Who are the mighty ones of Egypt that are face down?

Following on from the previous verse, the most natural reading is that the mighty ones who end up face down are the fighting forces that have just been told to stand ready and be prepared. The profound irony is that the mighty army of Egypt did not stand. The Hebrew word for face down is sahap which is used in Proverbs 28:3 to describe how driving rain beats a crop down into the mud.¹ They experienced a humiliating defeat that left them face down in the mud, so to speak.

Some translators suggest a possible alternative translation of the Hebrew. It could be the god Apis that ends up face down. Apis was a sacred bull worshipped as the incarnation of the god Ptah in Memphis.² Similar to what happened in the Exodus, this invasion of Egypt is ultimately a one-sided battle between the Lord and the gods of Egypt (refer to Isaiah 9:1).³