29 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, turn your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3Speak these words:
Thus said the Lord GOD:
I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Mighty monster, sprawling in youra channels,
Who said,
My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.
4I will put hooks in your jaws,
And make the fish of your channels
Cling to your scales;
I will haul you up from your channels,
With all the fish of your channels
Clinging to your scales.
5And 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 food
To the beasts of the earth
And the birds of the sky.
6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
That I am the LORD.
Because youb were a staff of reed
To the House of Israel:
7When they grasped you with the hand, you would splinter,
And wound all their shoulders,c
And when they leaned on you, you would break,
And make all their loins unsteady.d
8Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Lo, I will bring a sword against you, and will cut off man and beast from you, 9so that the land of Egypt shall fall into desolation and ruin. And they shall know that I am the LORD—because he boasted, “The Nile is mine, and I made it.” 10Assuredly, I am going to deal with you and your channels, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to utter ruin and desolation, e-from Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Nubia.-e 11No foot of man shall traverse it, and no foot of beast shall traverse it; and it shall remain uninhabited for forty years. 12For 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.
13Further, thus said the Lord GOD: After a period of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were dispersed. 14I will restore the fortunes of the Egyptians and bring them back to the land of their origin, the land of Pathros,f and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15It shall be the lowliest of all the kingdoms, and shall not lord it over the nations again. I will reduce the Egyptians,g so that they shall have no dominion over the nations. 16Never 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 Lord GOD.
17In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18O 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. 19Assuredly, thus said the Lord 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. 20As the wage for which he labored, for what they did for Me, I give him the land of Egypt—declares the Lord GOD.
21On that day I will h-endow the House of Israel with strength, and you shall be vindicated-h among them. And they shall know that I am the LORD.
30The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, prophesy and say: Thus said the Lord GOD:
Wail, alas for the day!
3For a day is near;
A day of the LORD is near.
It will be a day of cloud,
An hour of [invading] nations.
4A sword shall pierce Egypt,
And Nubia shall be seized with trembling,
When men fall slain in Egypt
And her wealth is seized
And her foundations are overthrown.
5Nubia, Put, and Lud, and all a-the mixed populations,-a and Cub, and the inhabitants of the allied countries shall fall by the sword with them.
6Thus said the LORD:
Those who support Egypt shall fall,
And her proud strength shall sink;
There they shall fall by the sword,
From Migdol to Syene
—declares the Lord GOD.
7They shall be the most desolate of desolate lands, and her cities shall be the most ruined of cities, 8when I set fire to Egypt and all who help her are broken. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.
9On that day, messengers shall set out at My bidding to strike terror into confident Nubia. And they shall be seized with trembling on Egypt’s day [of doom]—for it is at hand.
10Thus said the Lord GOD: I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt through King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. 11He, together with his troops, the most ruthless of the nations, shall be brought to ravage the land. And they shall unsheathe the sword against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
12I will turn the channels into dry ground, and I will deliver the land into the hands of evil men. I will lay waste the land and everything in it by the hands of strangers. I the LORD have spoken.
13Thus said the Lord GOD: I will destroy the fetishes and make an end of the idols in Noph; and no longer shall there be a prince in the land of Egypt; and I will strike the land of Egypt with fear. 14I will lay Pathros waste, I will set fire to Zoan, and I will execute judgment on No. 15I will pour out my anger upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will destroy the wealth of No. 16I will set fire to Egypt; Sin shall writhe in anguish and No shall be torn apart; a-and Noph [shall face] adversaries in broad daylight.-a 17The young men of Avenb and Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword, and those [towns] shall go into captivity. 18In Tehaphnehesc daylight shall be withheld,d when I break there the power of Egypt, and there her proud strength comes to an end. [The city] itself shall be covered with cloud, and its daughter towns shall go into captivity.
19Thus I will execute judgment on Egypt;
And they shall know that I am the LORD.
20In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me: 21O mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up to be healed nor firmly bandaged to make it strong enough to grasp the sword. 22Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to deal with Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the sound one and the injured, and make the sword drop from his hand. 23I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. 24I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand; and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groans of one struck down. 25I will make firm the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fail. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he lifts it against the land of Egypt. 26I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.
31In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:
Who was comparable to you in greatness?
3Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and a-shady thickets,-a
Of lofty stature,
With its top among b-leafy trees.-b
4Waters nourished it,
The deep made it grow tall,
Washing with its streams
The place where it was planted,
Making its channels well up
c-To all-c the trees of the field.
5Therefore it exceeded in stature
All the trees of the field;
Its branches multiplied and its boughs grew long
Because of the abundant water
That welled up for it.
6In its branches nested
All the birds of the sky;
All the beasts of the field
Bore their young under its boughs,
And in its shadow lived
All the great nations.
7It was beautiful in its height,
In the length of its branches,
Because its stock stood
By abundant waters.
8Cedars in the garden of God
Could not compare with it;
Cypresses could not match its boughs,
And plane trees could not vie with its branches;
No tree in the garden of God
Was its peer in beauty.
9I made it beautiful
In the profusion of its branches;
And all the trees of Eden envied it
In the garden of God.
10Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Because itd towered high in stature, and thrust its top up among the b-leafy trees,-b and it was arrogant in its height, 11I delivered it into the hands of the mightiest of nations. They treated it as befitted its wickedness. I banished it. 12Strangers, the most ruthless of nations, cut it down and abandoned it; its branches fell on the mountains and in every
