A Lament for Egypt

30 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 v“Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

w“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’

3  wFor the day is near,

xthe day of the Lord is near;

it will be ya day of clouds,

a time of doom for1 the nations.

4  zA sword shall come upon Egypt,

aand anguish shall be in bCush,

when the slain fall in Egypt,

and cher wealth2 is carried away,

and dher foundations are torn down.

5 bCush, and ePut, and Lud, and fall Arabia, and Libya,3 and the people of the land that is in league,4 shall fall with them by the sword.

6  “Thus says the Lord:

gThose who support Egypt shall fall,

and hher proud might shall come down;

ifrom Migdol to Syene

they shall fall within her by the sword,

declares the Lord God.

7  jAnd they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,

and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.

8  kThen they will know that I am the Lord,

when lI have set fire to Egypt,

and gall her helpers are broken.

9 “On that day mmessengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting bpeople of Cush, and aanguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom;5 for, behold, it comes!

10 “Thus says the Lord God:

n“I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,

by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

11  He and his people with him, othe most ruthless of nations,

shall be brought in to destroy the land,

zand they shall draw their swords against Egypt

and fill the land with the slain.

12  And pI will qdry up the Nile

and will sell the land into the hand of revildoers;

sI will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,

by the hand of tforeigners;

uI am the Lord; I have spoken.

13 “Thus says the Lord God:

v“I will destroy the idols

and put an end to the images in wMemphis;

xthere shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;

so yI will put fear in the land of Egypt.

14  I will make zPathros a desolation

and will set fire to aZoan

band will execute judgments on cThebes.

15  And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,

the stronghold of Egypt,

and cut off the multitude6 of Thebes.

16  And I will set fire to Egypt;

Pelusium shall be in great agony;

Thebes shall be breached,

and wMemphis shall face enemies7 by day.

17  The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,

and the women8 shall go into captivity.

18  At dTehaphnehes ethe day shall be dark,

when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,

and fher proud might shall come to an end in her;

she shall be covered by a cloud,

and her daughters shall go into captivity.

19  Thus gI will execute judgments on Egypt.

hThen they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon

20 iIn the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 j“Son of man, kI have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, lit has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and mwill break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 nI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And oI will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put pmy sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him qlike a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. rThen they shall know that I am the Lord, swhen I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Pharaoh to Be Slain

31 tIn the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 u“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to vhis multitude:

w“Whom are you like in your greatness?

3  Behold, xAssyria was a ycedar in zLebanon,

with beautiful branches and aforest shade,

band of towering height,

its top among the clouds.1

4  The waters nourished it;

the deep made it grow tall,

making cits rivers flow

around the place of its planting,

sending forth its streams

to all the trees of the field.

5  So dit towered high

above all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large

and its branches long

from eabundant water in its shoots.

6  fAll the birds of the heavens

made their nests in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field

gave birth to their young,

and under its shadow

lived all great nations.

7  It was gbeautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches;

efor its roots went down

to abundant waters.

8  hThe cedars iin the garden of God could not rival it,

nor the fir trees equal its boughs;

neither were the plane trees

like its branches;

no tree iin the garden of God

was its equal in beauty.

9  I made it beautiful

in the mass of its branches,

and all the trees of jEden envied it,

that were in the garden of God.

10 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because kit2 towered high and set its top among the clouds,3 and lits heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 mForeigners, mthe most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. nOn the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all othe ravines of the land, and pall the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 qOn its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 rAll this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,4 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, sto the world tbelow, among the children of man,5 with those who go down to the pit.

15 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day uthe cedar6 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 vI made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, uwhen I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. wAnd all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, xwere comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, yto those who are slain by the sword; yes, zthose who were its arm, awho lived under its shadow among the nations.

18 b“Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness wamong the trees of Eden? cYou shall be brought down with wthe trees of Eden to the world below. dYou shall lie among the uncircumcised, ywith those who are slain by the sword.

b“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”