Ezekiel 32:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword; draw her away and all her multitudes.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מָשְׁכ֥וּ

mâshak

H4900

“draw”

Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 36× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 37:28

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1257

to draw, drag, seize - (Qal) - to draw (and lift out), drag along, lead along, drag or lead off, draw down - to draw (the bow) - to proceed, march - to draw out or give (a sound) - to draw out, prolong, continue - to trail (seed in sowing) - to cheer, draw, attract, gratify - (Niphal) to be drawn out - (Pual) - to be drawn out, be postponed, be deferred - to be tall

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
9: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מָשְׁכ֥וּ to draw H4900 occurs in 36 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
5 nouns
1 adjective
1 particle

Verb forms

יִפֹּ֑לוּ Qal · Imperfect
נִתָּ֔נָה Niphal · Perfect
מָשְׁכ֥וּ Qal · Imperative

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

חֶ֖רֶב sword H2719 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 27 words from the Hebrew and 29 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 13 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 32:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 28:3 Don't draw me away with the wicked, With the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, But mischief is in their hearts.
Ezekiel 32:23–26 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.
Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!
Jeremiah 22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 29:8–12 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off from you man and animal.
Ezekiel 32:29–30 There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 32:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּת֥וֹךְ חַלְלֵי חֶ֖רֶב יִפֹּ֑לוּ חֶ֣רֶב נִתָּ֔נָה מָשְׁכ֥וּ אוֹתָ֖הּ וְכָל הֲמוֹנֶֽיהָ

They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword; draw her away and all her multitudes.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 32:20 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐν μέσος τραυματίας μάχαιρα πίπτω μετά αὐτός καί κοιμάω πᾶς ὁ ἰσχύς αὐτός

They shall fall with him in the midst of them that are slain with the sword, and all his strength shall perish: the giants also shall say to you,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

בְּגוֹ קְטִילֵי חַרְבָּא יִתְרְמוּן לָהּ לְחַרְבָּא יִתְמַסְרוּן לְשֵׁיצָאָה יַתְהוֹן וְיַת כָּל אִתְרְגוּשַׁתְהוֹן:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 32:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 32:20 They shall fall in the midst of [them that are] slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.

Ver. 20. They shall fall.] Carcases have their names both in Greek and Latin from falling. {a}

“ Fit subito funus, qui modo virus erat. ”

We wonder now and then at the sudden death of a man. In war many thousands exhale their breath without so much as, Lord have mercy on us! Death heweth its way through a wood of men in a minute of time, &c.

{a} πτωμα. Cadaver.

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, Egypt.

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

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

she is delivered to the sword--namely, by God.

draw her--as if addressing her executioners: drag her forth to death.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Draw her.—Viz., down to her judgment.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20. she is delivered to the sword] Rather: the sword is put forth, lit. given, a peculiar phrase and wanting in LXX.

draw her] i. e. Egypt down into the pit. The simple “draw” leaves rather much to be understood, and LXX. reads the clause differently: and all his multitude shall lie.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword,.... The Egyptians shall fall in battle by the sword of the Chaldeans:

she is delivered to the sword; Egypt is given to the sword, to perish by it, for her sins, according to the just appointment of God:

draw her and all her multitudes; to the place of burial; not in pomp and splendour, as great persons are drawn in hearses; but in great disgrace, as carcasses are dragged unto a common pit or grave, and cast into it: this is said to the Chaldeans, who had a commission from the Lord to slay Egypt, and to bury her, and all her people.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

She is delivered to the sword - Rather, the sword is put forth. Draw her down as one dragged to execution.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Now the prophet determines concerning the people, which die as others, fall undistinguished, and. as undistinguished, must be laid in the pit.

They; the Egyptians. In the midst; in battle shall die.

By the sword; either of one another in civil war, or of their neighbours they invaded, or of Babylonians that invaded them.

She is delivered; the whole Egyptian kingdom is given up of God.

To the sword of wasting enemies, especially of the Chaldean. Draw her; make no ceremony more than usually is made, when common soldiers, slain in the field where the battle is fought, are dragged by scores into mighty pits, and thrown into them promiscuously; or, as the interlude will bear it, suppose any of them unwilling to stoop, draw them to it against their will.

All her multitudes, of soldiers and people, subjects, allies, and helpers of Egypt.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

20. She is delivered to the sword — Rather, the sword is appointed.

Draw her — R.V., “draw her away;” that is, into the pit.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

She is delivered to the sword; better, with the margin of the Revised Version, the sword is appointed possibly, as Ewald suggests, with reference to the practice of burying a warrior with his sword beneath his head (comp. Ver. 27). Draw her, etc. The command would seem to be given, so to speak, to the warders of Sheol. They am to receive the new comers and take them to their appointed place.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

They - The Egyptians. She - The whole Egyptian kingdom. Draw - And throw them together into the pit.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

it was delivered to the sword Egypt was delivered to the sword.

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.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 10 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mâshak (“to draw”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to draw” (mâshak) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Genesis 37:28 shares the word «to draw» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“sword” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «יִפֹּ֑לוּ» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 16 words in this verse.
“sword” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.