Ezekiel 29-31
Holman Christian Standard Bible
A Prophecy of Egypt’s Ruin
29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn your face toward Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt.(A) 3 Speak to him and say: This is what the Lord God says:
Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster[a](B) lying in the middle of his Nile,
who says, ‘My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.’
4 I will put hooks in your jaws(C)
and make the fish of your streams
cling to your scales.
I will haul you up
from the middle of your Nile,
and all the fish of your streams
will cling to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the desert,(D)
you and all the fish of your streams.
You will fall on the open ground
and will not be taken away
or gathered for burial.(E)
I have given you
to the beasts of the earth
and the birds of the sky as food.(F)
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt
will know that I am Yahweh,
for they[b] have been a staff made of reed
to the house of Israel.
7 When Israel grasped you by the hand,
you splintered,(G) tearing all their shoulders;
when they leaned on you,
you shattered and made all their hips unsteady.[c]
8 “Therefore this is what the Lord God says: I am going to bring a sword(H) against you and wipe out man and animal from you. 9 The land of Egypt will be a desolate ruin.(I) Then they will know that I am Yahweh. Because you[d] said, ‘The Nile is my own; I made it,’ 10 therefore, I am against you and your Nile. I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins, a desolate waste from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal foot will pass through it.(J) It will be uninhabited for 40 years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among[e] desolate lands, and its cities will be a desolation among[f] ruined cities(K) for 40 years. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them across the countries.(L)
13 “For this is what the Lord God says: At the end of 40 years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were dispersed.(M) 14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small they cannot rule over the nations. 16 It will never again be an object of trust(N) for the house of Israel, drawing attention to their sin of turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”
Babylon Receives Egypt as Compensation
17 In the twenty-seventh year in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor strenuously against Tyre.(O) Every head was made bald and every shoulder chafed, but he and his army received no compensation from Tyre for the labor he expended against it. 19 Therefore this is what the Lord God says: I am going to give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,(P) who will carry off its wealth, seizing its spoil and taking its plunder. This will be his army’s compensation. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as the pay he labored for, since they worked for Me.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. 21 “In that day I will cause a horn to sprout(Q) for the house of Israel, and I will enable you to speak out(R) among them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”
Egypt’s Doom
30 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy and say: This is what the Lord God says:
Wail:(S) Woe for the day!
3 For a day is near;
a day belonging to the Lord is near.(T)
It will be a day of clouds,(U)
a time of doom for the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt,
and there will be anguish in Cush
when the slain fall in Egypt,
and its wealth is taken away,
and its foundations are torn down.
5 Cush, Put, and Lud,(V)
and all the various foreign troops,[g]
plus Libya[h] and the men of the covenant land[i]
will fall by the sword along with them.
6 This is what the Lord says:
Those who support Egypt will fall,
and its proud strength will collapse.
From Migdol to Syene
they will fall within it by the sword.
This is the declaration of the Lord God.
7 They will be desolate
among[j] desolate lands,
and their cities will lie
among ruined[k] cities.(W)
8 They will know that I am Yahweh
when I set fire to Egypt(X)
and all its allies are shattered.
9 On that day, messengers will go out from Me in ships(Y) to terrify confident Cush. Anguish will come over them on the day of Egypt’s doom. For indeed it is coming.”
10 This is what the Lord God says:
I will put an end to the hordes[l] of Egypt
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He along with his people,
ruthless men from the nations,
will be brought in to destroy the land.
They will draw their swords against Egypt
and fill the land with the slain.(Z)
12 I will make the streams dry
and sell the land into the hands of evil men.(AA)
I will bring desolation
on the land and everything in it
by the hands of foreigners.
I, Yahweh, have spoken.
13 This is what the Lord God says:
I will destroy the idols and put an end
to the false gods in Memphis.(AB)
There will no longer be
a prince from the land of Egypt.
So I will instill fear in that land.
14 I will make Pathros(AC) desolate,
set fire to Zoan,
and execute judgments on Thebes.
15 I will pour out My wrath on Pelusium,
the stronghold of Egypt,
and will wipe out the crowds[m] of Thebes.
16 I will set fire to Egypt;
Pelusium will writhe in anguish,
Thebes will be breached,
and Memphis will face foes in broad daylight.[n]
17 The young men of On[o] and Pi-beseth
will fall by the sword,
and those cities[p] will go into captivity.
18 The day will be dark[q] in Tehaphnehes,
when I break the yoke of Egypt there
and its proud strength
comes to an end in the city.
A cloud(AD) will cover Tehaphnehes,[r]
and its villages will go into captivity.
19 So I will execute judgments against Egypt,
and they will know that I am Yahweh.
Pharaoh’s Power Broken
20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm(AE) of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Look, it has not been bandaged—no medicine has been applied and no splint put on to bandage it so that it can grow strong enough to handle a sword. 22 Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Look! I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken, and will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them among the countries.(AF) 24 I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword(AG) in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him as a mortally wounded man. 25 I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall. They will know that I am Yahweh when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he wields it against the land of Egypt. 26 When I disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them among the countries, they will know that I am Yahweh.”
Downfall of Egypt and Assyria
31 In the eleventh year,(AH) 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 hordes:
Who are you like in your greatness?
3 Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,(AI)
with beautiful branches and shady foliage
and of lofty height.
Its top was among the clouds.[s]
4 The waters caused it to grow;
the underground springs made it tall,
directing their rivers all around
the place where the tree was planted
and sending their channels
to all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore the cedar became greater in height
than all the trees of the field.(AJ)
Its branches multiplied,
and its boughs grew long
as it spread them out
because of the plentiful water.(AK)
6 All the birds of the sky
nested in its branches,(AL)
and all the animals of the field
gave birth beneath its boughs;
all the great nations lived in its shade.
7 It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its limbs,
for its roots extended to abundant water.
8 The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it;(AM)
the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,
nor could the plane trees match its boughs.
No tree in the garden of God
could compare with it in beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with its many limbs,
and all the trees of Eden,
which were in God’s garden, envied it.
10 “Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Since it[t] became great in height and set its top among the clouds,[u] and it[v] grew proud(AN) on account of its height, 11 I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations;(AO) he would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness. 12 Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations,(AP) cut it down and left it lying. Its limbs fell on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it. 13 All the birds of the sky nested on its fallen trunk, and all the animals of the field were among its boughs. 14 This happened so that no trees planted beside water would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds,[w] and so that no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the underworld, among the people who descend to the Pit.(AQ)
15 “This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol.(AR) I closed off the underground deep because of it:[x] I held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn on account of it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I threw it down to Sheol to be with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden,(AS) all the well-watered trees, the choice and best of Lebanon, were comforted(AT) in the underworld. 17 They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies[y][z] they had lived in its shade among the nations.
18 “Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword.(AU) This is Pharaoh and all his hordes”—the declaration of the Lord God.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 29:3 Or crocodile
- Ezekiel 29:6 LXX, Syr, Vg read you
- Ezekiel 29:7 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads and you caused their hips to stand
- Ezekiel 29:9 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads he
- Ezekiel 29:12 Or Egypt the most desolate of
- Ezekiel 29:12 Or be the most desolate of
- Ezekiel 30:5 Or all Arabia
- Ezekiel 30:5 Lit Cub; Hb obscure
- Ezekiel 30:5 Probably Israel
- Ezekiel 30:7 Or be the most desolate of
- Ezekiel 30:7 Or will be the most ruined of
- Ezekiel 30:10 Or pomp, or wealth
- Ezekiel 30:15 Or pomp, or wealth
- Ezekiel 30:16 Or foes daily
- Ezekiel 30:17 LXX, Vg; MT reads iniquity
- Ezekiel 30:17 Or and the women; lit and they
- Ezekiel 30:18 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; other Hb mss read will withhold
- Ezekiel 30:18 Or Egypt
- Ezekiel 31:3 Or thick foliage
- Ezekiel 31:10 Syr, Vg; MT, LXX read you
- Ezekiel 31:10 Or thick foliage
- Ezekiel 31:10 Lit its heart
- Ezekiel 31:14 Or thick foliage
- Ezekiel 31:15 Or I covered it with the underground deep
- Ezekiel 31:17 LXX, Syr read offspring
- Ezekiel 31:17 Lit arm
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