32:31Meaning
Pharaoh sees the dead and finds a grim consolation Pharaoh “sees them,” meaning the already-slain nations and their multitudes described just before. His response is surprising: he is “comforted” over his own multitude. The comfort is not presented as joy but as the bleak relief of realizing that his fate matches what happened to others. The verse underlines the scale of loss by repeating that Pharaoh and “all his army” are “slain by the sword,” and it closes with the prophet’s authority formula.
Unit 2 (v. 32a): The Lord explains why Pharaoh became an object of fear
The logic moves from description to cause: “For I have put his terror in the land of the living.” Pharaoh’s feared reputation among the living world is traced back to the Lord’s action and decision. The phrase “land of the living” contrasts with the realm of the dead being described, highlighting the reversal from feared ruler to powerless corpse.
Unit 3 (v. 32b): Pharaoh’s assigned place among the dishonored dead
The outcome is stated as placement: Pharaoh “shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised,” alongside others “slain by the sword.” In this context, “uncircumcised” functions as a label of outsider status and disgrace within the poem’s imagined after-death ordering. The final repetition—“Pharaoh and all his multitude”—stresses that the ruler’s end includes his people, and the closing “says the Lord Yahweh” ends the whole lament with finality.