Once again God addresses Ezekiel as Son of man (International Children’s Bible “Human being”). For this phrase

Raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: For raise a lamentation over, see the comments on 19.1. New Century Version says “sing a funeral song about.” For Pharaoh king of Egypt, see 29.2.

You consider yourself a lion among the nations: The prophecy begins by expressing how great the king of Egypt thought he was. The lion is known as king of the beasts and is often used as the symbol for a strong king. Here the Hebrew term for lion refers to a “young lion” (New Living Translation, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible) that is at the peak of its strength (see the comments on 19.2). You consider yourself a lion among the nations (similarly New Living Translation) means Pharaoh thought he had power to control many other countries as well as Egypt, perhaps boasting about how great he was. However, the Hebrew word for You consider yourself is unusual, and many scholars have claimed that it does not mean this. Some translations say “You are like” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, New King James Version ) or “You act like” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), which are similar to You consider yourself. But other translations think a different Hebrew word altogether is here, which they render “you are doomed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “you are destroyed” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), or “your end has come” (Revised English Bible). Both meanings are possible, but here the sense in Revised Standard Version is better because it makes a good contrast to the following clause. A good model for this clause is “You think you are like a lion, the greatest king in the world.” Many parts of the world are not familiar with the lion and translators have used descriptive expressions, such as “strongest animal in the forest” and “strongest wild animal.” In this context, however, such a descriptive phrase can result in a rather awkward clause, so translators may drop the image but retain the meaning, as in “You think you are the greatest [or, strongest] king among the nations.”

But you are like a dragon in the seas: God then says what the Egyptian king is really like. The conjunction but stresses the contrast between the king’s opinion of himself and God’s view of him. For the Hebrew word rendered dragon, see the comments on 29.3. As noted there, it is better rendered “monster” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt). Here this animal is in the seas, that is, in the ocean, not in the Nile River, as in 29.3. For that reason “crocodile” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible) is not the best translation here, even though some elements in the next few verses seem to be appropriate to a crocodile. Translators will do well to choose an animal with mythological overtones instead; for example, this clause may be rendered “but you are a like a giant fearful creature [that lives] in the ocean.”

You burst forth in your rivers: This is a picture of the sea monster lurking under the water and suddenly bursting out, as if to catch its prey. One good way to say this is “You rush out of the water [or, through the rivers].” The Hebrew word for rivers is the same one used for the rivers of the underground ocean in 31.15, not the one used for the branches of the Nile Delta in 29.3-5. The use of this word reinforces the supernatural nature of the animal. Some translations make a very small change to one Hebrew letter that changes the meaning from your rivers to “your snout” (similarly Revised English Bible) or “your nostrils” (Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Revised English Bible renders this clause as “scattering the water with its snout.” This rendering pictures the animal spraying water out through its nose, which crocodiles do not normally do. No early translations make this change and, since the picture of this animal thrashing about in the water makes perfectly good sense, it is better to keep the Hebrew text as it is. New International Version says “thrashing about in your streams” (similarly New Revised Standard Version), which is a good model.

Trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers: As the animal moves violently in the water, it stirs up the water and makes it dirty and unfit to drink. Trouble the waters means to “churn the water” (New International Reader’s Version) or “stir up the water” (New Century Version). Foul their rivers is literally “you stamp about in their rivers, making them dirty.” New International Version and Revised English Bible say “muddying the streams” (similarly Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and International Children’s Bible has “You make the rivers muddy” (similarly New International Reader’s Version).

A model for the second half of this verse is:

• In the rivers [where you live], you rush suddenly out of the water. Your feet stir up the water and make it muddy and dirty.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .