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A Lament for Pharaoh, King of Egypt

32 And then[a] in the twelfth[b] year, in the twelfth[c] month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[d] to me, saying,[e] “Son of man,[f] raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you must say to him,

With a fierce, strong lion among nations you compared yourself,
    and you are like the sea monster in the seas,
    and you thrash about in your rivers,
    and you make water turbid with your feet,
    and you make your rivers muddy.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

Now I will spread my net over you
    in the assembly of many peoples,
    and I will bring you up in my dragnet.
And I will throw you on the ground;
    on the surface of the open field I will hurl you,
and I will cause every bird of the heaven to dwell on you,
    and I will satisfy the animals[g] of all of the world from you.
And I will put your flesh on the mountains,
    and I will fill the valleys with your carcass.
And I will water the land with your discharge from your blood
    on the mountains,
    and valleys will be filled from[h] you.
And I will cover you at[i] extinguishing your heavens,
    and I will make dark their stars,
and I will cover the sun with the cloud,
    and the moon will not give its light.
All[j] sources of light in the heavens,
    I will make them dark over you,
    and I will put[k] darkness on your land,’”

declares[l] the Lord Yahweh.

“And I will disturb the hearts[m] of many peoples
    at my bringing about your captivity among the nations,
    to countries that you do not know.
10 And I will cause many peoples to be awestruck over you,
    and their kings will shudder over you in horror,
at[n] my brandishing my sword before their faces,
    and they will tremble continually,[o]
each person for his life,
    on the day of your downfall.”

11 For thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“The sword of the king of Babylon,
    it will come to you.
12 By the swords of warriors I will cause to fall your hordes
    by the most ruthless of the nations, all of them,
and they will devastate the majesty of Egypt,
    and all of its hordes will be destroyed.
13 And I will destroy all her domestic livestock
    beside[p] many waters.
The feet of humans[q] will not make them turbid again,
    and the hooves of domestic livestock will not make them turbid.
14 Then I will make their waters settle,
    and their rivers as the olive oil I will let flow,”

declares[r] the Lord Yahweh.

15 “Then I make the land of Egypt a desolation,
    so that the land will be stripped from its fullness
when I strike all of those dwelling in it,
    and they will know that I am Yahweh.

16 This is[s] a lament, and they will chant it as a lament; the daughters of the nations will chant it as a lament over Egypt, and over all of its hordes they will chant it as a lament,” declares[t] the Lord Yahweh.

17 And then[u] in the twelfth[v] year, on the fifteenth[w] day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[x] to me, saying,[y] 18 “Son of man,[z] mourn over the hordes of Egypt, and make her go down, and with her the daughters of mighty nations, down to the deep underworld[aa] with the people going down to the grave.[ab] 19 You are more lovely than whom?[ac] Go down and be laid in rest with the uncircumcised. 20 In the midst of the people slain by the sword it[ad] is given they will fall to a sword; they carried her[ae] off and all of her[af] hordes. 21 The chiefs of the warriors will speak to him from the middle of Sheol; with his helpers they have gone down; the uncircumcised lie still, those slain by the sword.[ag]

22 Assyria is there and all of its assembly; all around it are its graves, all of them killed, those fallen by the sword, 23 who[ah] will be given its graves in the remote areas of the pit, and its assembly will be all around its grave, all of them killed, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

24 Elam is there and all of its hordes, all around its grave, all of them dead who fell by the sword, those who went down uncircumcised to the depths of the underworld,[ai] those who spread their terror to the land of the living, and now they bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave.[aj] 25 In the midst of the slain they made a bed for her with all of her hordes all around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror was spread in the land of the living, and they now bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave;[ak] in the midst of the slain it was placed.

26 Meshech and Tubal are there and all of its hordes, all around him its graves, all of them uncircumcised and killed by the sword, for they gave their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they do not lie with warriors fallen from long ago, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war,[al] and they placed their sword under their heads, and their shields[am] were on their bones, for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living. 28 And you[an] too in the midst of uncircumcised people will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword.

29 There is Edom, its kings and all of its leaders who are laid along with their might with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with the people going down to the grave.[ao]

30 There are also the princes of the north, all of them, all of the Sidonians who have gone down, being ashamed to lie with the slain because[ap] of their terror that they caused from their might, and they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and they bear their disgrace along with the people going down to the grave.[aq]

31 Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted over all of his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all of his army,” declares[ar] the Lord Yahweh. 32 “For[as] he spread[at] my terror in the land of the living, and so he will be laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword: Pharaoh and all of his hordes,”declares[au] the Lord Yahweh.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 32:1 Literally “and it was/happened”
  2. Ezekiel 32:1 Literally “two of ten”
  3. Ezekiel 32:1 Literally “in two ten month”
  4. Ezekiel 32:1 Literally “was”
  5. Ezekiel 32:1 Literally “to say”
  6. Ezekiel 32:2 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  7. Ezekiel 32:4 Hebrew “animal”
  8. Ezekiel 32:6 Or “with”
  9. Ezekiel 32:7 Or “by”
  10. Ezekiel 32:8 Or “every”
  11. Ezekiel 32:8 Or “give”
  12. Ezekiel 32:8 Literally “declaration of”
  13. Ezekiel 32:9 Hebrew “heart”
  14. Ezekiel 32:10 Or “when”
  15. Ezekiel 32:10 Literally “for moments/seconds”
  16. Ezekiel 32:13 Literally “from on”
  17. Ezekiel 32:13 Hebrew “human”
  18. Ezekiel 32:14 Literally “declaration of”
  19. Ezekiel 32:16 Literally “she is
  20. Ezekiel 32:16 Literally “declaration of”
  21. Ezekiel 32:17 Literally “and it happened/was”
  22. Ezekiel 32:17 Literally “two of ten”
  23. Ezekiel 32:17 Literally “in the five ten of”
  24. Ezekiel 32:17 Literally “was”
  25. Ezekiel 32:17 Literally “to say”
  26. Ezekiel 32:18 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  27. Ezekiel 32:18 Literally “to the world/earth deeps/depth”
  28. Ezekiel 32:18 Or “pit” or “netherworld”
  29. Ezekiel 32:19 Literally “from whom are you lovely”
  30. Ezekiel 32:20 Or “she”; that is, Egypt
  31. Ezekiel 32:20 Or “it”
  32. Ezekiel 32:20 Or “its”
  33. Ezekiel 32:21 Literally “the slain of the sword”
  34. Ezekiel 32:23 That is, Assyria
  35. Ezekiel 32:24 Literally “land/earth/world”
  36. Ezekiel 32:24 Or “pit” or “sheol”
  37. Ezekiel 32:25 Or “pit”
  38. Ezekiel 32:27 Literally “with the weapons of war their”
  39. Ezekiel 32:27 Reading “their shields” for “their guilt”
  40. Ezekiel 32:28 Evidently refers to Egypt
  41. Ezekiel 32:29 Or “pit”
  42. Ezekiel 32:30 Or “in spite of” (cf. NJPS, NIV)
  43. Ezekiel 32:30 Or “pit”
  44. Ezekiel 32:31 Literally “declaration of”
  45. Ezekiel 32:32 Or “although”
  46. Ezekiel 32:32 Hebrew “I gave”
  47. Ezekiel 32:32 Literally “declaration of”

Grief over Pharaoh and Egypt

32 In the (A)twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a (B)song of mourning over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him,

‘You [a]compared yourself to a young (C)lion of the nations,
Yet you are like the (D)monster in the seas;
And you (E)burst forth in your rivers
And muddied the waters with your feet
And [b]fouled their rivers.’”

This is what the Lord [c]God says:

“Now I will (F)spread My net over you
With a contingent of many peoples,
And they will lift you up in My net.
I will leave you on the land;
I will hurl you on the [d]open field.
And I will cause all the (G)birds of the sky to [e]nest on you,
And I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth [f]with you.
I will lay your flesh (H)on the mountains
And fill the valleys with your refuse.
I will also make the land drink the discharge of your (I)blood
As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you.
And when I (J)extinguish you,
I will (K)cover the heavens and darken their (L)stars;
I will cover the (M)sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.
All the shining (N)lights in the heavens
I will darken over you
And will set darkness on your land,”
Declares the Lord God.

“I will also (O)trouble the hearts of many peoples when I (P)bring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known. 10 And I will make many peoples (Q)appalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and (R)they will tremble again and again, every person for his own life, on the day of your fall.”

11 For (S)the Lord God says (T)this: “The sword of the king of Babylon will [g]attack you. 12 By the swords of the warriors I will make your multitude fall; all of them are (U)tyrants of the nations,

And they will (V)devastate the pride of Egypt,
And all its multitude will be destroyed.
13 I will also eliminate all its cattle from beside many waters;
And (W)a human foot will not muddy them anymore,
And the hoofs of animals will not muddy them.
14 Then I will make their waters settle,
And make their rivers run like oil,”
Declares the Lord God.
15 “When I make the land of Egypt a (X)desolation,
And the land is destitute of that which filled it,
When I strike all those who live in it,
Then they shall (Y)know that I am the Lord.

16 This is a (Z)song of mourning, and they shall sing it. The daughters of the nations shall sing it. Over Egypt and over all her hordes they shall sing it,” declares the Lord God.

17 In the (AA)twelfth year, on the (AB)fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, (AC)lament for the hordes of Egypt and (AD)bring it down, her and the daughters of the mighty nations, to the (AE)netherworld, with those who go down to the pit;

19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and make your bed with the (AF)uncircumcised.’

20 They shall fall in the midst of those who are killed by the sword. [h]She is turned over to the sword; they have (AG)dragged her and all her hordes away. 21 The (AH)strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol: ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword.’

22 (AI)Assyria is there and all her company; [i]her graves are all around [j]her. All of them killed, fallen by the sword, 23 whose (AJ)graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them killed, fallen by the sword, who [k]spread terror in the land of the living.

24 (AK)Elam is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them killed, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the (AL)lower parts of the earth, who inflicted their terror on the (AM)land of the living, and (AN)bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. 25 They have made a (AO)bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it, they are all uncircumcised, killed by the sword (although their terror was [l]inflicted on the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; [m]they were put in the midst of the slain.

26 (AP)Meshech, (AQ)Tubal, and all their hordes are there; their graves [n]surround them. All of them were killed by the sword (AR)uncircumcised, though they inflicted their terror on the land of the living. 27 (AS)Nor do they lie beside the fallen [o](AT)heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were placed under their heads; but the punishment for their (AU)wrongdoing rested on their bones, though the terror of these [p]heroes was once in the land of the living. 28 But in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those killed by the sword.

29 “There also is (AV)Edom, its kings and all its [q]princes, who [r]despite all their might are laid with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

30 “There also are the [s]chiefs of the (AW)north, all of them, and all the (AX)Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those killed by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

31 “These Pharaoh will see, and he will (AY)find consolation regarding all his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army,” declares the Lord God. 32 “Though I inflicted the terror of him on the land of the living, yet he will be laid to rest among the uncircumcised along with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares the Lord God.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 32:2 Or were like
  2. Ezekiel 32:2 Lit fouled by stamping
  3. Ezekiel 32:3 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
  4. Ezekiel 32:4 Lit faces of the field
  5. Ezekiel 32:4 Lit dwell
  6. Ezekiel 32:4 Lit from
  7. Ezekiel 32:11 Lit come upon you
  8. Ezekiel 32:20 Or The sword is given
  9. Ezekiel 32:22 Lit his
  10. Ezekiel 32:22 Lit him
  11. Ezekiel 32:23 Lit gave, and so throughout the ch
  12. Ezekiel 32:25 Lit given
  13. Ezekiel 32:25 As in ancient versions; MT he was
  14. Ezekiel 32:26 Lit are around him
  15. Ezekiel 32:27 Or mighty ones
  16. Ezekiel 32:27 Or mighty ones
  17. Ezekiel 32:29 Or leaders
  18. Ezekiel 32:29 Lit in
  19. Ezekiel 32:30 Or leaders