Ezekiel 29:1–31:2

Prophesy Against Egypt

¹In the ^atenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against ^aPharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all ^bEgypt.

³“Speak and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

The great ^1amonster that lies in the midst of his canals of the Nile,

That ^bhas said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’

⁴“I will put ^ahooks in your jaws

And make the fish of your canals of the Nile cling to your scales.

And I will bring you up out of the midst of your canals of the Nile,

And all the fish of your canals of the Nile will cling to your scales.

⁵“I will ^aabandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your canals of the Nile;

You will fall on the ¹open field; you will not be brought together or ^2bgathered.

I have given you for ^cfood to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.

⁶“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh

Because they have been only a ^astaff made of reed to the house of Israel.

⁷“When they seized you with the hand,

You ^atore and split open all their ¹shoulders;

And when they leaned on you,

You broke and made all their loins ²quake.”

⁸‘Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will ^abring upon you a sword, and I will cut off from you man and beast.

⁹“The ^aland of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Because ¹you ^bsaid, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’

¹⁰therefore, behold, I am ^aagainst you and against your canals of the Nile, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of ¹Ethiopia.

¹¹“A man’s foot will ^anot pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.

¹²“So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the ^amidst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will ^bscatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”

¹³‘For thus says Lord Yahweh, “At the end of forty years I will ^agather the Egyptians from the peoples ¹among whom they were scattered.

¹⁴“I will return the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of ^aPathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.

¹⁵“It will be the ^alowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not ^bhave dominion over the nations.

¹⁶“And it will never again be the ^asecurity of the house of Israel, ^bbringing to remembrance the iniquity of their having turned to go after Egypt. Then they will know that I am Lord Yahweh.” ’ ”

¹⁷Now in the ^atwenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

¹⁸“Son of man, ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his military force ¹labor hard against Tyre; every head was made ^bbald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his military force had no wages from Tyre for the ²labor that he had ³labored against it.”

¹⁹Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I ^awill give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her ^1babundance and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his military force.

²⁰“I have given him the land of Egypt for his work which he ^1alabored because they acted for Me,” declares Lord Yahweh.

²¹“On that day I will make a ^ahorn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will ^1bopen your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

CHAPTER 30

Those Who Support Egypt Will Fall

¹The word of Yahweh came again to me saying,

²“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“^aWail, ‘Alas for the day!’

³“For the day is near,

Even ^athe day of Yahweh is near;

It will be a day of ^bclouds,

A time of doom for the nations.

⁴“A sword will come upon Egypt,

And anguish will be in ¹Ethiopia;

When the slain fall in Egypt,

They ^atake away her multitude,

And her foundations are pulled down.

⁵“¹Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all ^2aArabia, ³Libya, and the ⁴people of the land ⁵that is in covenant will fall with them by the sword.”

⁶‘Thus says Yahweh,

“Indeed, those who support ^aEgypt will fall,

And the pride of her strength will come down;

From Migdol to Syene

They will fall within her by the sword,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

⁷“They will be desolate

In the ^amidst of the desolated lands;

And her cities will be

In the midst of the cities laid waste.

⁸“And they will ^aknow that I am Yahweh,

When I set a ^bfire in Egypt

And all her helpers are broken.

⁹“On that day ^amessengers will go forth from Me in ships to frighten ^bsecure ¹Ethiopia; and ^canguish will be on them as on the day of Egypt; for behold, it is coming!”

¹⁰‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“^aI will also make the multitude of Egypt cease

By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹“He and his people with him,

^aThe most ruthless of the nations,

Will be brought in to make the land a ruin;

And they will draw their swords against Egypt

And fill the land with the slain.

¹²“Moreover, I will make the ^acanals of the Nile dry

And ^bsell the land into the hands of evil men.

And I will make the land desolate,

As well as its fullness,

By the hand of strangers; I, Yahweh, have spoken.”

¹³‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“I will also ^adestroy the idols

And make the ¹images cease from ^2bMemphis.

And there will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;

And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“I will make ^aPathros desolate,

Set a fire in ^bZoan,

And execute judgments on ^1cThebes.

¹⁵“I will pour out My wrath on ¹Sin,

The strong defense of Egypt;

I will also cut off the multitude of ²Thebes.

¹⁶“I will set a fire in Egypt;

¹Sin will writhe in anguish;

²Thebes will be breached,

And ³Memphis will have ⁴distresses daily.

¹⁷“The choice men of ^1aOn and of Pi-beseth

Will fall by the sword,

And ²the women will go into captivity.

¹⁸“In ^aTehaphnehes the day will ¹be ^bdark

When I ^cbreak there the bars of the yoke of Egypt.

Then the pride of her strength will cease in her;

A cloud will cover her,

And her daughters will go into captivity.

¹⁹“Thus I will ^aexecute judgments on Egypt,

And they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”

Yahweh Scatters the Egyptians

²⁰In the ^aeleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

²¹“Son of man, I have ^abroken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and behold, it has not been ^bbound up to be given healing ¹or wrapped with a bandage, that it may be strong to seize the sword.

²²“Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I am ^aagainst Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong and the ^bbroken; and I will make the sword ^cfall from his hand.

²³‘I will ^ascatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.

²⁴‘For I will ^astrengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put ^bMy sword in his hand; and I will break the arms of Pharaoh so that he will groan before him with the groanings of a wounded man.

²⁵‘Thus I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he ^astretches it out against the land of Egypt.

²⁶‘When I scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands, then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

CHAPTER 31

Egypt Will Be Brought Down to Sheol

¹Now it happened in the ^aeleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

²“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his ^amultitude,

‘To whom do you liken yourself in your greatness?