Ezekiel 29–32

Chapter 29

A Message for Egypt

On January 7, during the tenth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, turn and face Egypt and prophesy against Pharaoh the king and all the people of Egypt. ³Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“I am your enemy, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt—

you great monster, lurking in the streams of the Nile.

For you have said, ‘The Nile River is mine;

I made it for myself.’

⁴I will put hooks in your jaws

and drag you out on the land

with fish sticking to your scales.

⁵I will leave you and all your fish

stranded in the wilderness to die.

You will lie unburied on the open ground,

for I have given you as food to the wild animals and birds.

⁶All the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord,

for to Israel you were just a staff made of reeds.

⁷When Israel leaned on you,

you splintered and broke

and stabbed her in the armpit.

When she put her weight on you,

you collapsed, and her legs gave way.

⁸“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring an army against you, O Egypt, and destroy both people and animals. ⁹The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said, ‘The Nile River is mine; I made it,’ ¹⁰I am now the enemy of both you and your river. I will make the land of Egypt a totally desolate wasteland, from Migdol to Aswan, as far south as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹For forty years not a soul will pass that way, neither people nor animals. It will be completely uninhabited. ¹²I will make Egypt desolate, and it will be surrounded by other desolate nations. Its cities will be empty and desolate for forty years, surrounded by other ruined cities. I will scatter the Egyptians to distant lands.

¹³“But this is what the Sovereign Lord also says: At the end of the forty years I will bring the Egyptians home again from the nations to which they have been scattered. ¹⁴I will restore the prosperity of Egypt and bring its people back to the land of Pathros in southern Egypt from which they came. But Egypt will remain an unimportant, minor kingdom. ¹⁵It will be the lowliest of all the nations, never again great enough to rise above its neighbors.

¹⁶“Then Israel will no longer be tempted to trust in Egypt for help. Egypt’s shattered condition will remind Israel of how sinful she was to trust Egypt in earlier days. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

Nebuchadnezzar to Conquer Egypt

¹⁷On April 26, the first day of the new year, during the twenty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ¹⁸“Son of man, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought so hard against Tyre that the warriors’ heads were rubbed bare and their shoulders were raw and blistered. Yet Nebuchadnezzar and his army won no plunder to compensate them for all their work. ¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, plundering everything it has so he can pay his army. ²⁰Yes, I have given him the land of Egypt as a reward for his work, says the Sovereign Lord, because he was working for me when he destroyed Tyre.

²¹“And the day will come when I will cause the ancient glory of Israel to revive, and then, Ezekiel, your words will be respected. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Chapter 30

A Sad Day for Egypt

This is another message that came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, prophesy and give this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“Weep and wail

for that day,

³for the terrible day is almost here—

the day of the Lord!

It is a day of clouds and gloom,

a day of despair for the nations.

⁴A sword will come against Egypt,

and those who are slaughtered will cover the ground.

Its wealth will be carried away

and its foundations destroyed.

The land of Ethiopia will be ravished.

⁵Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all Arabia,

and all their other allies

will be destroyed in that war.

⁶“For this is what the Lord says:

All of Egypt’s allies will fall,

and the pride of her power will end.

From Migdol to Aswan

they will be slaughtered by the sword,

says the Sovereign Lord.

⁷Egypt will be desolate,

surrounded by desolate nations,

and its cities will be in ruins,

surrounded by other ruined cities.

⁸And the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord

when I have set Egypt on fire

and destroyed all their allies.

⁹At that time I will send swift messengers in ships

to terrify the complacent Ethiopians.

Great panic will come upon them

on that day of Egypt’s certain destruction.

Watch for it!

It is sure to come!

¹⁰“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

By the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,

I will destroy the hordes of Egypt.

¹¹He and his armies—the most ruthless of all—

will be sent to demolish the land.

They will make war against Egypt

until slaughtered Egyptians cover the ground.

¹²I will dry up the Nile River

and sell the land to wicked men.

I will destroy the land of Egypt and everything in it

by the hands of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹³“This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

I will smash the idols of Egypt

and the images at Memphis.

There will be no rulers left in Egypt;

terror will sweep the land.

¹⁴I will destroy southern Egypt,

set fire to Zoan,

and bring judgment against Thebes.

¹⁵I will pour out my fury on Pelusium,

the strongest fortress of Egypt,

and I will stamp out

the hordes of Thebes.

¹⁶Yes, I will set fire to all Egypt!

Pelusium will be racked with pain;

Thebes will be torn apart;

Memphis will live in constant terror.

¹⁷The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in battle,

and the women will be taken away as slaves.

¹⁸When I come to break the proud strength of Egypt,

it will be a dark day for Tahpanhes, too.

A dark cloud will cover Tahpanhes,

and its daughters will be led away as captives.

¹⁹And so I will greatly punish Egypt,

and they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Broken Arms of Pharaoh

²⁰On April 29, during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. His arm has not been put in a cast so that it may heal. Neither has it been bound up with a splint to make it strong enough to hold a sword. ²²Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am the enemy of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt! I will break both of his arms—the good arm along with the broken one—and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians to many lands throughout the world. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he will lie there mortally wounded, groaning in pain. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. And when I put my sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he brings it against the land of Egypt, Egypt will know that I am the Lord. ²⁶I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, dispersing them throughout the earth. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Chapter 31

Egypt Compared to Fallen Assyria

On June 21, during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, give this message to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his hordes:

“To whom would you compare your greatness?

³You are like mighty Assyria,

which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,

with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade

and with its top high among the clouds.

⁴Deep springs watered it

and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant.

The water flowed around it like a river,

streaming to all the trees nearby.

⁵This great tree towered high,

higher than all the other trees around it.

It prospered and grew long thick branches

because of all the water at its roots.

⁶The birds nested in its branches,

and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.

All the great nations of the world

lived in its shadow.

⁷It was strong and beautiful,

with wide-spreading branches,

for its roots went deep

into abundant water.

⁸No other cedar in the garden of God

could rival it.

No cypress had branches to equal it;

no plane tree had boughs to compare.

No tree in the garden of God

came close to it in beauty.

⁹Because I made this tree so beautiful,

and gave it such magnificent foliage,

it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden,

the garden of God.

¹⁰“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because Egypt became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, ¹¹I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it. ¹²A foreign army—the terror of the nations—has cut it down and left it fallen on the ground. Its branches are scattered across the mountains and valleys and ravines of the land. All those who lived in its shadow have gone away and left it lying there.

¹³“The birds roost on its fallen trunk,

and the wild animals lie among its branches.

¹⁴Let the tree of no other nation

proudly exult in its own prosperity,

though it be higher than the clouds

and it be watered from the depths.

For all are doomed to die,

to go down to the depths of the earth.

They will land in the pit

along with everyone else on earth.

¹⁵“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When Assyria went down to the grave, I made the deep springs mourn. I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water. I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of the field to wilt. ¹⁶I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of its fall, for I sent it down to the grave with all the others who descend to the pit. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the most beautiful and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, took comfort to find it there with them in the depths of the earth. ¹⁷Its allies,…