Ezekiel 30:20-26·~1 min

Pharaoh’s Power Broken

In the eleventh year the word of the LORD comes announcing that Pharaoh's arm has been broken and left unhealed. Therefore God is against Pharaoh and will break both his strong and already-broken arms so the sword falls from his hand. By contrast, He will strengthen the arms of Babylon's king and place His own sword in that king's hand. Pharaoh will groan before him like a mortally wounded man, while Egyptians are scattered among the nations, learning that the LORD rules the outcome.

I²⁰n the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword. ²²Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken, and will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, who will groan before him like a mortally wounded man. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall limp. ²⁶Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king, and he wields it against the land of Egypt. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Section summaryIn a later dated oracle the LORD declares that He has already broken Pharaoh's arm and will not allow it to be healed or bound up for strength. Instead, Pharaoh's other arm will also be broken, while the arms of the king of Babylon will be strengthened and God's sword placed in his hand. Egypt's king will groan under defeat, Egyptians will be scattered among the nations, and the contrast between broken Egyptian power and empowered Babylon will teach all involved that the LORD governs the contest.

Role in the chapterThis section reduces Egypt's military hopes to a vivid image of irreversible weakness before God's deliberate strengthening of Babylon.