Ezechiel 29:3
Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself.
Open Ezechiel 29:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Loquere, et dices : Hæc dicit Dominus Deus : Ecce ego ad te, Pharao rex Ægypti, draco magne, qui cubas in medio fluminum tuorum, et dicis : Meus est fluvius, et ego feci memetipsum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἰπόν Τάδε λέγει Κύριος Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ Φαραώ, τὸν δράκοντα τὸν μέγαν τὸν ἐγκαθήμενον ἐν μέσῳ ποταμῶν αὐτοῦ, τὸν λέγοντα Ἐμοί εἰσιν οἱ ποταμοί, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐποίησα αὐτούς.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- דַּבֵּ֨ר וְאָמַרְתָּ֜ כֹּֽה אָמַ֣ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֗ה הִנְנִ֤י עָלֶ֨יךָ֙ פַּרְעֹ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם הַתַּנִּים֙ הַגָּד֔וֹל הָרֹבֵ֖ץ בְּת֣וֹךְ יְאֹרָ֑יו אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָמַ֛ר לִ֥י יְאֹרִ֖י וַאֲנִ֥י עֲשִׂיתִֽנִי
Haydock's commentary
Dragon. Hebrew tannin, (Haydock) whence thunnus may be derived, means any water monster, and seems here put for the crocodile, (Calmet) which Pharao signifies. (Grotius)
It was the symbol of Egypt, (Calmet) and adored by the people, Jeremias xv. 2.
Rivers; the different branches of the Nile, and the canals.
Myself. I owe my power to no other. (Calmet)
"Apries is said to think that no god could deprive him of the kingdom, so well he seemed to have established it." (Herodotus ii. 169.)
So the ancient Pharao said; I know not the Lord, Exodus v. 2. He boasts of having conducted the waters of the Nile through the land, ver. 9. (Menochius)
This river was honoured as the greatest of the gods. (Heliod. 9.)
Terra suis contenta bonis non indiga mercis
Aut Jovis; in solo tanta est fiducia Nilo. (Lucan viii.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Origen Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John, Chapter XXIX
But that the Spirit in the inspired Scriptures is not speaking mainly of rivers to be seen with the eyes, may be gathered from Ezekiel’s prophecies against Pharaoh, king of Egypt: “Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon, seated in the midst of rivers, who sayest, Mine are the rivers, and I made them. And I will put traps in thy jaws, and I will make the fishes of the river to stick to thy fins, and I will bring thee up from the midst of thy river, and all the fish of the river, and I will cast thee down quickly and all the fish of the river; thou shalt fall upon the face of thy land, and thou shalt not be gathered together, and thou shalt not be adorned.” For what real bodily dragon has ever been reported as having been seen in the material river of Egypt? But consider if the river of Egypt be not the dwelling of the dragon who is our enemy, who was not even a …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:5-8
As long as we are in the hand of God, “no one is able to pluck us out” ( John x. 28 .), for that hand is strong; but when we fall away from that hand and that help, then are we lost, then are we exposed, ready to be snatched away, as a “bowing wall, and a tottering fence” ( Ps. lxii. 3 .); when the wall is weak, it will be easy for all to surmount. Think not this which I am about to say refers to Jerusalem alone, but to all men. And what was spoken of Jerusalem? “Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching His vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and I made a fence about it, and surrounded it with a dike, and planted it with the vine of Sorech, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also dug a wine press in it, and I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns. …
St John Cassian The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults, Chapter VIII. How God has destroyed the pride of the devil by the virtue of humility, and various passages in proof of this
And so God, the Creator and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and fountain head of evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that those things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For the one says, “I will ascend into heaven;” the other, “My soul was brought low even to the ground.” The one says, “And I will be like the most High;” the other, “Though He was in the form of God, yet He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.” The one says, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;” the other, “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.” The one says, “I know not the Lord and will not let Israel go;” the other, “If I say that I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep His commandments.” The one says, “My rivers are mine and I made them:” the …