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Prophecy

Egypt “the lowest of the kingdoms”, with no prince from the land (Ezekiel 29–30)

Statuette of Nectanebo II protected by the falcon Horus (around 360-343 BC, Metropolitan Museum): the last native pharaoh of Egypt.
Archaeological object Statuette of Nectanebo II protected by the falcon Horus (around 360-343 BC, Metropolitan Museum): the last native pharaoh of Egypt. — Keith Schengili-Roberts, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5

● Written before, according to historians

Written 587–571 BC according to tradition; 587–560 BC according to historians. Event: 343–30 BC.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. The prophet Ezekiel, between 587 and 571 BC, announces that Egypt will become “the lowest of the kingdoms” and that “there will be no more a prince from the land of Egypt”.

What happened. In 343 BC, the Persian king Artaxerxes III reconquers Egypt, and the last Egyptian pharaoh, Nectanebo II, disappears. Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and then Muslim dynasties go on to govern the country for more than two thousand years. The forty years of an Egypt empty of inhabitants, announced in the same passage, did not happen.

What is still debated. the announcement first had in view the Babylonian invasion of its own time, and Egyptian pharaohs still reigned for more than two centuries after Ezekiel.

Why it is striking

When Ezekiel speaks, between 587 and 571, Egypt is still contesting the region with Babylon. Applying the oracle to these two millennia remains a reading: it first had in view the Babylonian invasion, and the forty years of desolation that were announced did not happen.

Main objection (in French for now)

Ez 29:11-13 annonce quarante ans pendant lesquels l’Égypte ne sera pas habitée et ses habitants dispersés : rien de tel ne s’est produit, ce que même des commentateurs conservateurs concèdent.

The text (World English Bible)

I will reverse the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth. There they will be a lowly kingdom. It will be the lowest of the kingdoms. It won’t lift itself up above the nations any more. I will diminish them so that they will no longer rule over the nations.

Ezek 29:14-15

“‘The Lord GOD says: “I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis. There will be no more a prince from the land of Egypt. I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

Ezek 30:13

Sources