Ezekiel 29:3–9

³speak and say: Thus says the Lord God:

I am against you,

Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great dragon sprawling

in the midst of its channels,

saying, “My Nile is my own;

I made it for myself.”^*

⁴I will put hooks in your jaws

and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales.

I will draw you up from your channels,

with all the fish of your channels

sticking to your scales.^*

⁵I will fling you into the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your channels;

you shall fall in the open field

and not be gathered or picked up.

To the animals of the earth and to the birds of the air

I have given you as food.^*

⁶Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know

that I am the Lord,

because you^j were a staff of reed

to the house of Israel;^*

⁷when they grasped you with the hand, you broke

and tore all their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you broke

and made all their legs give way.^k*

⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will bring a sword upon you and will cut off from you human and animal,^{* 9}and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Because you^l said, “The Nile is mine, and I made it,”