Misinterpretations often detach the verse from its context in Ezekiel's allegory of two eagles and a vine symbolizing Babylon, Judah, and Egypt, wrongly applying it as a general curse on Egypt or modern geopolitical alliances rather than Zedekiah's specific faithless pact with Pharaoh Hophra against Nebuchadnezzar. Some see it as promoting absolute pacifism or rejecting all fortifications, overlooking that it targets Judah's covenant unfaithfulness under God's sovereign judgment, not military strategy inherently; others confuse it with unrelated Gog prophecies, forcing end-times readings that distort the historical warning against idolatry in diplomacy.
Ezekiel 17:17
King James Version (1769)
17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
This verse reveals God's judgment on Judah's king Zedekiah for breaking his covenant with Babylon by seeking Egypt's aid, declaring that Pharaoh's vast army and siege tactics like building mounts and forts will prove utterly ineffective in the war, failing to save lives or the nation. It emphasizes divine sovereignty over human powers, warning against misplaced trust in foreign alliances instead of obedience to God, whose purposes for discipline through Babylon cannot be thwarted by earthly might.