Ezekiel 29:17-21·~1 min

Egypt the Reward of Nebuchadnezzar

In the twenty-seventh year the word of the LORD comes with a retrospective explanation: Nebuchadnezzar made his army labor hard against Tyre, yet neither he nor his troops received wages from that campaign. Therefore God gives him the land of Egypt as compensation for the service he rendered in carrying out divine purposes. In that same day the LORD will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel and will open Ezekiel's mouth in their midst so that they will know He is the LORD.

I¹⁷n the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it. ¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This will be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as the reward for his labor, because it was done for Me, declares the Lord GOD. ²¹In that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Section summaryA later oracle explains that Nebuchadnezzar's army expended itself in the campaign against Tyre without receiving adequate spoil. Therefore the LORD gives Egypt to him as wages for that service. Even this geopolitical transaction is framed as God's own act. Yet alongside Egypt's transfer to Babylon comes a note of hope for Israel: in that day the LORD will cause a horn to sprout for His people and will open Ezekiel's mouth among them.

Role in the chapterThis section reveals Babylon's campaigns as divinely compensated service and places Israel's emerging hope beside Egypt's subjugation.