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

“Whom are you like in your greatness?

³Behold, I will liken you to a cedar in Lebanon,

with fair branches and forest shade,

and of great height,

its top among the clouds.

⁴The waters nourished it,

the deep made it grow tall,

making its rivers flow

round the place of its planting,

sending forth its streams

to all the trees of the forest.

⁵So it towered high

above all the trees of the forest;

its boughs grew large

and its branches long,

from abundant water in its shoots.

⁶All the birds of the air

made their nests in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field

brought forth their young;

and under its shadow

dwelt all great nations.

⁷It was beautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches;

for its roots went down

to abundant waters.

⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,

nor the fir trees equal its boughs;

the plane trees were as nothing

compared with its branches;

no tree in the garden of God

was like it in beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful

in the mass of its branches,

and all the trees of Eden envied it,

that were in the garden of God.

¹⁰“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, ¹¹I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. ¹²Foreigners, the most terrible of the nations, will cut it down and leave it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches will fall, and its boughs will lie broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth will go from its shadow and leave it. ¹³Upon its ruin will dwell all the birds of the air, and upon its branches will be all the beasts of the field. ¹⁴All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height; for they are all given over to death, to the nether world among mortal men, with those who go down to the Pit.

¹⁵“Thus says the Lord GOD: When it goes down to Sheol I will make the deep mourn for it, and restrain its rivers, and many waters shall be stopped; I will clothe Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field shall faint because of it. ¹⁶I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, will be comforted in the nether world. ¹⁷They also shall go down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yea, those who dwelt under its shadow among the nations shall perish. ¹⁸Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether world; you shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 32

¹In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

“You consider yourself a lion among the nations,

but you are like a dragon in the seas;

you burst forth in your rivers,

trouble the waters with your feet,

and foul their rivers.

³Thus says the Lord GOD:

I will throw my net over you

with a host of many peoples;

and I will haul you up in my dragnet.

⁴And I will cast you on the ground,

on the open field I will fling you,

and will cause all the birds of the air to settle on you,

and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

⁵I will strew your flesh upon the mountains,

and fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶I will drench the land even to the mountains

with your flowing blood;

and the watercourses will be full of you.

⁷When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens,

and make their stars dark;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

and the moon shall not give its light.

⁸All the bright lights of heaven

will I make dark over you,

and put darkness upon your land,

says the Lord GOD.

⁹“I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I carry you captive among the nations, into the countries which you have not known. ¹⁰I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings shall shudder because of you, when I brandish my sword before them; they shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall. ¹¹For thus says the Lord GOD: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. ¹²I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most terrible among the nations.

“They shall bring to nought the pride of Egypt,

and all its multitude shall perish.

¹³I will destroy all its beasts

from beside many waters;

and no foot of man shall trouble them any more,

nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.

¹⁴Then I will make their waters clear,

and cause their rivers to run like oil, says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵When I make the land of Egypt desolate

and when the land is stripped of all that fills it,

when I smite all who dwell in it,

then they will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶This is a lamentation which shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they chant it, says the Lord GOD.”

¹⁷In the twelfth year, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸“Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the nether world, to those who have gone down to the Pit:

¹⁹‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?

Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.’

²⁰They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword, and with her shall lie all her multitudes. ²¹The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

²²“Assyria is there, and all her company, their graves round about her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword; ²³whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the Pit, and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.

²⁴“Elam is there, and all her multitude about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the nether world, who spread terror in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit. ²⁵They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, their graves round about her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit; they are placed among the slain.

²⁶“Meshech and Tubal are there, and all their multitude, their graves round about them, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread terror in the land of the living. ²⁷And they do not lie with the fallen mighty men of old who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose shields are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. ²⁸So you shall be broken and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

²⁹“Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the Pit.

³⁰“The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror which they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.

³¹“When Pharaoh sees them, he will comfort himself for all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says the Lord GOD. ³²For he spread terror in the land of the living; therefore he shall be laid among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD.”

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