Old Testament · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 30

A Lament for Egypt

1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2Son of man^a, prophesy and you shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Wail, Alas for the day!

3For near is a day, and near is a day for the LORD, a day of cloud; a time of nations it shall be.
4And a sword shall come against Egypt, and there shall be anguish in Cush, when the slain fall in Egypt; and they shall take her multitude, and her foundations shall be torn down.
5Cush and Put and Lud and all the mixed multitude, and Cub, and the sons of the land of the covenant^b, with them by the sword they shall fall.
6Thus says the LORD: And those who uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down; from Migdol to Syene by the sword they shall fall in her, declares the Lord GOD.
7And they shall be desolate in the midst of desolate lands, and her cities shall be in the midst of cities laid waste.
8And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are broken.

9In that day messengers shall go forth from before me in ships to make Cush afraid in its security, and there shall be anguish among them in the day of Egypt; for behold, it comes.

10Thus says the Lord GOD: And I will cause the multitude of Egypt to shabbat by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11He and his people with him, the most terrible of nations, are brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12And I will make the rivers dry, and I will sell the land into the hand of evil ones; and I will make desolate the land and its fullness by the hand of strangers; I, the LORD, have spoken.
13Thus says the Lord GOD: And I will destroy the idols, and I will cause the worthless things to shabbat from Noph; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt; and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
14And I will make Pathros desolate, and I will set a fire in Zoan, and I will execute judgments in No.
15And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
16And I will set a fire in Egypt; Sin shall greatly writhe, and No shall be for breaking open, and Noph — adversaries by day.
17The young men of Aven and Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword; and these — into the captivity they shall go.
18And in Tehaphnehes the day shall be darkened, when I break there the yoke-bars of Egypt, and in her shall the pride of her strength be shabbatted; she — a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters into the captivity shall go.
19And I will execute judgments in Egypt; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Pharaoh’s Power Broken

20And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 21Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt I have broken; and behold, it has not been bound up to give healings, to put a bandage to bind it, to strengthen it to hold the sword.

22Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong one and the broken one; and I will cause the sword to fall from his hand. 23And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them through the lands.

24And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will put my sword in his hand; and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan the groanings of a slain man before him. 25And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall; and they 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. 26And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them through the lands; and they shall know that I am the LORD.