Ezekiel 17:17 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

By casting up mounts. — This translation implies that “the casting up mounts and building forts” were to be the act of Pharaoh; but such things are done not by the relieving, but by the besieging army. A better translation would be, “when they cast up mounts,” &c. — i.e., at the time of the siege. We learn from Jeremiah 44:30 that the particular Pharaoh here referred to was Hophra, the Apries of the Greeks. In Jeremiah 37:5-11, it is said that an Egyptian army did come up and temporarily raise the siege of Jerusalem; but it was of no avail. Pharaoh did him no good — did not “make for him in the war.” The Chaldæans speedily returned, drove away the Egyptians, and renewed the siege, finally capturing and burning the city.