9 “The aland of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because 1you bsaid, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’

10 therefore, behold, I am aagainst you and against your 1rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of 2Ethiopia.

11 “A man’s foot will anot pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.

12 “So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the amidst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will bscatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”

13 ‘For thus says the Lord God, “At the end of forty years I will agather the Egyptians from the peoples 1among whom they were scattered.

14 “I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of aPathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.

15 “It will be the alowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not brule over the nations.

16 “And it will never again be the aconfidence of the house of Israel, 1bbringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned 2to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.” ’ ”