Ezekiel 29–32

A Prophecy Against Egypt

^29:1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month,¹ the word of the Lord came to me: ^29:2“Son of man, turn toward² Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. ^29:3Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“ ‘Look, I am against³ you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster⁴ lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”⁵

^29:4I will put hooks in your jaws

and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales.

I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways,

and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales.

^29:5I will leave you in the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your waterways;

you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected.⁶

I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.

^29:6Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord

because they were a reed staff⁷ for the house of Israel;

^29:7when they grasped you with their hand,⁸ you broke and tore⁹ their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady.¹⁰

^29:8“ ‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill¹¹ every person and every animal. ^29:9The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” ^29:10I am against¹² you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol¹³ to Syene,¹⁴ as far as the border with Ethiopia. ^29:11No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years. ^29:12I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for forty years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries.

^29:13“ ‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years¹⁵ I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered. ^29:14I will restore the fortunes of Egypt, and will bring them back¹⁶ to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin; there they will be an insignificant kingdom. ^29:15It will be the most insignificant of the kingdoms; it will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. ^29:16It will never again be Israel’s source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help.¹⁷ Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.’ ”

^29:17In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month,¹⁸ the word of the Lord came to me: ^29:18“Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar¹⁹ of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre.²⁰ Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it. ^29:19Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, capture her loot, and seize her plunder; it will be his army’s wages. ^29:20I have given him the land of Egypt as his compensation for attacking Tyre²¹, because they did it for me, declares the sovereign Lord. ^29:21On that day I will make Israel powerful,²² and I will give you the right to be heard²³ among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Lament Over Egypt

^30:1The word of the Lord came to me: ^30:2“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“ ‘Wail, “Alas, the day is here!”¹

^30:3For the day is near,

the day of the Lord is near;

it will be a day of storm clouds,²

it will be a time of judgment³ for the nations.

^30:4A sword will come against Egypt

and panic will overtake Ethiopia

when the slain fall in Egypt

and they carry away her wealth

and dismantle her foundations.

^30:5Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners,⁴ Libya, and the people⁵ of the covenant land⁶ will die by the sword along with them.

^30:6“ ‘This is what the Lord says:

Egypt’s supporters will fall;

her confident pride will crumble.⁷

From Migdol to Syene⁸ they will die by the sword within her,

declares the sovereign Lord.

^30:7They will be desolate among desolate lands,

and their cities will be among ruined cities.

^30:8They will know that I am the Lord

when I ignite a fire in Egypt

and all her allies are defeated.⁹

^30:9On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overly confident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom;¹⁰ for beware—it is coming!

^30:10“ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,

by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar¹¹ of Babylon.

^30:11He and his people with him,

the most terrifying of the nations,¹²

will be brought there to destroy the land.

They will draw their swords against Egypt,

and fill the land with corpses.

^30:12I will dry up the waterways

and hand the land over to¹³ evil men.

I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

^30:13“ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

I will destroy the idols,

and put an end to the gods of Memphis.

There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;

so I will make the land of Egypt fearful.¹⁴

^30:14I will desolate Pathros,

I will ignite a fire in Zoan,

and I will execute judgments on Thebes.

^30:15I will pour out my anger upon Pelusium,¹⁵

the stronghold of Egypt;

I will cut off¹⁶ the hordes of Thebes.

^30:16I will ignite a fire in Egypt;

Syene¹⁷ will writhe in agony,

Thebes will be broken down,

and Memphis will face enemies every day.

^30:17The young men of On and of Pi-beseth¹⁸ will die by the sword;

and the cities will go¹⁹ into captivity.

^30:18In Tahpanhes the day will be dark²⁰

when I break the yoke of Egypt there.

Her confident pride will cease within her;

a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

^30:19I will execute judgments on Egypt.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

^30:20In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month,²¹ the word of the Lord came to me: ^30:21“Son of man, I have broken the arm²² of Pharaoh king of Egypt.²³ Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword. ^30:22Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look,²⁴ I am against²⁵ Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand. ^30:23I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among foreign countries. ^30:24I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan like the fatally wounded before the king of Babylon.^2630:25I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt. ^30:26I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Cedar in Lebanon

^31:1In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month,¹ the word of the Lord came to me: ^31:2“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:

“ ‘Who are you like in your greatness?

^31:3Consider Assyria,² a cedar in Lebanon,³

with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,

and extremely tall;

its top reached into the clouds.

^31:4The water made it grow;

underground springs made it grow tall.

Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted,

while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field.⁴

^31:5Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large and its branches grew long,

because of the plentiful water in its shoots.⁵

^31:6All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs;

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

in its shade all the great⁶ nations lived.

^31:7It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches;

for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.

^31:8The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it,

nor could the fir trees⁷ match its boughs;

the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches;

no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.

^31:9I made it beautiful with its many branches;

all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.

^31:10“ ‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height, ^31:11I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly,⁸ as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out. ^31:12Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land⁹ have departed¹⁰ from its shade and left it. ^31:13On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals¹¹ will walk¹² on its branches. ^31:14For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high.¹³ For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth;¹⁴ they will be among mere mortals,¹⁵ with those who descend to the pit.

^31:15“ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it¹⁶ went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament.¹⁷ I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. ^31:16I made the nations shake at the sound of its…