But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
I will put hooks in thy jaws - (Isaiah 37:29; cf. Job 41:1-2, "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? Canst thou put an hook into his nose?") Though man cannot do so, God can and will. Amasis was the 'hook in the hand of God.' In the Assyrian sculptures prisoners are represented with a hook in the under lip, and a cord from it held by the king.
I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales - Pharaoh, presuming on his power as if he were God (Ezekiel 29:3, "I have made it"), wished to stand in the stead of God as defender of the covenant-people, his motive being, not love to them, but rivalry with Babylon. He raised the siege of Jerusalem, but it was only for a time (cf. Ezekiel 29:6, "They have been the staff of a reed to the house of Israel;" Jeremiah 37:5; Jeremiah 37:7-10); ruin overtook not only them, but himself. As the fish that clung to the horny scales of the crocodile, the lord of the Nile, when he was caught, shared his fate: so the adherents of Pharaoh lord of Egypt when he was overthrown by Amasis, should share his fate.