Ezekiel 29:1–31:2

Prophecy against Egypt

29^*On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^2*“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the king of Egypt. Tell him how he and all the land of Egypt will be punished. ^3*Say that this is what the Sovereign Lord is telling the king of Egypt: I am your enemy, you monster crocodile, lying in the river. You say that the Nile is yours and that you made it.^{p 4*}I am going to put a hook through your jaw and make the fish in your river stick fast to you. Then I will pull you up out of the Nile, with all the fish sticking to you. ^5*I will throw you and all those fish into the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left unburied. I will give it to the birds and animals for food. ^6*Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.”

The Lord says, “The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick. ^7*When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs.^{q 8*}Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you that I will get troops to attack you with swords, and they will kill your people and your animals. ^9*Egypt will become an empty waste. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said that the Nile is yours and you made it, ^10*I am your enemy and the enemy of your Nile. I will make all of Egypt an empty waste, from the city of Migdol in the north to the city of Aswan in the south, all the way to the Ethiopian^r border. ^11*No human being or animal will walk through it. For forty years nothing will live there. ^12*I will make Egypt the most desolate country in the world. For forty years the cities of Egypt will lie in ruins, ruins worse than those of any other city. I will make the Egyptians refugees. They will flee to every country and live among other peoples.”

^13*The Sovereign Lord says, “After forty years I will bring the Egyptians back from the nations where I have scattered them, ^14*and I will let them live in southern Egypt, their original home. There they will be a weak kingdom, ^15*the weakest kingdom of all, and they will never again rule over other nations. I will make them so unimportant that they will not be able to bend any other nation to their will. ^16*Israel will never again depend on them for help. Egypt’s fate will remind Israel how wrong it was to rely on them. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

King Nebuchadnezzar Will Conquer Egypt

^17*On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^18*“Mortal man,” he said, “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia launched an attack on Tyre. He made his soldiers carry such heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald and their shoulders were worn raw, but neither the king nor his army got anything for all their trouble. ^19*So now this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: I am giving the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar. He will loot and plunder it and carry off all the wealth of Egypt as his army’s pay. ^20*I am giving him Egypt in payment for his services, because his army was working for me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

^21*“When that happens, I will make the people of Israel strong and let you, Ezekiel, speak out where everyone can hear you, so that they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Will Punish Egypt

30^*The Lord spoke again. ^2*“Mortal man,” he said, “prophesy and announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. You are to shout these words:

A day of terror is coming!

^3*The day is near, the day when the Lord will act,

A day of clouds and trouble for the nations.

^4*There will be war in Egypt

And great distress in Ethiopia.^s

Many in Egypt will be killed;

The country will be plundered

And left in ruins.

^5*“That war will also kill the soldiers hired from Ethiopia,^t Lydia, Libya Arabia, Kub, and even from among my own people.”

^6*The Lord says, “From Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all Egypt’s defenders will be killed in battle. Egypt’s proud army will be destroyed. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ^7*The land will be the most desolate in the world, and its cities will be left totally in ruins. ^8*When I set fire to Egypt and all her defenders are killed, then they will know that I am the Lord.

^9*“When that day comes and Egypt is destroyed, I will send messengers in ships to arouse the unsuspecting people of Ethiopia,^u and they will be terrified That day is coming!”

^10*The Sovereign Lord says, “I will use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to put an end to Egypt’s wealth. ^11*He and his ruthless army will come to devastate the land. They will attack Egypt with swords, and the land will be full of corpses. ^12*I will dry up the Nile and put Egypt under the power of evil people. Foreigners will devastate the whole country. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

^13*The Sovereign Lord says, “I will destroy the idols and the false gods in Memphis. There will be no one to rule over Egypt, and I will terrify all the people. ^14*I will make southern Egypt desolate and set fire to the city of Zoan in the north. I will punish the capital city of Thebes. ^15*I will let the city of Pelusium, Egypt’s great fortress, feel my fury. I will destroy the wealth of Thebes. ^16*I will set fire to Egypt, and Pelusium will be in agony. The walls of Thebes will be broken down, and the city will be flooded.^{v 17*}The young men of the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in the war, and the other people will be taken prisoner. ^18*Darkness will fall on Tahpanhes when I break the power of Egypt and put an end to the strength they were so proud of. A cloud will cover Egypt, and the people of all her cities will be taken prisoner. ^19*When I punish Egypt in this way, they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Broken Power of the King of Egypt

^20*On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^21*“Mortal man,” he said, “I have broken the arm of the king of Egypt. No one has bandaged it or put it in a sling so that it could heal and be strong enough to hold a sword again. ^22*Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, say: I am the enemy of the king of Egypt. I am going to break both his arms—the good one and the one already broken—and the sword will fall from his hand. ^23*I am going to scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. ^24*Then I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia strong and put my sword in his hands. But I will break the arms of the king of Egypt, and he will groan and die in front of his enemy. ^25*Yes, I will weaken him and strengthen the king of Babylonia. When I give him my sword and he points it towards Egypt, everyone will know that I am the Lord. ^26*I will scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Is Compared to a Cedar Tree

31^*On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^2*“Mortal man,” he said, “say to the king of Egypt and all his people:

How powerful you are!

What can I compare you to?