Ezekiel

In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of GOD came to me:

O mortal, turn your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

Speak these words:Thus said the Sovereign GOD:I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,Mighty monster, sprawling in yourayour Lit. “its.” channels,Who said,My Nile is my own;I made it for myself.

I will put hooks in your jaws,And make the fish of your channelsCling to your scales;I will haul you up from your channels,With all the fish of your channelsClinging to your scales.

And I will fling you into the desert,With all the fish of your channels.You shall be left lying in the open,Ungathered and unburied:I have given you as foodTo the beasts of the earthAnd the birds of the sky.

Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall knowThat I am GOD.Because youbyou Lit. “they.” were a staff of reedTo the House of Israel:

When they grasped you with the hand, you would splinter,And wound all their shoulders,cshoulders Septuagint and Syriac read “palms”; cf. 2 Kings 18.21; Isa. 36.6. And when they leaned on you, you would break,And make all their loins unsteady.dunsteady Taking ʻamad as a byform of maʻad; cf. Syriac translation.

Assuredly, thus said the Sovereign GOD: Lo, I will bring a sword against you, and will cut off human and animal from you,

so that the land of Egypt shall fall into desolation and ruin. And they shall know that I am GOD—because he boasted, “The Nile is mine, and I made it.”

Assuredly, I am going to deal with you and your channels, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to utter ruin and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Cush.efrom Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Cush I.e., the length of Egypt, from north to south. Syene is modern Aswan.

No human foot shall traverse it, and no animal foot shall traverse it; and it shall remain uninhabited for forty years.

For forty years I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate of desolate lands, and its cities shall be the most desolate of ruined cities. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

Further, thus said the Sovereign GOD: After a period of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were dispersed.

I will restore the fortunes of the Egyptians and bring them back to the land of their origin, the land of Pathros,fPathros I.e., southern Egypt. and there they shall be a lowly kingdom.

It shall be the lowliest of all the kingdoms, and shall not lord it over the nations again. I will reduce the Egyptians,gEgyptians Heb. “them.” so that they shall have no dominion over the nations.

Never again shall they be the trust of the House of Israel, recalling its guilt in having turned to them. And they shall know that I am the Sovereign GOD.

In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of GOD came to me:

O mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has made his army expend vast labor on Tyre; every head is rubbed bald and every shoulder scraped. But he and his army have had no return for the labor he expended on Tyre.

Assuredly, thus said the Sovereign GOD: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. He shall carry off her wealth and take her spoil and seize her booty; and she shall be the recompense of his army.

As the wage for which he labored, for what they did for Me, I give him the land of Egypt—declares the Sovereign GOD.

On that day I will endow the House of Israel with strength, and you shall be vindicatedhendow the House of Israel with strength, and you shall be vindicated Lit. “cause a horn to sprout for the House of Israel, and I will grant you opening of the mouth.” among them. And they shall know that I am GOD.