Judgment of Egypt

1 In the atenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the Lord 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 the Lord 1God,

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

The great 2amonster that lies in the midst of his 3rivers,

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 1rivers cling to your scales.

And I will bring you up out of the midst of your 1rivers,

And all the fish of your 1rivers will cling to your scales.

5 “I will aabandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your 1rivers;

You will fall on the 2open field; you will not be brought together or 3bgathered.

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 the Lord,

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

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

You abroke and tore all their 1hands;

And when they leaned on you,

You broke and made all their loins 2quake.”

8 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God, “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 the Lord.

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

10 therefore, behold, I am aagainst you and against your 1rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of 2Ethiopia.

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 the Lord God, “At the end of forty years I will agather the Egyptians from the peoples 1among whom they were scattered.

14 “I will turn 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 brule over the nations.

16 “And it will never again be the aconfidence of the house of Israel, 1bbringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned 2to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.” ’ ”

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

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

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

20 “I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he 1aperformed, because they acted for Me,” declares the Lord God.

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 the Lord.”

Chapter 30

Lament over Egypt

1 The word of the Lord came again to me saying,

2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord 1God,

“aWail, ‘Alas for the day!’

3 “For the day is near,

Even athe day of the Lord 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 2wealth,

And her foundations are torn down.

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

6 ‘Thus says the Lord,

“Indeed, those who support aEgypt will fall

And the pride of her power will come down;

From Migdol to Syene

They will fall within her by the sword,”

Declares the Lord God.

7 “They will be desolate

In the amidst of the desolated lands;

And her cities will be

In the midst of the devastated cities.

8 “And they will aknow that I am the Lord,

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 comes!”

10 ‘Thus says the Lord God,

“aI will also make the 1hordes 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 destroy the land;

And they will draw their swords against Egypt

And fill the land with the slain.

12 “Moreover, I will make the aNile canals dry

And bsell the land into the hands of evil men.

And I will make the land desolate

And 1all that is in it,

By the hand of strangers; I the Lord have spoken.”

13 ‘Thus says the Lord God,

“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 stronghold of Egypt;

I will also cut off the hordes 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 young 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 yoke bars of Egypt.

Then the pride of her power 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 the Lord.” ’ ”

Victory for Babylon

20 In the aeleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of the Lord 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 1for healing 2or wrapped with a bandage, that it may be strong to hold the sword.

22 “Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘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 the Lord, 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 the Lord.’ ”

Chapter 31

Pharaoh Warned of Assyria’s Fate

1 In the aeleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying,

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

‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

3 ‘Behold, Assyria was a acedar in Lebanon

With beautiful branches and forest shade,

And 1bvery high,

And its top was among the 2clouds.

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

With its rivers it continually 2extended all around its planting place,

And sent out its channels 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 heavens 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 branches;

For its 1roots extended to many waters.

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

The 2cypresses 1could not compare with its boughs,

And the plane trees 3could not match its branches.

No tree in bGod’s garden 1could compare with it in its beauty.

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

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

10 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord 1God, “Because 2it is high in stature and has set its top among the 3clouds, and its aheart is haughty in its loftiness,

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

12 “aAlien btyrants of the nations have cut it down and left it; on the cmountains and in all the valleys its branches 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 left it.

13 “On its ruin all the abirds of the heavens will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches

14 so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the 1clouds, nor their 2well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. 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 the Lord God, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I acaused lamentations; I closed 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