But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.
God sets this prophecy against Egypt at the very moment when the Egyptians were tempting the Jews to rely on them instead of the Lord. Mark the mercy in it: He lets us foresee the failure of every earthly prop just when we are most prone to lean on it, so we may cease from man and trust only in Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 29:1-7
But I will put hooks in thy jaws,.... The allusion is to fishhooks, which are taken by fishes with the bait into their mouths, and stick in their jaws, by which they are drawn out of the river, and taken.
hooks in thy jaws-- (Isa 37:29; compare Job 41:1-2). Amasis was the "hook." In the Assyrian sculptures prisoners are represented with a hook in the underlip, and a cord from it held by the king. cause . . . fish . . . stick unto . . .