Ezekiel 29–32

A Message About Egypt

29It was the tenth year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the 12th day of the tenth month, a message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Son of man, turn your attention to Pharaoh Hophra. He is king of Egypt. Prophesy against him and the whole land of Egypt. ³Tell him, ‘The Lord and King says,

“ ‘ “Pharaoh Hophra, I am against you.

King of Egypt, you are like a huge monster

lying among your streams.

You say, ‘The Nile River belongs to me.

I made it for myself.’

⁴But I will put hooks in your jaws.

I will make the fish in your streams

stick to your scales.

I will pull you out from among your streams.

All of the fish will stick to your scales.

⁵I will leave you out in the desert.

All of the fish in your streams

will be there with you.

You will fall down in an open field.

You will not be picked up.

I will feed you to the wild animals

and to the birds of the air.

⁶Then everyone who lives in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.

“ ‘ “You have been like a walking stick made out of a papyrus stem. The people of Israel tried to lean on you. ⁷They took hold of you. But you broke under their weight. You tore their shoulders open. They leaned on you. But you snapped in two. And their backs were broken.” ’ ”

⁸So the Lord and King says, “I will send Nebuchadnezzar’s sword against you. He will kill your people and their animals. ⁹Egypt will become a dry and empty desert. Then your people will know that I am the Lord.

“You said, ‘The Nile River belongs to me. I made it for myself.’ ¹⁰So I am against you and your streams. I will destroy the land of Egypt. I will turn it into a dry and empty desert from Migdol all the way to Aswan. I will destroy everything as far as the border of Cush.

¹¹“No people or animals will travel through Egypt. No one will even live there for 40 years. ¹²Egypt will be more empty than any other land. Its destroyed cities will lie empty for 40 years. I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. I will send them to other countries.”

¹³But the Lord and King says, “At the end of 40 years I will gather the Egyptians together from the nations where they were scattered. ¹⁴I will bring them back from where they were taken as prisoners. I will return them to Upper Egypt. That is where they came from. There they will be an unimportant kingdom.

¹⁵“Egypt will be the least important kingdom of all. It will never place itself above the other nations again. I will make it very weak. Then it will never again rule over the nations. ¹⁶The people of Israel will no longer trust in Egypt. Instead, Egypt will remind them of how they sinned when they turned to it for help. Then they will know that I am the Lord and King.”

¹⁷It was the 27th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the first day of the first month, a message came to me from the Lord. He said, ¹⁸“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, drove his army in a hard military campaign against Tyre. Their helmets rubbed their heads bare. The heavy loads they carried made their shoulders raw. But he and his army did not gain anything from the campaign he led against Tyre.

¹⁹“So I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. He will carry off its wealth. He will take away anything else you have. He will give it to his army. ²⁰I have given Egypt to him as a reward for his efforts. After all, he and his army attacked Egypt because I told them to,” announces the Lord and King.

²¹“When Nebuchadnezzar wins the battle over Egypt, I will make the people of Israel strong again. Ezekiel, I will open your mouth. And you will be able to speak to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Song of Sadness About Egypt

30A message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Son of man, prophesy. Say, ‘The Lord and King says,

“ ‘ “Cry out,

‘A terrible day is coming!’

³The day is near.

The day of the Lord is coming.

It will be a cloudy day.

The nations have been sentenced to die.

⁴I will send Nebuchadnezzar’s sword against Egypt.

Cush will suffer terribly.

Many will die in Egypt.

Then its wealth will be carried away.

Its foundations will be torn down.

⁵The people of Cush, Put, Lydia, Libya and the whole land of Arabia will be killed with swords. So will the Jews who live in Egypt. They went there from the covenant land of Israel. And the Egyptians will die too.” ’ ”

⁶The Lord says,

“Those who were going to help Egypt will die.

The strength Egypt was so proud of will fail.

Its people will be killed with swords

from Migdol all the way to Aswan,”

announces the Lord and King.

⁷“Egypt will be more empty than any other land.

Its cities will be completely destroyed.

⁸I will set Egypt on fire.

All those who came to help it will be crushed.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁹“At that time I will send messengers out in ships. They will terrify the people of Cush who are so contented. Cush will suffer greatly when Egypt falls. And you can be sure it will fall.”

¹⁰The Lord and King says,

“I will put an end to the huge armies of Egypt.

I will use Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, to do it.

¹¹He and his armies will attack the land and destroy it.

They will not show its people any pity at all.

They will use their swords against Egypt.

They will fill the land with dead bodies.

¹²I will dry up the streams of the Nile River.

I will sell the land to evil men.

I will use the powerful hands of strangers

to destroy the land and everything in it.

“I have spoken. I am the Lord.”

¹³The Lord and King says,

“I will destroy the statues of Egypt’s gods.

I will put an end to the gods

the people in Memphis worship.

Egypt will not have princes anymore.

I will spread fear all through the land.

¹⁴I will completely destroy Upper Egypt.

I will set Zoan on fire.

I will punish Thebes.

¹⁵I will pour out my burning anger on Pelusium.

It is a fort in eastern Egypt.

I will cut off the huge army of Thebes.

¹⁶I will set Egypt on fire.

Pelusium will groan with terrible pain.

Thebes will be ripped apart.

Memphis will suffer greatly

because of everything that happens.

¹⁷The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis

will be killed with swords.

Their people will be taken away as prisoners.

¹⁸I will break Egypt’s power over other lands.

That will be a dark day for Tahpanhes.

There the strength Egypt was so proud of

will come to an end.

Egypt will be covered with clouds.

The people in its villages

will be taken away as prisoners.

¹⁹So I will punish Egypt.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

²⁰It was the 11th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the seventh day of the first month, a message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the powerful arm of Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. No bandages have been put on his arm to heal it. It has not been put in a cast. So his arm will not be strong enough to use a sword. ²²I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. I will break both of his arms. I will break his healthy arm and his broken one. His sword will fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. I will send them to other countries.

²⁴“I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia stronger. I will put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh. And he will groan in front of Nebuchadnezzar. He will cry out like someone dying from his wounds. ²⁵I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia stronger. But the arms of Pharaoh will not be able to help Egypt. I will put my sword in Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. He will get ready to use it against Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

²⁶“I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. I will send them to other countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Cedar Tree in Lebanon

31It was the 11th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the first day of the third month, a message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Son of man, speak to Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Also speak to his huge army. Tell him,

“ ‘Who can be compared with your majesty?

³Think about what happened to Assyria.

Once it was like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

It had beautiful branches

that provided shade for the forest.

It grew very high.

Its top was above all of the leaves.

⁴The waters fed it.

Deep springs made it grow tall.

Their streams flowed

all around its base.

They made their way

to all of the trees in the fields.

⁵So it grew higher

than any other tree in the fields.

It grew more limbs.

Its branches grew long.

They spread because they had plenty of water.

⁶All of the birds of the air

made their nests in its limbs.

All of the wild animals

had their babies under its branches.

All of the great nations

lived in its shade.

⁷Its spreading branches

made it majestic and beautiful.

Its roots went down deep

to where there was plenty of water.

⁸The cedar trees in my garden

were no match for it.

The pine trees

could not equal its limbs.

The plane trees

could not compare with its branches.

No tree in my garden

could match its beauty.

⁹I gave it many branches.

They made it beautiful.

All of the trees in my Garden of Eden

were jealous of it.’ ”

¹⁰So the Lord and King says, “The cedar tree grew very high. Its top was above all of the leaves. It was proud of how tall it was. ¹¹So I handed it over to the Babylonian ruler of the nations. I wanted him to punish it because it was so evil. I decided to get rid of it.

¹²“The Babylonians cut it down and left it there. They did not show it any pity at all. Some of its branches fell on the mountains. Others fell in all of the valleys. They lay broken in all of the stream beds in the land. All of the nations on earth came out from under its shade. And they went on their way. ¹³All of the birds of the air settled on the fallen tree. All of the wild animals moved among its branches.

¹⁴“So trees that receive plenty of water must never grow so high that it makes them proud. Their tops must never be above the rest of the…