Ezekiel 29–32

Yahweh’s Judgment upon Egypt

29In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth^a day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{b 2}“Son of man,^c set your face against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against Egypt, all of it. ³Speak, and you must say, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Look! I am against you,

Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

the great sea monster,

the one lying down

in the midst of his Nile streams,

who says to me, “It is my Nile, and I made it for myself.”^d

⁴And so I will put hooks in your jawbones,

and I will make the fish of your Nile streams stick to your scales,

and I will bring you up from the midst of your Nile streams,

and all of the fish of your Nile streams which cling to your scales.

⁵And I will fling you to the desert,

you and all the fish of your Nile streams.

On the surface of the field you will fall;

you will not be gathered,

and you will not be assembled.

To the animals^e of the field

and to the birds^f of the heavens

I will give you as food.

⁶And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh,

because of their^g being a staff of reed for the house of Israel.

⁷When they took hold of you with the hand, you snapped,

and you split their every shoulder.

And when they leaned on you, you broke,

and you caused all of their loins to wobble.”

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am bringing on you a sword, and I will cut off from you human and animal. ⁹And the land of Egypt will become^h a desolation and ruins, and they will know that I am Yahweh because heⁱ said, ‘The Nile is mine!^j And I, I made it!’ ¹⁰Therefore look! I am against you and against your Nile streams, and I will make the land of Egypt into ruins, a pile of rubble, a desolation from Migdol to Syene and up to the boundary of Cush. ¹¹A foot of a human will not pass over it, and a foot of an animal will not pass over it, and so it will not be inhabited for forty years.^{k 12}And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and its cities to be in the midst of ruined cities. They will be a desolation for forty years, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them among the countries.”

¹³For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples among whom they were scattered. ¹⁴And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt, and I will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and they will be a lowly kingdom there. ¹⁵Of all the kingdoms it will be the most lowly, and it will not exalt itself again over the nations, and I will make them small so as not to rule over the nations. ¹⁶And it will not be again for the house of Israel an object of trust, bringing to remembrance their guilt when they turned back to them,^l and they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”

¹⁷And then^m in the twenty-seventh year,ⁿ in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{o 18}“Son of man,^p Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, he made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder was rubbed raw, but^q a wage was not paid for him and for his army from Tyre for the labor that he did against it.” ¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am giving to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he will carry its wealth away, and he will plunder its plunder, and he will loot its loot, and it will be a wage for his army. ²⁰As his wages that he worked for, I will give to him the land of Egypt, because they worked for me,” declares^r the Lord Yahweh.

²¹“On that day I will cause power^s to grow up for the house of Israel, and for you I will give an opening of your mouth in the midst of them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

A Lament over the Nation and Land of Egypt

30And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“Son of man,^b prophesy, and you must say, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Wail, alas! For the day!

³For a day is near;

indeed, a day is near for Yahweh.

A day of cloud,

a time of the nations it will be.

⁴And a sword will come in Egypt,

and anguish will be in Cush,

at the falling of the slain in Egypt.

And they will take its wealth,

and its foundation will be demolished.

⁵Cush and Put and Lud and all of Arabia and Kub and the people^c of the land of the treaty^d with them—by the sword they will fall.”

⁶Thus says Yahweh:

“And the supporters of Egypt will fall,

and the majesty of its strength will go down

from Migdol to Syene;

by the sword they will fall in it,”

declares^e the Lord Yahweh.

⁷“And they will be desolate in the midst of desolate countries,

and its cities will be in the midst of ruined cities.

⁸And they will know that I am Yahweh

when I put my fire in Egypt,

and all of its helpers are broken.

⁹On that day messengers will go down from before me^f in the ships to terrify unsuspecting Cush, and anguish will be in them on the day of Egypt; for look, it is coming!”

¹⁰Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“And I will put an end to the crowds^g of Egypt

by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

¹¹He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,

will be brought to destroy the land.

And they will draw their swords against Egypt,

and they will fill the land with the slain,

¹²and I will make the Nile streams dry land,

and I will sell the land into the hand of bad people,

and I will lay waste the land and its fullness

by the hand of strangers.

I, Yahweh, I have spoken.”

¹³Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“And I will destroy the idols,

and I will put an end to the worthless idols from Memphis.

And there will no longer be^h a prince from the land of Egypt,

and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴And I will lay waste Pathros,

and I will set fire in Zoan,

and I will execute judgments in No.ⁱ

¹⁵I will pour out my rage over Sin,

the stronghold of Egypt,

and I will cut off the crowd^j of No.^k

¹⁶And I will set fire in Egypt,

certainly Sin will writhe,

and No^l will be breached,

and Memphis will face enemies daily.^m

¹⁷The young men of On and Pi Beseth will fall by the sword,

and they will go into captivity.

¹⁸And at Tahpanhes the day will become dark

when I break the yoke of Egypt,

and in it the majesty of its strength

will come to an end.

A cloud will cover it,

and its daughters will go into captivity.

¹⁹And I will execute judgments in Egypt,

and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

²⁰And thenⁿ in the eleventh^o year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{p 21}“Son of man,^q the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, I have broken. And look, it has not been bound up for giving of a remedy, or for the placing of a splint to bind it up to make it strong to take hold of the sword.” ²²Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and I will break his strong arm and the broken arm, and I will let the sword fall from his hand. ²³And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them among the countries. ²⁴And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and I will give my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan with the groaning of the mortally wounded before him.^{r 25}And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall. And they will know that I am Yahweh when I give my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will stretch it out to the land of Egypt. ²⁶And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them into the countries, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

Pharaoh Is Warned Through Assyria’s Destruction

31And then^a in the eleventh^b year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{c 2}“Son of man,^d say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd,^e

‘To whom are you like in your greatness?

³Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,

with beautiful branches^f and a forest giving shade,

and very high,^g

and its treetop was between the clouds.

⁴Waters made it great,

the deep made it grow high;

its rivers were going all around its planting area,^h

and its channels it sent out

to all of the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore it became tall,

with its height more than all of the trees of the field,

and its branches became numerous,

and its branches became long

from its sending its shoots from abundant water.ⁱ

⁶In its branches all the birds^j of the heaven^k made their nest,

and under its branches all the animals^l of the field gave birth,

and in its shadow all the many nations lived.

⁷And it was beautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches,

for its root was toward much water.

⁸Cedars in the garden of God

could not be equal to it;

fir trees^m could not resemble its branches,

and plane trees were not even like its branches;

any tree even in the garden of God

could not resemble it in its beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches,

and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.’ ”

¹⁰Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Becauseⁿ it was tall in height and it set its treetop between^o thick clouds, and he took pride in his tallness,^{p 11}then^q I gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he dealt thoroughly^r with it according to its wickedness. I drove it out. ¹²And strangers cut it off, the most ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all of the valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it. ¹³On its fallen trunk all the birds^s of the heaven^t now dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches. ¹⁴This occurred so that all of the trees with abundant water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between^u their thick foliage,^v and so that all of the trees that are abundantly watered^w will not stand up to them^x in…