A Lament for Egypt

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

(B)“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
    (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.
(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.

(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.

“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.
(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.
(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.

“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.”

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: (BG)“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to (BH)his multitude:

(BI)“Whom are you like in your greatness?
    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]
The 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.
So (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.
(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.
It was (BS)beautiful in its greatness,
    in the length of its branches;
(BT)for its roots went down
    to abundant waters.
(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.
I 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, 11 I 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. 17 They 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.

(CX)“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”

A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt

32 (CY)In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: (CZ)“Son of man, (DA)raise a lamentation over (DB)Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:

“You consider yourself (DC)a lion of the nations,
    but you are like (DD)a dragon (DE)in the seas;
(DF)you burst forth in your rivers,
    trouble the waters with your feet,
    and foul their rivers.
Thus says the Lord God:
    (DG)I will throw my net over you
    with a host of (DH)many peoples,
    and (DI)they will haul you up in my dragnet.
And (DJ)I will cast you on the ground;
    on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,
    and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.
I will strew your flesh (DK)upon the mountains
    and fill the valleys with your carcass.[o]
I will drench the land even to the mountains
    with your flowing blood,
    and the ravines will be full of you.
(DL)When I blot you out, (DM)I will cover the heavens
    and make their stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
    and the moon shall not give its light.
All the bright lights of heaven
    will I make dark over you,
    and (DN)put darkness on your land,
declares the Lord God.

“I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 (DO)I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when (DP)I brandish my sword before them. (DQ)They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.

11 “For thus says the Lord God: (DR)The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause (DS)your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them (DT)most ruthless of nations.

(DU)“They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
    and all its multitude[p] shall perish.
13 I will destroy all its beasts
    from beside many waters;
(DV)and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,
    nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then (DW)I will make their waters clear,
    and cause their rivers to run like oil,
declares the Lord God.
15 When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
    and when the land (DX)is desolate of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who dwell in it,
    then (DY)they will know that I am the Lord.

16 (DZ)This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over (EA)all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord God.”

17 (EB)In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,[q] on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 (EC)“Son of man, (ED)wail over (EE)the multitude of Egypt, and (EF)send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, (EG)to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:

19 (EH)‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
    Go down and (EI)be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.’

20 They shall fall amid those (EJ)who are slain by the sword. Egypt[r] is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and (EK)all her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs (EL)shall speak of them, (EM)with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, (EN)the uncircumcised, (EO)slain by the sword.’

22 (EP)“Assyria is there, and all her company, (EQ)its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in (ER)the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, (ES)who spread terror (ET)in the land of the living.

24 (EU)“Elam is (EV)there, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them (EW)slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into (EX)the world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and (EY)they bear their shame (EZ)with those who go down to the pit. 25 (FA)They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, (FB)her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.

26 (FC)“Meshech-Tubal is (FD)there, and all her multitude, (FE)her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And (FF)they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken (FG)and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

29 (FH)“Edom is (FI)there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.

30 “The princes (FJ)of the north are there, all of them, and all the (FK)Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, (FL)for all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and (FM)bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 “When Pharaoh sees them, he (FN)will be comforted for (FO)all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God. 32 (FP)For I spread terror (FQ)in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among (FR)the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 30:3 Hebrew lacks doom for
  2. Ezekiel 30:4 Or multitude; also verse 10
  3. Ezekiel 30:5 With Septuagint; Hebrew Cub
  4. Ezekiel 30:5 Hebrew and the sons of the land of the covenant
  5. Ezekiel 30:9 Hebrew the day of Egypt
  6. Ezekiel 30:15 Or wealth
  7. Ezekiel 30:16 Or distress
  8. Ezekiel 30:17 Or the cities; Hebrew they
  9. Ezekiel 31:3 Or its top went through the thick boughs
  10. Ezekiel 31:10 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew you
  11. Ezekiel 31:10 Or its top through the thick boughs
  12. Ezekiel 31:14 Or their tops through the thick boughs
  13. Ezekiel 31:14 Or of Adam
  14. Ezekiel 31:15 Hebrew it
  15. Ezekiel 32:5 Hebrew your height
  16. Ezekiel 32:12 Or wealth
  17. Ezekiel 32:17 Hebrew lacks in the twelfth month
  18. Ezekiel 32:20 Hebrew She

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