Ezekiel 29–32

A PROPHECY OF EGYPT’S RUIN

29In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, face Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt.^{a 3}Speak to him and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster^Ab lying in the middle of his Nile,

who says, “My Nile is my own;

I made it for myself.”

⁴I will put hooks in your jaws^c

and make the fish of your streams

cling to your scales.

I will haul you up

from the middle of your Nile,

and all the fish of your streams

will cling to your scales.

⁵I will leave you in the desert,^d

you and all the fish of your streams.

You will fall on the open ground

and will not be taken away

or gathered for burial.^e

I have given you

to the wild creatures of the earth

and the birds of the sky as food.^f

⁶“ ‘Then all the inhabitants of Egypt

will know that I am the Lord,

for they^B have been a staff made of reed

to the house of Israel.

⁷When Israel grasped you by the hand,

you splintered,^g tearing all their shoulders;

when they leaned on you,

you shattered and made all their hips unsteady.^C

⁸“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I am going to bring a sword^h against you and cut off both people and animals from you. ⁹The land of Egypt will be a desolate ruin.ⁱ Then they will know that I am the Lord. Because you^D said, “The Nile is my own; I made it,” ¹⁰therefore, I am against you and your Nile. I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins, a desolate waste from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. ¹¹No human foot will pass through it, and no animal foot will pass through it.^j It will be uninhabited for forty years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among^E desolate lands, and its cities will be a desolation among^F ruined cities^k for forty years. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.^l

¹³“ ‘For this is what the Lord God says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were dispersed.^{m 14}I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small they cannot rule over the nations. ¹⁶It will never again be an object of trustⁿ for the house of Israel, drawing attention to their iniquity of turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.’ ”

BABYLON RECEIVES EGYPT AS COMPENSATION

¹⁷In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸“Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army labor strenuously against Tyre.^o Every head was made bald and every shoulder chafed, but he and his army received no compensation from Tyre for the labor he expended against it. ¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I am going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,^p and he will carry off its wealth, seizing its spoil and taking its plunder. This will be his army’s compensation. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as the pay he labored for, since they worked for me.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. ²¹“In that day I will cause a horn to sprout^q for the house of Israel, and I will enable you to speak out^r among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

EGYPT’S DOOM

30The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

Wail,^s “Woe because of that day!”

³For a day is near;

a day belonging to the Lord is near.^t

It will be a day of clouds,^u

a time of doom^A for the nations.

⁴A sword will come against Egypt,

and there will be anguish in Cush

when the slain fall in Egypt,

and its wealth is taken away,

and its foundations are demolished.

⁵Cush, Put, and Lud,^v

and all the various foreign troops,^B

plus Libya^C and the men of the covenant land

will fall by the sword along with them.

⁶This is what the Lord says:

Those who support Egypt will fall,

and its proud strength will collapse.

From Migdol to Syene

they will fall within it by the sword.

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

⁷They will be desolate

among^D desolate lands,

and their cities will lie

among ruined^E cities.^a

⁸They will know that I am the Lord

when I set fire to Egypt^b

and all its allies are shattered.

⁹On that day, messengers will go out from me in ships^c to terrify confident Cush. Anguish will come over them on the day of Egypt’s doom.^A For indeed it is coming.

¹⁰“ ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt

by the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

¹¹He along with his people,

ruthless men from the nations,

will be brought in to destroy the land.

They will draw their swords against Egypt

and fill the land with the slain.^d

¹²I will make the streams dry

and sell the land to evil men.^e

I will bring desolation

on the land and everything in it

by the hands of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

¹³“ ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will destroy the worthless idols

and put an end to

the false gods in Memphis.^f

There will no longer be

a prince from the land of Egypt.

And I will instill fear in that land.

¹⁴I will make Pathros^g desolate,

set fire to Zoan,

and execute judgments on Thebes.

¹⁵I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,

the stronghold of Egypt,

and will wipe out the hordes of Thebes.

¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt;

Pelusium will writhe in anguish,

Thebes will be breached,

and Memphis will face foes in broad daylight.^C

¹⁷The young men of On^D and Pi-beseth

will fall by the sword,

and those cities^E will go into captivity.

¹⁸The day will be dark^F in Tehaphnehes,

when I break the yoke of Egypt there

and its proud strength

comes to an end in the city.

A cloud will cover Tehaphnehes,^G

and its surrounding villages will go into captivity.

¹⁹So I will execute judgments against Egypt,

and they will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

PHARAOH’S POWER BROKEN

²⁰In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the armⁱ of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Look, it has not been bandaged—no medicine has been applied and no splint put on to bandage it so that it can grow strong enough to handle a sword. ²²Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Look! I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken, and will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them among the countries.^{j 24}I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place my sword^k in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him as a mortally wounded man. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall. They will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he wields it against the land of Egypt. ²⁶When I disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them among the countries, they will know that I am the Lord.”

DOWNFALL OF EGYPT AND ASSYRIA

31In the eleventh year,^a in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,

‘Who are you like in your greatness?

³Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,^b

with beautiful branches and shady foliage

and of lofty height.

Its top was among the clouds.

⁴The waters caused it to grow;

the underground springs made it tall,

directing their rivers all around

the place where the tree was planted

and sending their channels

to all the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore the cedar became greater in height

than all the trees of the field. ^C

Its branches multiplied,

and its boughs grew long

as it spread them out

because of the abundant water.^d

⁶All the birds of the sky

nested in its branches,^e

and all the animals of the field

gave birth beneath its boughs;

all the great nations lived in its shade.

⁷It was beautiful in its size,

in the length of its limbs,

for its roots extended to abundant water.

⁸The cedars in God’s garden could not eclipse it;^f

the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,

nor could the plane trees match its boughs.

No tree in the garden of God

could compare with it in beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful with its many limbs,

and all the trees of Eden,

which were in God’s garden, envied it.

¹⁰“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Since it^B towered high in stature and set its top among the clouds, and it^C grew proud^g on account of its height, ¹¹I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations;^h he would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness. ¹²Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations,ⁱ cut it down and left it lying. Its limbs fell on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it. ¹³All the birds of the sky nested on its fallen trunk, and all the animals of the field were among its boughs. ¹⁴This happened so that no trees planted beside water would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and so that no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the underworld, among the people^A who descend to the Pit.^j

¹⁵“ ‘This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol.^k I closed off the underground deep because of it:^B I held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant water was restrained. I made Lebanon mourn on account of it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. ¹⁶I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I threw it down to Sheol to be with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden,^l the choice and best of Lebanon, all…