Ezekiel 30

Chapter 30

Lament over Egypt

¹The 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

²⁰In 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.’ ”