Ezekiel 30–32

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 the well-watered trees, were comforted^m in the underworld. ¹⁷They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies^CD they had lived in its shade among the nations.

¹⁸“ ‘Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword.ⁿ This is Pharaoh and all his hordes. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’ ”

A LAMENT FOR PHARAOH

32In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, lament^o for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,

‘You compare yourself to a lion of the nations,

but^E you are like a monster^F in the seas.

You thrash about in your rivers,

churn up the waters with your feet,

and muddy the^G rivers.

³“ ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will spread my net over you^a

with an assembly of many peoples,

and they^H will haul you up in my net.

⁴I will abandon you on the land

and throw you onto the open field.

I will cause all the birds of the sky

to settle on you

and let the wild creatures of the entire earth

eat their fill of you.^b

⁵I will put your flesh on the mountains^c

and fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶I will drench the land

with the flow of your blood,

even to the mountains;

the ravines will be filled with your gore.

⁷“ ‘When I snuff you out,

I will cover the heavens

and darken their stars.

I will cover the sun with a cloud,^d

and the moon will not give its light.

⁸I will darken all the shining lights

in the heavens over you,

and will bring darkness on your land.

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

⁹“ ‘I will trouble the hearts of many peoples,

when I bring about your destruction

among the nations,

in countries you have not known.

¹⁰I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you,

and their kings will shudder with fear because of you^e

when I brandish my sword in front of them.

On the day of your downfall

each of them will tremble

every moment^f for his life.

¹¹“ ‘For this is what the Lord God says:

The sword of Babylon’s king

will come against you!

¹²I will make your hordes fall

by the swords of warriors,

all of them ruthless men from the nations.^g

They will ravage Egypt’s pride,

and all its hordes will be destroyed.

¹³I will slaughter all its cattle

that are beside many waters.

No human foot will churn them again,

and no cattle hooves will disturb them.^h

¹⁴Then I will let their waters settle

and will make their rivers flow like oil.

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

¹⁵When I make the land of Egypt a desolation,

so that it is emptied of everything in it,

when I strike down all who live there,

then they will know that I am the Lord.ⁱ

¹⁶“ ‘The daughters of the nations will chant that lament.^j They will chant it over Egypt and all its hordes. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’ ”

EGYPT IN SHEOL

¹⁷In the twelfth year,^A on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸“Son of man, wail over the hordes of Egypt and bring Egypt and the daughters of mighty nations down to the underworld, to be with those who descend to the Pit:^k

¹⁹Who do you surpass in loveliness?

Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!

²⁰They will fall among those slain by the sword.

A sword is appointed!^l

They drag her and all her hordes away.

²¹Warrior leaders will speak

from the middle of Sheol

about him^C and his allies:

‘They have come down;

the…