Verse 1. - The word of the Lord came again, etc. The section that follows, ending with Ver. 18, is exceptional as standing without a date. It may be either

(1) a continuation of the prophecy in Ezekiel 29:17-21, and so belong to the latest years of Ezekiel's work; or

(2) that prophecy may be regarded as standing by itself - a parenthesis inserted at a later date, so that we go back to the earlier word of the Lord in Ezekiel 29:1-16. Jerome, Havernick, Hitzig, Rosenmüller, Kliefoth, and others are in favor of the former view, chiefly on the ground that Ver. 3 speaks of the nearness of the coming judgment. That the day of the Lord should be "near" is, however, too vague and relative a term to be decisive. On the whole, the question must be left as one which we have no sufficient data for solving. The close parallelism with Ezekiel 29. seems to me slightly in favor of the second view.

30:1-19 The prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full. Those who take their lot with God's enemies, shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. No place in the land of Egypt shall escape the fury of the Chaldeans. The Lord is known by the judgments he executes. Yet these are only present effects of the Divine displeasure, not worthy of our fear, compared with the wrath to come, from which Jesus delivers his people.The word of the Lord came again unto me,.... Whether this prophecy was delivered about the time of that in the former part of the preceding chapter, namely, in the tenth year, tenth month, and twelfth day of it; or whether about the time that was which is recorded in the latter part of the chapter, in the seven and twentieth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, is not easy to say; I am inclined to think it was about the time of the latter, since the time of the fulfilment of it is said to be near, Ezekiel 30:3,

saying: as follows: