(14) Pathros . . . Zoan . . . No.--For Pathros, see Note on Ezekiel 29:14. Zoan (see Numbers 13:22; Isaiah 19:11) is Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, on the Tanitic branch of the Nile. No, mentioned again in the next Verse, more fully written No-Amon (Nahum 3:8), is the celebrated Thebes of Upper Egypt, still famous for its ruins at Luxor and Karnac. The mention of these various cities is to make emphatic the universality of the judgment upon the whole land.

Verse 14. - (For Pathros, see note on Ezekiel 29:14.) Zoan - joined with Noph in Isaiah 19:11, mentioned in Numbers 13:22 as older than Hebron - is the Tanis of the Greeks, situated on the Tanitic branch of the Delta of the Nile. No; or, as in Nahum 3:8, No Amon (equivalent to "the abode of Ammen"), the sacred name of the Egyptian Thebes. The LXX. gives Diospolis; the Vulgate, by a curious anachronism, Alexandria.

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.And I will make Pathros desolate,.... A country in Egypt; See Gill on Ezekiel 29:14, perhaps it was the first place that Nebuchadnezzar entered, and so went from place to place in the order hereafter mentioned:

and I will set fire in Zoan; or Tunis, a famous city in Egypt in the times of Moses, Numbers 13:22. The Targum and Septuagint version call it Tanis here; and from hence a nome in Egypt was called the Tanitic nome. This city was burnt down by the king of Babylon: the place now built on the spot is called Mansourah, as Dr. Shaw (w) says:

and I will execute judgment in No. The Vulgate Latin version renders it Alexandria; and so does the Targum; of which place Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret it; and so does Jerom; which, though built after these times by Alexander, and called so after his name, yet is supposed to be built on or near the place where ancient No stood. The city is now called Scanderoon, or Scanderea; the Turks calling Alexander Scander: here the judgments of God were executed in the destruction of it by the Chaldean army; and great devastations have been made in it since it was rebuilt by Alexander, by the Saracens, who destroyed all places where they came; so that, as Dr. Shaw (x) observes, it is somewhat extraordinary that the greatest part of the ancient walls, together with their respective turrets, should have continued entire quite down to this time. The Septuagint version calls it Diospolis, or the city of Jupiter, as does the Arabic version, that is, of Jupiter Hammon; the city of Thebes, where he was worshipped; as it is in a following verse called Hammon No; though Hillerus (y) thinks neither of these places are meant, neither Alexandria nor Diospolis; but Memphis, as it is rendered by the Septuagint in the next verse; See Gill on Nahum 3:8.

(w) Travels, p. 304. Ed. 2.((x) Ib. p. 292. (y) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 571, &c.