Ezekiel 32:17–32

The World of the Dead

^17*On the fifteenth day of the first month^b of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^18*“Mortal man,” he said, “mourn for all the many people of Egypt. Send them down with the other powerful nations to the world of the dead. ^19*Say to them:

“Do you think you are more beautiful than anyone else?

You will go down to the world of the dead

and lie there among the ungodly.

^20*“The people of Egypt will fall with those who are killed in battle. A sword is ready to kill them all.^{c 21*}The greatest heroes and those who fought on the Egyptian side welcome the Egyptians to the world of the dead. They shout: ‘The ungodly who were killed in battle have come down here, and here they lie!’ ^22*“Assyria is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, ^23*and their graves are in the deepest parts of the world of the dead. All her soldiers fell in battle, and their graves surround her tomb. Yet once they terrified the land of the living.

^24*“Elam is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, and they went down, uncircumcised, to the world of the dead. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced. ^25*Elam lies down among those killed in battle, and the graves of her soldiers are all around her. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced, sharing the fate of those killed in battle. ^26*“Meshech and Tubal are there, with the graves of their soldiers all around. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. Yet once they terrified the living. ^27*They were not given honourable burial like the heroes of ancient times,^d who went fully armed to the world of the dead, their swords placed under their heads and their shields^e over their bodies. These heroes were once powerful enough to terrify the living.

^28*“That is how the Egyptians will lie crushed among the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

^29*“Edom is there with her kings and rulers. They were powerful soldiers, but now they lie in the world of the dead with the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

^30*“All the princes of the north are there, and so are the Sidonians. Their power once spread terror, but now they go down in disgrace with those killed in battle and are laid to rest, uncircumcised. They share the disgrace of those who go down to the world of the dead.

^31*“The sight of all these who were killed in battle will be a comfort to the king of Egypt and his army,” says the Sovereign Lord.

^32*“I made the king of Egypt terrorize the living, but he and all his army will be killed and laid to rest with all the uncircumcised who die in battle.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.