Ezekiel 31–32

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?

³‘Behold, Assyria was a ^acedar in Lebanon

With beautiful branches and forest shade

And ^blofty in height,

And its top was among the ¹clouds.

⁴‘The ^awaters made it grow; the ¹deep made it high.

With its rivers it was going all around its planting place

And sent out its conduits to all the trees of the field.

⁵‘Therefore ^aits height was loftier than all the trees of the field,

And its boughs became many and its branches long

Because of ^bmany waters ¹as it spread them out.

⁶‘All the ^abirds of the sky nested in its boughs,

And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,

And all great nations lived under its shade.

⁷‘So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its foliage;

For its ¹roots extended to many waters.

⁸‘The ^acedars in ^bGod’s garden ¹could not match it;

The ²cypresses ³could not liken themselves with its boughs,

And the plane trees were not like its branches.

No tree in ^cGod’s garden ⁴could liken itself with it in its beauty.

⁹‘I made it beautiful with the multitude of its foliage,

And all the trees of ^aEden, which were in the ^bgarden of God, were jealous of it.

¹⁰‘Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because ¹it is lofty in height and has put its top among the ²clouds, and its ^aheart is high up in its loftiness,

¹¹therefore I will give it into the hand of a ^1adominant one of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have ^bdriven it away.

¹²“^aStrangers—^bruthless ones of the nations have cut it down and abandoned it; on the ^cmountains and in all the valleys its foliage have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have ^dgone down from its shade and abandoned it.

¹³“On its downfall all the ^abirds of the sky will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches

¹⁴so that all the trees by the waters may not be lofty in their height, nor put their top among the ¹clouds, nor their dominant ones—all the ²well-watered ones—stand in their loftiness. For they have all been given over to death, to the ^aearth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”

¹⁵‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I ^acaused mourning; I covered it with the ¹deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon ²mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it.

¹⁶“I made the nations ^aquake at the sound of its downfall when I made it ^bgo down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of ^cLebanon, all the ¹well-watered ones, were ^dcomforted in the earth beneath.

¹⁷“They also ^awent down with it to Sheol to those who were ^bslain by the sword; and those who were its ¹strength lived ^cunder its shade among the nations.

¹⁸“To which among the trees of Eden do you thus liken yourself in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the ^auncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. ^bSo is Pharaoh and all his multitude!” ’ declares Lord Yahweh.”

CHAPTER 32

A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt

¹And it happened in the ^atwelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

²“Son of man, take up a ^alamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,

‘You liken yourself to a young ^blion of the nations,

Yet you are like the ^cmonster in the seas;

And you ^dburst forth in your rivers

And muddied the waters with your feet

And ¹fouled their rivers.’”

³Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“So I will ^aspread My net over you

With an assembly of many peoples,

And they shall bring you up in My net.

⁴“I will abandon you on the land;

I will hurl you on the ¹open field.

And I will cause all the ^abirds of the sky to dwell on you,

And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth ²with you.

⁵“I will put your flesh ^aon the mountains

And fill the valleys with your refuse.

⁶“I will also make the land drink the discharge of your ^ablood

As far as the mountains,

And the ravines will be full of you.

⁷“And when I ^aextinguish you,

I will ^bcover the heavens and darken their ^cstars;

I will cover the ^dsun with a cloud,

And the moon will not give its light.

⁸“All the shining ^alights in the heavens

I will darken over you

And will give darkness on your land,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

⁹“I will also ^avex the hearts of many peoples when I ^bbring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known.

¹⁰“I will make many peoples ^1aappalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and ^bthey will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your downfall.”

¹¹For ^athus says Lord Yahweh, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you.

¹²“By the swords of the mighty ones I will cause your multitude to fall; all of them are ^aruthless ones of the nations,

And they will ^bdevastate the lofty pride of Egypt,

And all its multitude will be destroyed.

¹³“I will also make all its cattle perish from beside many waters;

And ^athe foot of man will not muddy them anymore,

And the hoofs of beasts will not muddy them.

¹⁴“Then I will make their waters settle

And will cause their rivers to ¹run like oil,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“When I make the land of Egypt a ^adesolation,

And the land is desolate of its fullness,

When I strike all those who inhabit it,

Then they shall ^bknow that I am Yahweh.

¹⁶“This is a ^alamentation, and they shall ¹lament over it. The daughters of the nations shall ²lament over it. Over Egypt and over all her multitude they shall ³lament over it,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁷Now it happened in the ^atwelfth year, on the ^bfifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

¹⁸“Son of man, ^awail for the hordes of Egypt and ^bbring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the ^cnether world, with those who go down to the pit;

¹⁹‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?

Go down and make your bed with the ^auncircumcised.’

²⁰“They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. ¹She is given over to the sword; they have ^adrawn her and all her multitude away.

²¹“The ^1adominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

²²“^aAssyria is there and all her assembly; ¹her graves are round about ²her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword,

²³whose ^agraves are put in the remotest parts of the pit, and her assembly is all round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who put terror in the land of the living.

²⁴“^aElam is there and all her multitude all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the ^blower parts of the earth, who put their terror in the ^cland of the living and ^dbore their dishonor with those who went down to the pit.

²⁵“They have put a ^abed for her among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around it; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was put in the land of the living), and they bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit; ¹they were put in the midst of the slain.

²⁶“^aMeshech, ^bTubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them. All of them were slain by the sword ^cuncircumcised, though they put their terror in the land of the living.

²⁷“^aNor do they lie beside the fallen ^bmighty ones of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were put under their heads; but the punishment for their ^ciniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these mighty ones was once in the land of the living.

²⁸“But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.

²⁹“There also is ^aEdom, its kings, and all its ¹princes, who ²for all their might are put with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

³⁰“There also are the ¹chiefs of the ^anorth, all of them, and all the ^bSidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit.

³¹“These Pharaoh will see, and he will be ^acomforted for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his military force,” declares Lord Yahweh.

³²“Though I put a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares Lord Yahweh.