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, turn your face toward Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt. ^d3Speak to him and say: This is what the Lord God says:

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

the great monster ^eflying 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 ^g

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, ^h

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. ⁱ

I have given you

to the beasts of the earth

and the birds of the sky as food. ^j

⁶Then all the inhabitants of Egypt

will know that I am Yahweh,

for they ^khave been a staff made of reed

to the house of Israel.

⁷When Israel grasped you by the hand,

you splintered, ^ltearing all their shoulders;

when they leaned on you,

you shattered and made all their hips unsteady. ^m

⁸“Therefore this is what the Lord God says: I am going to bring a sword ⁿagainst you and wipe out man and animal from you. ⁹The land of Egypt will be a desolate ruin. ^oThen they will know that I am Yahweh. Because you ^psaid, ‘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. ^qIt will be uninhabited for 40 years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among ^rdesolate lands, and its cities will be a desolation among ^sruined cities ^tfor 40 years. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them across the countries. ^u

¹³“For this is what the Lord God says: At the end of 40 years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were dispersed. ^v14I 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 trust ^wfor the house of Israel, drawing attention to their sin of turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”

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, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor strenuously against Tyre. ^xEvery 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 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^ywho 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 ^zfor the house of Israel, and I will enable you to speak out ^aamong them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

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: ^bWoe for the day!

³For a day is near;

a day belonging to the Lord is near. ^c

It will be a day of clouds, ^d

a time of doom 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 torn down.

⁵Cush, Put, and Lud, ^e

and all the various foreign troops, ^f

plus Libya ^gand the men of the covenant land ^h

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 ⁱdesolate lands,

and their cities will lie

among ruined ^jcities. ^k

⁸They will know that I am Yahweh

when I set fire to Egypt ^l

and all its allies are shattered.

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

¹⁰This is what the Lord God says:

I will put an end to the hordes ⁿof Egypt

by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king 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. ^o

¹²I will make the streams dry

and sell the land into the hands of evil men. ^p

I will bring desolation

on the land and everything in it

by the hands of foreigners.

I, Yahweh, have spoken.

¹³This is what the Lord God says:

I will destroy the idols and put an end

to the false gods in Memphis. ^q

There will no longer be

a prince from the land of Egypt.

So I will instill fear in that land.

¹⁴I will make Pathros ^rdesolate,

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 crowds ^sof Thebes.

¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt;

Pelusium will writhe in anguish,

Thebes will be breached,

and Memphis will face foes in broad daylight. ^t

¹⁷The young men of On ^uand Pi-beseth

will fall by the sword,

and those cities ^vwill go into captivity.

¹⁸The day will be dark ^win Tehaphnehes,

when I break the yoke of Egypt there

and its proud strength

comes to an end in the city.

A cloud ^xwill cover Tehaphnehes, ^y

and its villages will go into captivity.

¹⁹So I will execute judgments against Egypt,

and they will know that I am Yahweh.

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 arm ^zof 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. ^a24I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword ^bin 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh.”

Downfall of Egypt and Assyria

31In the eleventh year, ^cin 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, ^d

with beautiful branches and shady foliage

and of lofty height.

Its top was among the clouds. ^e

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. ^f

Its branches multiplied,

and its boughs grew long

as it spread them out

because of the plentiful water. ^g

⁶All the birds of the sky

nested in its branches, ^h

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 greatness,

in the length of its limbs,

for its roots extended to abundant water.

⁸The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it; ⁱ

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 ^jbecame great in height and set its top among the clouds, ^kand it ^lgrew proud ^mon account of its height, ¹¹I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations; ⁿhe would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness. ¹²Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations, ^ocut 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, ^pand 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 who descend to the Pit. ^q

¹⁵“This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol. ^rI closed off the underground deep because of it: ^sI held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant waters were 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, ^tall the well-watered trees, the choice and best of Lebanon, were comforted ^uin the underworld. ¹⁷They too…