The description of God’s threatened destruction of Egypt continues in the next three verses.

I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters: In this context the Hebrew word for beasts refers to the larger domesticated animals, not just bulls and cows. It also includes donkeys and camels, but not sheep and goats. Like Good News Translation, most English translations say “cattle.” In regions where cows and these other kinds of animals are completely unknown, translators may say “large animals they keep for food.” I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters does not mean that God will kill all the cattle of Egypt on the banks of the rivers or “at every water hole” (Good News Translation). Rather, this clause implies that there will not be any animals left at any of the watering places, so a good model is “I will destroy all the cattle in Egypt so there won’t be any left at the many watering places.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “I will make all her cattle vanish from beside abundant waters.”

And no foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them: Since all the people and animals of Egypt will die, none of the watering places will have people walking through them or animals stamping about in them, so they will not be muddied (compare verse 2). Foot of man and hoofs of beasts refer to those parts of the body that are in the water, but the expressions really refer to the whole person or animal. A model for this sentence is:

• And no person or animal will stir up the water in the watering places with their feet and hoofs and make the water muddy.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .