Ezekiel 30-31

English Standard Version

A Lament for Egypt

30 The word of the Lord came to me: ²^(A)“Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

^(B)“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
³    ^(C)For the day is near,
    ^(D)the day of the Lord is near;
it will be ^(E)a day of clouds,
    a time of doom for^[a] the nations.
⁴^(F)A sword shall come upon Egypt,
    ^(G)and anguish shall be in ^(H)Cush,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
    and ^(I)her wealth^[b] is carried away,
    and ^(J)her foundations are torn down.

⁵^(K)Cush, and ^(L)Put, and Lud, and ^(M)all Arabia, and Libya,^[c] and the people of the land that is in league,^[d] shall fall with them by the sword.

⁶“Thus says the Lord:
^(N)Those who support Egypt shall fall,
    and ^(O)her proud might shall come down;
^(P)from Migdol to Syene
    they shall fall within her by the sword,
declares the Lord God.
⁷^(Q)And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,
    and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.
⁸^(R)Then they will know that I am the Lord,
    when ^(S)I have set fire to Egypt,
    and ^(T)all her helpers are broken.

⁹“On that day ^(U)messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting ^(V)people of Cush, and ^(W)anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom;^[e] for, behold, it comes!

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord God:

^(X)“I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,
    by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
¹¹He and his people with him, ^(Y)the most ruthless of nations,
    shall be brought in to destroy the land,
^(Z)and they shall draw their swords against Egypt
    and fill the land with the slain.
¹²And ^(AA)I will ^(AB)dry up the Nile
    and will sell the land into the hand of ^(AC)evildoers;
^(AD)I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,
    by the hand of ^(AE)foreigners;
^(AF)I am the Lord; I have spoken.

¹³“Thus says the Lord God:

^(AG)“I will destroy the idols
    and put an end to the images in ^(AH)Memphis;
^(AI)there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;
    so ^(AJ)I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
¹⁴I will make ^(AK)Pathros a desolation
    and will set fire to ^(AL)Zoan
    ^(AM)and will execute judgments on ^(AN)Thebes.
¹⁵And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
    the stronghold of Egypt,
    and cut off the multitude^[f] of Thebes.
¹⁶And I will set fire to Egypt;
    Pelusium shall be in great agony;
Thebes shall be breached,
    and ^(AO)Memphis shall face enemies^[g] by day.
¹⁷The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,
    and the women^[h] shall go into captivity.
¹⁸At ^(AP)Tehaphnehes ^(AQ)the day shall be dark,
    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,
and ^(AR)her proud might shall come to an end in her;
    she shall be covered by a cloud,
    and her daughters shall go into captivity.
¹⁹Thus ^(AS)I will execute judgments on Egypt.
    ^(AT)Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon

²⁰^(AU)In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²¹^(AV)“Son of man, ^(AW)I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, ^(AX)it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²²Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and ^(AY)will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³^(AZ)I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. ²⁴And ^(BA)I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put ^(BB)my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him ^(BC)like a man mortally wounded. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. ^(BD)Then they shall know that I am the Lord, ^(BE)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 the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Pharaoh to Be Slain

31 ^(BF)In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²^(BG)“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to ^(BH)his multitude:

^(BI)“Whom are you like in your greatness?
³    Behold, ^(BJ)Assyria was a ^(BK)cedar in ^(BL)Lebanon,
with beautiful branches and ^(BM)forest shade,
    ^(BN)and of towering height,
    its top among the clouds.^[i]
⁴The waters nourished it;
    the deep made it grow tall,
making ^(BO)its rivers flow
    around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
    to all the trees of the field.
⁵So ^(BP)it towered high
    above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
    and its branches long
    from ^(BQ)abundant water in its shoots.
⁶^(BR)All the birds of the heavens
    made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
    gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
    lived all great nations.
⁷It was ^(BS)beautiful in its greatness,
    in the length of its branches;
^(BT)for its roots went down
    to abundant waters.
⁸^(BU)The cedars ^(BV)in the garden of God could not rival it,
    nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
    like its branches;
no tree ^(BW)in the garden of God
    was its equal in beauty.
⁹I made it beautiful
    in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of ^(BX)Eden envied it,
    that were in the garden of God.

¹⁰“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(BY)it^[j] towered high and set its top among the clouds,^[k] and ^(BZ)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. ¹²^(CA)Foreigners, ^(CB)the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. ^(CC)On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all ^(CD)the ravines of the land, and ^(CE)all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. ¹³^(CF)On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. ¹⁴^(CG)All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,^[l] and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, ^(CH)to the world ^(CI)below, among the children of man,^[m] with those who go down to the pit.

¹⁵“Thus says the Lord God: On the day ^(CJ)the cedar^[n] went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. ¹⁶^(CK)I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, ^(CL)when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. ^(CM)And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, ^(CN)were comforted in the world below. ¹⁷They also went down to Sheol with it, ^(CO)to those who are slain by the sword; yes, ^(CP)those who were its arm, ^(CQ)who lived under its shadow among the nations.

¹⁸^(CR)“Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness ^(CS)among the trees of Eden? ^(CT)You shall be brought down with ^(CU)the trees of Eden to the world below. ^(CV)You shall lie among the uncircumcised, ^(CW)with those who are slain by the sword.