Rashi on TanakhEzekiel 32

You resembled a young lion among the nations, but you are like a crocodile in the seas You should have lain in the midst of your rivers, as is the custom of the fish, and not gone out to the dry land; but you were haughty in your heart, and you compared yourself to a young lion, which dominates the dry land and goes forth to tear prey.

and you went out with your rivers [Heb. וַתָּגַח,] and you went out with your rivers, the same meaning as in (Ps. 22:10): “You drew me (גֹחִי) from the womb”; (Job 40:23), “he will draw (יָגִיחַ) the Jordan into his mouth”; Jud. 20:33), “And the liers in wait of Israel drew forth (מֵגִיחַ).” [This is] an expression for something flowing and going out of a hidden place.

and you sullied [Heb. וַתִּדְלַח,] an expression of making something murky.

with your feet You had no feet, but I made for you feet like the beasts of the earth, to cross the waters of the lands and to tread their rivers. The symbolism is like Targum Jonathan: and you waged war with your camps and you caused the peoples to quake with your supporters, and you destroyed their countries.

with My net [Heb. בְּחֶרְמִי,] a word for a net, and there are many in Scriptures, [e.g.,] (Hab. 1: 15): “he catches them in his net (בְּחֶרְמוֹ)”; (Ecc. 7:26), “snares and nets (וַחֲרָמִים).”

and I shall fill the valleys with what is cast off from you [Heb. רָמוּתֶךָ] your casting, like (Exod. 15: 1): “He cast (רָמָה) into the sea.” Others say that רָמוּתֶךָ is meant as a form of the word for worm (רִמָה), like (ibid. 16:20): “and it became alive with worms (וַיָרֻם).”

And I shall water...the land where you float [Heb. צָפָתְךָ,] the land where you float on the surface of the water of your rivers-like (Lam. 3:54): “Water floated (צָפוּ) over my head”; (II Kings 6:6): “and the axe blade floated (וַיָצֶף)” - that land I will water with your blood.

even to the mountains the highest [mountains] in it. צָפָתְךָ is ton flottement in French, your floating, swimming.

and the streams [Heb. וַאֲפִיקִים,] riveyes in Old French, gullies, gulches; streams.

And with your smoke I will cover the heavens [Heb. בְּכַבּוֹתְךָ, lit. with you extinguishing.] When your conflagration will be extinguished, the smoke will rise and cover the sky and darken the luminaries; i.e., all who hear the news of what happened to you will mourn and be astonished, because everyone will worry about himself, saying, “The destroyer will stand up over us as well.”

All the bright lights in the heavens the heavenly princes, your intercessors.

And I will vex the heart i.e., their heart will tremble and quake.

when I bring your ruin when I bring the ruin of your battles among the peoples.

And I will cause...to be appalled [Heb. וַהֲשִּׁוֹתִי,] an expression of bewilderment.

when I cause My sword to fly before their faces [Heb. בְּעוֹפְפִי,] an expression of a flying bird, when I send upon you the army of My emissaries through their land.

and they will quake at their ruin [Heb. לִרְגָעִים,] to ruins, lest ruin come upon them as well. Another explanation: an expression of an actual moment (רֶגַע). In this sense, Menachem (p. 162) connects it.

everyone for himself each one concerning himself, soi- meme in French, for himself.

from beside...waters of other countries that you used to sully.

I shall sink their waters The foot of cattle will not make it murky, and the mud will sink, so that the water will be clear and clean like refined oil.

a land that is full [Heb. אֶרֶץ מִמְלוֹאָה, a land that is now full (מִמְוּלָאָה) of all goodness.

lament Weep and lament.

and bring it down, it and the daughters, etc. prophesy, about him and about all the heathens, that they will descend into the Pit of Destruction. Here the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Ezekiel that all the heathens descend to Gehinnom.

Whom have you surpassed in pleasantness Are you any better than the other uncircumcised ones? You too will descend into the Pit and lie with them.

it was delivered to the sword Egypt was delivered to the sword.

shall speak of him [Heb. יְדַבְּרוּ לוֹ] shall speak of him and of his helpers.

the strongest of the mighty men...from the midst of the Grave Transpose the verse and interpret it: They shall speak of him אֶתעֹזרָיו, with his helpers; i.e., concerning all his helpers with him, too, shall the strongest of the mighty men, who are in the Grave, speak, and they will say about them thus: the uncircumcised... descended, etc. Every לָהֶם, לִי, לוֹ, and לְךָ written next to דִבּוּר, speech, means nothing but “about.”

There are Assyria in Gehinnom.

around it [are its graves] In the midst of the Grave its graves are prepared, for from there it will not emerge to rest in a grave.

in the utmost part of the Pit in the depths of the Pit; in the midst of its depth.

and whose company was in the midst of the Grave, “was around its grave.”

who cast destruction [Heb. חִתִית,] who cast destruction in the land of Israel.

they provided a bed for her for Elam.

slain by the sword [Heb. מְחֻלְלֵי,] like הֲרוּגֵי.

But they will not lie These who were mentioned [will not lie] with the mighty who died a natural death, for they will be inferior to and worse than the uncircumcised who died a natural death and descended with their weapons into the Grave.

and they laid i.e., those who buried them [laid]...their swords under their heads as a sign to make it known that the sword did not prevail over them.

and their iniquities were upon their bones Nothing was lacking from their iniquity, for the slaying sword did not expiate it, because they were not slain. Now what is the iniquity? That the destruction wrought by these mighty men was in the land of the living.

And you - in the midst of the uncircumcised He is addressing Pharaoh.

with those slain by the sword and not with those who die a natural death.

ashamed when they are destroyed in spite of their might [Jonathan renders:] When they are broken in spite of their might, they are ashamed.

For I shall cast My fear into the land of the living For I shall cast My fear into the land of the living and the fear of man will no longer be cast therein.