Ezekiel 29–32

Prophecy Against Egypt

29It was the tenth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, look toward the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and all Egypt. ³Say: ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I am against you, king of Egypt.

You are like a great crocodile that lies in the Nile River.

You say, “The Nile is mine;

I made it for myself.”

⁴But I will put hooks in your jaws,

and I will make the fish of the Nile stick to your sides.

I will pull you up out of your rivers,

with all the fish sticking to your sides.

⁵I will leave you in the desert,

you and all the fish from your rivers.

You will fall onto the ground;

you will not be picked up or buried.

I have given you to the wild animals

and to the birds of the sky for food.

⁶Then all the people who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.

“ ‘Israel tried to lean on you for help, but you were like a crutch made out of a weak stalk of grass. ⁷When their hands grabbed you, you splintered and tore open their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you broke and made all their backs twist.

⁸“ ‘So this is what the Lord God says: I will cause an enemy to attack you and kill your people and animals. ⁹Egypt will become an empty desert. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“ ‘Because you said, “The Nile River is mine, and I have made it,” ¹⁰I am against you and your rivers. I will destroy the land of Egypt and make it an empty desert from Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all the way to the border of Cush. ¹¹No person or animal will walk through it, and no one will live in Egypt for forty years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt the most deserted country of all. Her cities will be the most deserted of all ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, spreading them among the countries.

¹³“ ‘This is what the Lord God says: After forty years I will gather Egypt from the nations where they have been scattered. ¹⁴I will bring back the Egyptian captives and make them return to southern Egypt, to the land they came from. They will become a weak kingdom there. ¹⁵It will be the weakest kingdom, and it will never again rule other nations. I will make it so weak it will never again rule over the nations. ¹⁶The Israelites will never again depend on Egypt. Instead, Egypt’s punishment will remind the Israelites of their sin in turning to Egypt for help. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.’ ”

Egypt Is Given to Babylon

¹⁷It was the twenty-seventh year of our captivity, in the first month, on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ¹⁸“Human, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army fight hard against Tyre. Every soldier’s head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder was rubbed raw. But Nebuchadnezzar and his army gained nothing from fighting Tyre. ¹⁹So this is what the Lord God says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will take away Egypt’s people and its wealth and its treasures as pay for his army. ²⁰I am giving Nebuchadnezzar the land of Egypt as a reward for working hard for me, says the Lord God.

²¹“At that time I will make Israel grow strong again, and I will let you, Ezekiel, speak to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Will Be Punished

30The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

Cry and say,

“The terrible day is coming.”

³The day is near;

the Lord’s day of judging is near.

It is a cloudy day

and a time when the nations will be judged.

⁴An enemy will attack Egypt,

and Cush will tremble with fear.

When the killing begins in Egypt,

her wealth will be taken away,

and her foundations will be torn down.

⁵Cush, Put, Lydia, Arabia, Libya, and some of my people who had made an agreement with Egypt will fall dead in war.

⁶“ ‘This is what the Lord says:

Those who fight on Egypt’s side will fall.

The power she is proud of will be lost.

The people in Egypt will fall dead in war

from Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south,

says the Lord God.

⁷They will be the most deserted lands.

Egypt’s cities will be the worst of cities that lie in ruins.

⁸Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I set fire to Egypt

and when all those nations on her side are crushed.

⁹“ ‘At that time I will send messengers in ships to frighten Cush, which now feels safe. The people of Cush will tremble with fear when Egypt is punished. And that time is sure to come.

¹⁰“ ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will destroy great numbers of people in Egypt

through the power of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar and his army,

the cruelest army of any nation,

will be brought in to destroy the land.

They will pull out their swords against Egypt

and will fill the land with those they kill.

¹²I will make the streams of the Nile River become dry land,

and then I will sell the land to evil people.

I will destroy the land and everything in it

through the power of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

Egypt’s Idols Are Destroyed

¹³“ ‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will destroy the idols

and take away the statues of gods from the city of Memphis.

There will no longer be a leader in Egypt,

and I will spread fear through the land of Egypt.

¹⁴I will make southern Egypt empty

and start a fire in Zoan

and punish Thebes.

¹⁵And I will pour out my anger against Pelusium,

the strong place of Egypt.

I will destroy great numbers of people in Thebes.

¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt.

Pelusium will be in great pain.

The walls of Thebes will be broken open,

and Memphis will have troubles every day.

¹⁷The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis

will fall dead in war,

and the people will be taken away as captives.

¹⁸In Tahpanhes the day will be dark

when I break Egypt’s power.

Then she will no longer be proud of her power.

A cloud will cover Egypt,

and her villages will be captured and taken away.

¹⁹So I will punish Egypt,

and they will know I am the Lord.’ ”

Egypt Becomes Weak

²⁰It was in the eleventh year of our captivity, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²¹“Human, I have broken the powerful arm of the king of Egypt. It has not been tied up, so it will not get well. It has not been wrapped with a bandage, so it will not be strong enough to hold a sword in war. ²²So this is what the Lord God says: I am against the king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong arm and the broken arm, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, spreading them among the countries. ²⁴I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of the king of Egypt. Then when he faces the king of Babylon, he will cry out in pain like a dying person. ²⁵So I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but the arms of the king of Egypt will fall. Then people will know that I am the Lord when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he uses it in war against Egypt. ²⁶Then I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, spreading them among the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Cedar Tree

31It was in the eleventh year of our captivity, in the third month, on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, say to the king of Egypt and his people:

‘No one is like you in your greatness.

³Assyria was once like a cedar tree in Lebanon

with beautiful branches that shaded the forest.

It was very tall;

its top was among the clouds.

⁴Much water made the tree grow;

the deep springs made it tall.

Rivers flowed

around the bottom of the tree

and sent their streams

to all other trees in the countryside.

⁵So the tree was taller

than all the other trees in the countryside.

Its limbs became long and big

because of so much water.

⁶All the birds of the sky

made their nests in the tree’s limbs.

And all the wild animals

gave birth under its branches.

All great nations

lived in the tree’s shade.

⁷So the tree was great and beautiful,

with its long branches,

because its roots reached down to much water.

⁸The cedar trees in the garden of God

were not as great as it was.

The pine trees

did not have such great limbs.

The plane trees

did not have such branches.

No tree in the garden of God

was as beautiful as this tree.

⁹I made it beautiful

with many branches,

and all the trees of Eden in the garden of God

wanted to be like it.

¹⁰“ ‘So this is what the Lord God says: The tree grew tall. Its top reached the clouds, and it became proud of its height. ¹¹So I handed it over to a mighty ruler of the nations for him to punish it. Because it was evil, I got rid of it. ¹²The cruelest foreign nation cut it down and left it. The tree’s branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys, and its broken limbs were in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth left the shade of that tree. ¹³The birds of the sky live on the fallen tree. The wild animals live among the tree’s fallen branches. ¹⁴So the trees that grow by the water will not be proud to be tall; they will not put their tops among the clouds. None of the trees that are watered well will grow that tall, because they all are meant to die and go under the ground. They will be with people who have died and have gone down to the place of the dead.

¹⁵“ ‘This is what the Lord God says: On the day when the tree went down to the place of the dead, I made the deep springs cry loudly. I covered them and held back their rivers, and the great waters stopped flowing. I dressed Lebanon in black to show her sadness about the great tree, and all the trees in the countryside were sad about it. ¹⁶I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of the tree falling when I brought it down to the place of the dead. It went to join those who have gone down to the grave. Then all the trees of Eden and the best trees of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were comforted in the place of the dead below the earth. ¹⁷These trees had…