Ezekiel 30–32

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 their tallness, for all of them, they have been given over to death, to the world below in the midst of mortals,^y to the people going down to the grave.”^z

¹⁵Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “On the day of its going down to Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it with the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they had fainted because of it. ¹⁶From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with the people going down to the grave,^a and so in the world below all of the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees^b were comforted! ¹⁷They also went down with it to Sheol to those who died by the sword,^c and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.

¹⁸To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty^d among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those who died by the sword.^e That is Pharaoh and his entire^f crowd!”^g declares^h the Lord Yahweh.

A Lament for Pharaoh, King of Egypt

32And then^a in the twelfth^b year, in the twelfth^c month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{d 2}“Son of man,^e raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you must say to him,

‘With a fierce, strong lion among nations you compared yourself,

and you are like the sea monster in the seas,

and you thrash about in your rivers,

and you make water turbid with your feet,

and you make your rivers muddy.

³Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

Now I will spread my net over you

in the assembly of many peoples,

and I will bring you up in my dragnet.

⁴And I will throw you on the ground;

on the surface of the open field I will hurl you,

and I will cause every bird of the heaven to dwell on you,

and I will satisfy the animals^f of all of the world from you.

⁵And I will put your flesh on the mountains,

and I will fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶And I will water the land with your discharge from your blood

on the mountains,

and valleys will be filled from^g you.

⁷And I will cover you at^h extinguishing your heavens,

and I will make dark their stars,

and I will cover the sun with the cloud,

and the moon will not give its light.

⁸Allⁱ sources of light in the heavens,

I will make them dark over you,

and I will put^j darkness on your land,’ ”

declares^k the Lord Yahweh.

⁹“And I will disturb the hearts^l of many peoples

at my bringing about your captivity among the nations,

to countries that you do not know.

¹⁰And I will cause many peoples to be awestruck over you,

and their kings will shudder over you in horror,

at^m my brandishing my sword before their faces,

and they will tremble continually,ⁿ

each person for his life,

on the day of your downfall.”

¹¹For thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“The sword of the king of Babylon,

it will come to you.

¹²By the swords of warriors I will cause to fall your hordes

by the most ruthless of the nations, all of them,

and they will devastate the majesty of Egypt,

and all of its hordes will be destroyed.

¹³And I will destroy all her domestic livestock

beside^o many waters.

The feet of humans^p will not make them turbid again,

and the hooves of domestic livestock will not make them turbid.

¹⁴Then I will make their waters settle,

and their rivers as the olive oil I will let flow,”

declares^q the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“Then I make the land of Egypt a desolation,

so that the land will be stripped from its fullness

when I strike all of those dwelling in it,

and they will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁶This is^r a lament, and they will chant it as a lament; the daughters of the nations will chant it as a lament over Egypt, and over all…