upon the land, where he is frequently taken. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, and all the fish of thy rivers — Thy army shall be discomfited, and fall in the deserts of Lybia and Cyrene; for there seems to be here an allusion to the heavy loss which Apries and the Egyptian army sustained in his expedition against the Cyrenians, toward whom they must have marched over the desert. Herod. 2. § 161. Apries himself did not fall in battle, but was taken prisoner by Amasis, and strangled by the Egyptians. Herod. 2. § 169. See note on Jer 44:30. Thou shalt fall upon the open fields — A king is said to be defeated, or victorious, when his armies are so. Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered — The bones, or carcasses, of thy army shall not be collected in order to their burial, nor gathered to the dead in the sepulchres allotted for them. I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field, &c. — See Rev 19:17-18. Some think the expression here is metaphorical, and signifies that the power of depriving him of his kingdom, power, liberty, riches, and at last life itself, should be given to cruel and rapacious men.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29:4-5 The picture of the mighty crocodile anticipates the arrival of the Lord as a great hunter. As with Tyre, a watery fortress would once again prove vulnerable to assault. The outwardly fearsome king of Egypt would be captured like any ordinary crocodile and brought out into the wilderness, the place of judgment, along with his allies, the fish. There he would die, and his body would be left dishonorably exposed for the wild animals and birds to eat.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will send enemies against thee, which shall pluck thee, and thy people which trust in thee, out of thy sure places.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

hooks in thy jaws-- (Isa 37:29; compare Job 41:1-2). Amasis was the "hook." In the Assyrian sculptures prisoners are represented with a hook in the underlip, and a cord from it held by the king.

cause . . . fish . . . stick unto . . . scales--Pharaoh, presuming on his power as if he were God (Eze 29:3, "I have made it"), wished to stand in the stead of God as defender of the covenant-people, his motive being, not love to them, but rivalry with Babylon. He raised the siege of Jerusalem, but it was only for a time (compare Eze 29:6; Jer 37:5, Jer 37:7-10); ruin overtook not only them, but himself. As the fish that clung to the horny scales of the crocodile, the lord of the Nile, when he was caught, shared his fate, so the adherents of Pharaoh, lord of Egypt, when he was overthrown by Amasis, should share his fate.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. I will put hooks in thy jaws] Amasis, one of this king's generals, being proclaimed king by an insurrection of the people, dethroned Apries, and seized upon the kingdom; and Apries was obliged to flee to Upper Egypt for safety.

I will cause the fish - to stick unto thy scales] Most fish are sorely troubled with a species of insect which bury their heads in their flesh, under their scales, and suck out the vital juices. The allusion seems to be to this. Pharaoh was the crocodile; the fish, the common people; and the sticking to his scales, the insurrection by which he was wasted and despoiled of his kingdom.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) Hooks in thy jaws.—An allusion to the ancient way of taking and destroying the crocodile, otherwise invulnerable to their arms.

Fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.—As the crocodile, the lord of the Nile, represents the royal power of Egypt, so the fish represent the people dependent upon him. Pharaoh is not to fall alone, but shall drag his people with him into a common ruin.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. with hooks. This is suggested by the monster inhabiting the waters. Possibly the crocodile was occasionally caught with hooks, as Herodotus affirms (cf. ch. Eze_32:3), although Job_41:1 seems to doubt the practicability of it. On “hooks,” ch. Eze_38:4; Isa_37:29.

fish of thy rivers] A figure for the population of the country of rivers; hardly merely for the army of Pharaoh.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I will put hooks in thy jaws,.... The allusion is to fishhooks, which are taken by fishes with the bait into their mouths, and stick in their jaws, by which they are drawn out of the river, and taken. The king of Egypt being before compared to a fish, these hooks design some powerful princes and armies, which should be the ruin of Pharaoh; one of them, according to Junius and Grotius, was Amasis, at the head of the Cyreneans and Greeks; and another was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; see Job 41:1,

and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; the people of his kingdom, especially his soldiers, generals, princes, and great men, to cleave to him, follow him, and go out with him in his expedition against Amasis. The Targum is,

"I will kill the princes of thy strength with thy mighty ones:''

and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers: alluding to the crocodile, to which he is compared, which sometimes comes out of the river, and goes on dry land. The king of Egypt was brought out of his kingdom by the following means: Amasis, with the Cyreneans and Greeks, having seized upon Lybia, and drove the king of it from thence, he applied to Pharaoh for help, who gathered a large army of Egyptians, and led them out into the fields of Cyrene, where they were defeated by Amasis, and almost all perished, and the king saved himself by flight; upon which the Egyptians mutinied and rebelled against him, and Amasis became their king:

and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales; the common people of Egypt; for the above numerous army consisted only of Egyptians, whom he gathered from all parts, drained his rivers of them, and almost exhausted his country hereby; he had indeed in an army, after this battle with Amasis, thirty thousand auxiliaries, Carians and Ionians; but these were not the fish of his rivers. The Targum is,

"I will make thy kingdom to cease from thee, and all the princes of thy strength with thy mighty ones shall be killed;''

with which the history agrees. The allusion to the crocodile is here very just and pertinent, which is a fish full of scales. Monsieur Thevenot (a), who saw many of them, says, that

"the body of this fish is large, and all of a size; the back is covered with high scales, like the heads of nails in a court gate, of a greenish colour, and so hard that they are proof against a halberd; and it has a long tail covered with scales like the body;''

and another traveller says (b) they have scales on their back musket proof, and therefore must be wounded in the belly; but another traveller (c) says, this is a vulgar report that a musket shot will not pierce the skins of the crocodiles, for upon trial it is found false; yet all writers, ancient and modern, allow it to have very firm scales on its back, which render it capable of bearing the heaviest strokes, and to be in a measure impenetrable and invincible; so Herodotus (d) says, it has a skin full of scales, on the back infrangible; or, as Pliny (e) expresses it, invincible against all blows and strokes it may be stricken with; and so says Aristotle (f), with which Aelian (g) agrees, who says that the crocodile has by nature a back and tail impenetrable; for it is covered with scales, as if it was armed as one might say, not unlike to hard shells.

(a) Travels, par. 1. B. 2. c. 72. p. 245. (b) Mandelsloe in Harris's Voyages, &c. vol. 1. p. 759. (c) Tavernier in ib. p. 835. (d) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 63. (e) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25. (f) Hist. Animal: l. 2. c. 10. (g) De Animal. l. 10. c. 24.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hooks in thy jaws - Compare Job 41:2. The crocodile is thus rendered an easy prey.

Fish of thy rivers - i. e., the allies of Egypt shall be involved in her ruin.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Bridle. The Tentyrians jump upon the crocodile’s back, give it a club to bite at, which they seize with both hands, and bring it to the shore. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 25.) --- Others throw a hook baited with swine’s flesh, and holding the rope on the shore, make a little pig squeak, with draws the attention of the crocodile; and, as it comes for its prey, it swallows the hook, and its eyes being filled with dust is easily slain. (Herodotus ii. 70.) --- Apries sent an army against Cyrene, which being defeated as it was thought by the king’s fault, many of the Egyptians revolted. He sent Amasis, entered Egypt, drove Apries into Higher Egypt, slew many of the inhabitants, and Jews, &c., and left Amasis to govern the wretched remains of the kingdom. (Usher, the year of the world 3430.) The Scripture, however, seems to say that Pharao was slain; (Jeremias xliii., &c.; Calmet) which Ctesias assures us was done by Amasis, though Herodotus (ii. 169.) says he was killed by the people, and buried with his fathers. This latter circumstance is not very probable: but the historian followed the account of the priests, who would mention what was most honourable for the nation. He seems to have been left unburied, ver. 5. Scales. The people depended on the king and share his fate. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou art secure against all, but God will draw thee out of thy river to thy ruin.

Hooks; the allegory is continued; fish are drawn out with hooks and lines, and God hath hooks for this proud dragon, first Areasis, and next the Babylonian king. The expedition of Areasis at the head of the Cyreneans and Grecians, and the event of it, is exactly represented in this hieroglyphic in the text. Amasis with those forces mastered Libya, the king thereof applies for help to this Pharaoh, he gathers all the power of Egypt out of Egypt with him into Cyrene, where he was defeated, lost all but a few that fled with him, and on this occasion the Egyptians rebelled against him: now this short history opens the parable. The first hook you see in the jaws of this dragon, this drew him out of his river, i.e. his kingdom.

The fish; these are the people of Egypt, the subjects of this kingdom.

To stick unto thy scales; to adhere to their king in this war.

I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers; both the king and his subjects, which made up his army, go out of the rivers, leave Egypt, and march into Cyrene (which was part of that kingdom now called Bares) with their king, as if they had been little fishes on the back of a mighty one. Thus far the emblem; the rest follows.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. I will put hooks in thy jaws — So the crocodile was sometimes caught (Herodotus, 2:70). The fish which stick to his scales represent the Egyptian population and dependencies — such as Gaza and Jerusalem and other towns which had foolishly trusted to the Pharaoh for help against the Assyrians.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 4, 5. I will put hooks in thy jaws. So Herodotus (2. 70) describes the way in which the Egyptians caught the crocodile by baiting a large hook with swines flesh. Jomard ("Description de l Egypt,"1:27) gives a similar account. (comp. also Job_41:1, Job_41:2, though there the capture seems represented as an almost impossible achievement; probably the process had become more familiar since the date of that book) The fish that stick to the scales of the crocodile are, of course, in the interpretation of the parable, either the Egyptian army itself or the nations that had thrown themselves into alliance with Egypt, and the destruction of the two together in the wilderness points to some great overthrow of the Egyptian army and its auxiliaries, probably to that of the expedition against Cyrene (Herod., 2:161) which led to the revolt of Amasis, and which would take the wilderness west of the Nile on its line of march. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven (we note the recurrence of the old Homeric phrase, as in "Iliad," 1:4, 5) should devour the carcasses of the slain, the corpses of the fallen and prostrate nation.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put hooks - The Allegory is continued. The fish - The people of Egypt. To stick - To adhere to their king.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Pharaoh, speaking of him as though he were a monster in the water and the people of Egypt were fish. (See: Symbolic Language)

hooks

sharp and bent pieces of metal or wood that people use to catch fish and other animals in the water

scales

hard pieces of skin that are on fish, crocodiles, and other animals

you will not be gathered nor lifted up

This can be stated in active form. The implication is that they would die in the wilderness. AT: "no one will gather you or pick you up" or "no one will gather your bodies and bury you" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Nile River

desert

face

life

heaven

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

hooks [Heb. חַתִים,] type of iron rings, ens in Old French.

the fish of your rivers to fasten onto your scales [Heb. בְּקַשְּׂקְשּׂתֶיךָ,] en tes e(s)chardes in Old French, to your scales. That is to say, I shall inspire all your mighty men to go forth with you to war so that they will all fall.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.