Ezekiel 30–32

Egypt and Her Allies Will Fall

30The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

^a“Wail, ‘Woe to the day!’

³For ^bthe day is near,

Even the day of the Lord is near;

It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles.

⁴The sword shall come upon Egypt,

And great anguish shall be in ¹Ethiopia,

When the slain fall in Egypt,

And they ^ctake away her wealth,

And ^dher foundations are broken down.

⁵“Ethiopia, ²Libya, ³Lydia, ^eall the mingled people, Chub, and the men of the lands who are allied, shall fall with them by the sword.”

⁶‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those who uphold Egypt shall fall,

And the pride of her power shall come down.

^fFrom ⁴Migdol to Syene

Those within her shall fall by the sword,”

Says the Lord God.

⁷“They ^gshall be desolate in the midst of the desolate countries,

And her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are laid waste.

⁸Then they will know that I am the Lord,

When I have set a fire in Egypt

And all her helpers are destroyed.

⁹On that day ^hmessengers shall go forth from Me in ships

To make the ⁵careless Ethiopians afraid,

And great anguish shall come upon them,

As on the day of Egypt;

For indeed it is coming!”

¹⁰‘Thus says the Lord God:

ⁱ“I will also make a multitude of Egypt to cease

By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹He and his people with him, ^jthe most terrible of the nations,

Shall be brought to destroy the land;

They shall draw their swords against Egypt,

And fill the land with the slain.

^12kI will make the rivers dry,

And ^lsell the land into the hand of the wicked;

I will make the land waste, and all that is in it,

By the hand of aliens.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹³‘Thus says the Lord God:

“I will also ^mdestroy the idols,

And cause the images to cease from ⁶Noph;

ⁿThere shall no longer be princes from the land of Egypt;

^oI will put fear in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴I will make ^pPathros desolate,

Set fire to ^qZoan,

^rAnd execute judgments in ⁷No.

¹⁵I will pour My fury on ⁸Sin, the strength of Egypt;

^sI will cut off the multitude of ⁹No,

¹⁶And ^tset a fire in Egypt;

Sin shall have great pain,

No shall be split open,

And Noph shall be in distress daily.

¹⁷The young men of ¹Aven and Pi Beseth shall fall by the sword,

And these cities shall go into captivity.

^18uAt ²Tehaphnehes the day shall also be ³darkened,

When I break the yokes of Egypt there.

And her arrogant strength shall cease in her;

As for her, a cloud shall cover her,

And her daughters shall go into captivity.

¹⁹Thus I will ^vexecute judgments on Egypt,

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

Proclamation Against Pharaoh

²⁰And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²¹“Son of man, I have ^wbroken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and see, ^xit has not been bandaged for healing, nor a ⁴splint put on to bind it, to make it strong enough to hold a sword. ²²Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I am ^yagainst Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will ^zbreak his arms, both the strong one and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall out of his hand. ^23aI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the countries. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand; but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he will groan before him with the groanings of a mortally wounded man. ²⁵Thus I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; ^bthey shall know that I am the Lord, when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. ^26cI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”

Egypt Cut Down Like a Great Tree

31Now it came to pass in the ^aeleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:

^b‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

^3cIndeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,

With fine branches that shaded the forest,

And of high stature;

And its top was among the thick boughs.

^4dThe waters made it grow;

Underground waters gave it height,

With their rivers running around the place where it was planted,

And sent out ¹rivulets to all the trees of the field.

⁵‘Therefore ^eits height was exalted above all the trees of the field;

Its boughs were multiplied,

And its branches became long because of the abundance of water,

As it sent them out.

⁶All the ^fbirds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs;

Under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young;

And in its shadow all great nations ²made their home.

⁷‘Thus it was beautiful in greatness and in the length of its branches,

Because its roots reached to abundant waters.

⁸The cedars in the ^ggarden of God could not hide it;

The fir trees were not like its boughs,

And the ³chestnut trees were not like its branches;

No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches,

So that all the trees of Eden envied it,

That were in the garden of God.’

¹⁰“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have increased in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and ^hits heart was ⁴lifted up in its height, ¹¹therefore I will deliver it into the hand of the ⁱmighty one of the nations, and he shall surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness. ¹²And aliens, ^jthe most terrible of the nations, have cut it down and left it; its branches have fallen ^kon the mountains and in all the valleys; its boughs lie ^lbroken by all the rivers of the land; and all the peoples of the earth have gone from under its shadow and left it.

¹³‘On ^mits ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens,

And all the beasts of the field will come to its branches—

¹⁴‘So that no trees by the waters may ever again exalt themselves for their height, nor set their tops among the thick boughs, that no tree which drinks water may ever be high enough to reach up to them.

‘For ⁿthey have all been delivered to death,

^oTo the depths of the earth,

Among the children of men who go down to the Pit.’

¹⁵“Thus says the Lord God: ‘In the day when it ^pwent down to ⁵hell, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it. I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were held back. I caused Lebanon to ⁶mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. ¹⁶I made the nations ^qshake at the sound of its fall, when I ^rcast it down to ⁷hell together with those who descend into the Pit; and ^sall the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, ^twere comforted in the depths of the earth. ¹⁷They also went down to hell with it, with those slain by the sword; and those who were its strong arm ^udwelt in its shadows among the nations.

^18v‘To which of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth; ^wyou shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.”

Lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt

32And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the ^atwelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, ^btake up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

^c‘You are like a young lion among the nations,

And ^dyou are like a monster in the seas,

^eBursting forth in your rivers,

Troubling the waters with your feet,

And ^ffouling their rivers.’

³“Thus says the Lord God:

‘I will therefore ^gspread My net over you with a company of many people,

And they will draw you up in My net.

⁴Then ^hI will leave you on the land;

I will cast you out on the open fields,

ⁱAnd cause to ¹settle on you all the birds of the heavens.

And with you I will fill the beasts of the whole earth.

⁵I will lay your flesh ^jon the mountains,

And fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶‘I will also water the land with the flow of your blood,

Even to the mountains;

And the riverbeds will be full of you.

⁷When I put out your light,

^kI will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

And the moon shall not give her light.

⁸All the ²bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you,

And bring darkness upon your land,’

Says the Lord God.

⁹‘I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known. ¹⁰Yes, I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and ^lthey shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.’

^11m“For thus says the Lord God: ‘The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. ¹²‘By the swords of the mighty warriors, all of them ⁿthe most terrible of the nations, I will cause your multitude to fall.

^o“They shall plunder the pomp of Egypt,

And all its multitude shall be destroyed.

¹³Also I will destroy all its animals

From beside its great waters;

^pThe foot of man shall muddy them no more,

Nor shall the hooves of animals muddy them.

¹⁴Then I will make their waters ³clear,

And make their rivers run like oil,’

Says the Lord God.

¹⁵‘When I make the land of Egypt desolate,

And the country is destitute of all that once filled it,

When I strike all who dwell in it,

^qThen they shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶‘This is the ^rlamentation

With which they shall lament her;

The daughters of the nations shall lament her;

They shall lament for her, for Egypt,

And for all her multitude,’

Says the Lord God.”

Egypt and Others Consigned to the Pit

¹⁷It came to pass also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, ^sthat the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

¹⁸“Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt,

And ^tcast them down to the depths of the earth,

Her and the daughters of the famous nations,

With those who go…