What Does Ezekiel 32:12 Mean in the King James?
By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse pairs the fall of Egypt’s multitude with the stripping of its “pomp”: what stands highest in a nation offers no shelter when violence arrives.
THE MEANING
The verse shows Egypt’s grandeur as vulnerable: the mighty ones’ swords make its multitude fall and strip away the nation’s raised-up splendor. Its final words leave no safe distance between imperial display and ordinary lives; the whole multitude is destroyed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
National grandeur and power do not guarantee the safety of a people.
THE ROOT
גְּאוֹן
ge’on
GROWS FROM
גאה
g-ʾ-h
to rise, be high, or be exalted
The Hebrew word for “pomp” carries the image of height and elevation, not just display. The verse brings that raised-up grandeur down alongside the multitude’s fall, showing that what appears highest can be stripped away.
ALSO GROWS
ga’ah: to rise or be high
גָּאָה
This verb reveals the upward image inside Egypt’s “pomp.”
ge’eh: proud or lofty
גֵּאֶה
This related form connects pride with being raised high, the very height the verse says will be spoiled.
אַפִּיל
’appil
GROWS FROM
נפל
n-p-l
to fall
“cause … to fall” in this verse is ’appil. The form here means “I will cause [them] to fall,” making the collapse something inflicted, not a passive drift. The root gives the verse’s violence a concrete shape: the multitude is made to fall, and its destruction follows.
ALSO GROWS
naphal: to fall
נָפַל
This is the root verb behind the causative form in the verse.
mappalah: a downfall or collapse
מַפָּלָה
This related noun makes the root’s image of falling into ruin explicit.
THE PATTERN
Scripture shows that the height claimed by the powerful can be brought low, while those in low places can be raised.
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.This verse uses the same Hebrew word גְּאוֹן (ge’on, elevation or pride) for Egypt’s power and says it will come down. It makes the root’s image unmistakable: the nation’s height and its people’s fall occupy the same scene.
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