Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
Parallel translations
- WEB Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples; and they shall bring you up in my net.
- BSB This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they will draw you up in My net.
- NKJV ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will therefore spread My net over you with a company of many people, And they will draw you up in My net.
- NASB This is what the Lord God says: “Now I will spread My net over you With a contingent of many peoples, And they will lift you up in My net.
- NLT Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will send many people to catch you in my net and haul you out of the water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will spread His net over Pharaoh, using a coalition of peoples to haul him out. The mighty monster is caught like a hunted beast by the Lord's hand.
Overview
The Lord pictures Himself as a hunter casting a net to capture the great sea-creature, employing 'many peoples'—the armies of Babylon and its allies—as His means. The net imagery, used elsewhere against Pharaoh (Ezekiel 29:4), shows that no power escapes God's reach. The seemingly untouchable monster is helpless before its Maker.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezek 12:13My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
- Jer 16:16Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
- Ezek 17:20And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
- Hab 1:14–17And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
- Hos 7:12When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- Lam 1:13From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 32:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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