Ezekiel 30
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.
11 He 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.
12 And (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.
14 I will make (AK)Pathros a desolation
and will set fire to (AL)Zoan
(AM)and will execute judgments on (AN)Thebes.
15 And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
the stronghold of Egypt,
and cut off the multitude[f] of Thebes.
16 And 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.
17 The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,
and the women[h] shall go into captivity.
18 At (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.
19 Thus (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. 22 Therefore 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. 24 And (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. 25 I 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. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 30:3 Hebrew lacks doom for
- Ezekiel 30:4 Or multitude; also verse 10
- Ezekiel 30:5 With Septuagint; Hebrew Cub
- Ezekiel 30:5 Hebrew and the sons of the land of the covenant
- Ezekiel 30:9 Hebrew the day of Egypt
- Ezekiel 30:15 Or wealth
- Ezekiel 30:16 Or distress
- Ezekiel 30:17 Or the cities; Hebrew they
Ezekiel 30
New Living Translation
A Sad Day for Egypt
30 This is another message that came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, prophesy and give this message from the Sovereign Lord:
“Weep and wail
for that day,
3 for the terrible day is almost here—
the day of the Lord!
It is a day of clouds and gloom,
a day of despair for the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt,
and those who are slaughtered will cover the ground.
Its wealth will be carried away
and its foundations destroyed.
The land of Ethiopia[a] will be ravished.
5 Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all Arabia,[b]
and all their other allies
will be destroyed in that war.
6 “For this is what the Lord says:
All of Egypt’s allies will fall,
and the pride of her power will end.
From Migdol to Aswan[c]
they will be slaughtered by the sword,
says the Sovereign Lord.
7 Egypt will be desolate,
surrounded by desolate nations,
and its cities will be in ruins,
surrounded by other ruined cities.
8 And the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord
when I have set Egypt on fire
and destroyed all their allies.
9 At that time I will send swift messengers in ships
to terrify the complacent Ethiopians.
Great panic will come upon them
on that day of Egypt’s certain destruction.
Watch for it!
It is sure to come!
10 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
By the power of King Nebuchadnezzar[d] of Babylon,
I will destroy the hordes of Egypt.
11 He and his armies—the most ruthless of all—
will be sent to demolish the land.
They will make war against Egypt
until slaughtered Egyptians cover the ground.
12 I will dry up the Nile River
and sell the land to wicked men.
I will destroy the land of Egypt and everything in it
by the hands of foreigners.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
13 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will smash the idols[e] of Egypt
and the images at Memphis.[f]
There will be no rulers left in Egypt;
terror will sweep the land.
14 I will destroy southern Egypt,[g]
set fire to Zoan,
and bring judgment against Thebes.[h]
15 I will pour out my fury on Pelusium,[i]
the strongest fortress of Egypt,
and I will stamp out
the hordes of Thebes.
16 Yes, I will set fire to all Egypt!
Pelusium will be racked with pain;
Thebes will be torn apart;
Memphis will live in constant terror.
17 The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis[j] will die in battle,
and the women[k] will be taken away as slaves.
18 When I come to break the proud strength of Egypt,
it will be a dark day for Tahpanhes, too.
A dark cloud will cover Tahpanhes,
and its daughters will be led away as captives.
19 And so I will greatly punish Egypt,
and they will know that I am the Lord.”
The Broken Arms of Pharaoh
20 On April 29,[l] during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. His arm has not been put in a cast so that it may heal. Neither has it been bound up with a splint to make it strong enough to hold a sword. 22 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am the enemy of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt! I will break both of his arms—the good arm along with the broken one—and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians to many lands throughout the world. 24 I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he will lie there mortally wounded, groaning in pain. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. And when I put my sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he brings it against the land of Egypt, Egypt will know that I am the Lord. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, dispersing them throughout the earth. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- 30:4 Hebrew Cush; similarly in 30:9.
- 30:5 Hebrew Cush, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Cub. Cub is otherwise unknown and may be another spelling for Lub (Libya).
- 30:6 Hebrew to Syene.
- 30:10 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
- 30:13a The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
- 30:13b Hebrew Noph; also in 30:16.
- 30:14a Hebrew Pathros.
- 30:14b Hebrew No; also in 30:15, 16.
- 30:15 Hebrew Sin; also in 30:16.
- 30:17a Hebrew of Awen and Pi-beseth.
- 30:17b Or and her cities.
- 30:20 Hebrew On the seventh day of the first month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on April 29, 587 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
