Ezekiel 29-30

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

29 In the tenth year [of the captivity of King Jehoiachin by the king of Babylon], in the tenth [month], on the twelfth [day] of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Son of man, set your face toward Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

³ Say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster [of sluggish and unwieldy strength] that lies in the midst of his [delta] streams, [boastfully] declaring, My river Nile is my own and I have made it for myself.

⁴ But I will put hooks in your jaws [O Egyptian dragon] and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams with all the fish of your streams which stick to your scales.

⁵ And I will cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall upon the open field and not be gathered up or buried. I have given you for food to the [wild] beasts of the earth and the birds of the heavens.

⁶ And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], because they have been a [deceitful] staff [made of fragile] reeds to the house of Israel.

⁷ When they grasped you with the hand and leaned upon you, you broke and tore their whole shoulder, and [by injuring their muscles made them so stiff and rigid that] they could do no more than stand.

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you and cut off man and beast from you,

⁹ And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. And they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]. Because you have said, The river is mine and I have made it,

¹⁰ Behold therefore, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter [plundered] waste and desolation [of subjection] from [northern] Migdol to [southern] Syene, even as far as the border of Ethiopia.

¹¹ No foot of man shall pass through it [in travel], no foot of beast shall pass through it [in trade with other countries], neither shall [Egypt] be [truly] inhabited [again] for forty years.

¹² And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation [plundered and reduced to subjection] in the midst of desolated (plundered and reduced to subjection) countries, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.

¹³ Yet thus says the Lord God: At the end of [their] forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered,^(A)

¹⁴ And I will reverse the captivity of Egypt [as I will that of Israel] and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros [under Egypt], the land of their origin, and they shall be there a lowly kingdom.

¹⁵ It shall be the lowliest of the kingdoms, neither shall it ^[a]exalt itself any more above the nations; I will diminish [the Egyptians] so they shall never again rule over the nations.

¹⁶ And never again shall Egypt have the confidence and be the reliance of the house of Israel; their iniquity will be brought to remembrance whenever [Israel] looks toward them [for help]. They shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord God [Who demands loyalty and obedient service].

¹⁷ In the twenty-seventh year [after King Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon], in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, ^[b]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to render heavy service [at My bidding] against Tyre; every [soldier’s] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [with carrying loads of earth and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no remuneration from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended in the thirteen years’ siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall carry off her great mass of people and of things (her riches) and take her spoil and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army.

²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor with which he served [against Tyre] because they did it for Me, says the Lord God.

²¹ In that day will I cause a horn to spring forth to the house of Israel and I will open your lips among them, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

30 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

² Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God: Wail, Alas for the day!

³ For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time [of doom] for the nations.

⁴ And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish and great sorrow shall be in Ethiopia (Cush), when the slain fall in Egypt and they [of Babylon] carry away her great mass of people and of things and her foundations are broken down.

⁵ Ethiopia (Cush) and Put, Lud and all the mingled people [foreigners living in Egypt], Cub (Lub, Libya) and the children of the land of the covenant [the Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt] shall fall with [the Egyptians] by the sword.

⁶ Thus says the Lord: They also who uphold or lean upon and are supported by Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her power shall come down; from Migdol [in the north] to Syene [in the south] they shall fall within her by the sword, says the Lord God.

⁷ And they shall be desolated in the midst of countries that are desolated, and her cities shall be in the midst of cities that are wasted [by plunder and subjection].

⁸ And they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], when I have set a fire in Egypt and all her helpers are broken and destroyed.

⁹ In that day shall [swift] messengers go forth from Me in ships to terrify the careless and unsuspecting Ethiopians, and there shall be anguish and great sorrow upon them as in the day of Egypt’s [doom], for behold, [their day] comes!

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: I will also make the tumult and the wealth and the large population of Egypt to cease by the hand of ^[c]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹ He and his people with him, the [most] terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land, and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.

¹² And I will make the [artificial] streams [of the Nile delta] dry and will sell the land into the hand of evil men, and I will make the land desolate, and all that is in it, by the hand of strangers. I the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service] have spoken it.

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols and I will put an end to the images in Noph or Memphis, and there shall be no longer a prince of the land of Egypt. And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ And I will make Pathros desolate and will set fire to Zoan and will execute judgments and punishments upon No or Thebes.

¹⁵ And I will pour My wrath upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will cut off the tumult, the prosperity and the population of No or Thebes.

¹⁶ And I will set fire to Egypt; Pelusium shall have great anguish and No or Thebes shall be torn open and Noph or Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime and all the day long.

¹⁷ The young men of Aven or On and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword, and the [women and children] shall go into captivity.

¹⁸ At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself and be dark when I break there the yokes and dominion of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall come to an end. As for her, a cloud [of calamities] shall cover her and her daughters shall go into captivity.

¹⁹ Thus will I execute judgments and punishments upon Egypt. Then shall they know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

²⁰ And in the eleventh year [after King Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon], in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²¹ Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up to heal it by binding it with a bandage, to make it strong to hold and wield the sword.

²² Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong one and the one which was broken, and I will cause the sword to fall from his hand.

²³ And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them throughout the countries.

²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand, but I will break Pharaoh’s arms and he will groan before [Nebuchadrezzar] with the groanings of a mortally wounded man.

²⁵ But I will strengthen and hold up the arms of the king of Babylon and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down, and they [of Egypt] shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.

²⁶ And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].