16 This is the lamentation with which they shall lament; the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they lament therewith, says the Lord Yahweh.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Daughters of the nations - Pagan kingdoms.
This is the lamentation with which they shall lament her,.... The Egyptians themselves, or rather they that are after mentioned. The Targum is,
"the prophet said, a lamentation is this prophecy, and it shall be for a lamentation;''
he was bid at the beginning of it to take up a lamentation, and now at the end of it he pronounces it to be one, and that it should be sung as such:
the daughters of the nations shall lament for her; either literally understood, it being the business and custom of women to say or sing the funeral dirge, or the lamentation at the interment of the deceased; or figuratively, the inhabitants of other nations. So Ben Melech and the Targum,
"the villages of the people shall lament her'';
that is, the inhabitants of them, who were in alliance with Egypt, and under its protection:
they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude; for the desolation of the land, and for the vast numbers of people that should be slain with the sword, or carried captive:
saith the Lord God; which is added for the confirmation of it; for what he has spoken shall be done.
As in Ezekiel 19:14. This is a prophetical lamentation; yet so it shall come to pass [GROTIUS].
This is the lamentation - This mournful account, which the prophet has given of Egypt.
*More commentary available at chapter level.