Ezekiel 32:1-16

New Century Version

A Funeral Song

32 It was in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, sing a funeral song about the king of Egypt. Say to him:

‘You are like a young lion among the nations.
    You are like a crocodile in the seas.
You splash around in your streams
    and stir up the water with your feet,
    making the rivers muddy.

³“‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will spread my net over you,
    and I will use a large group of people
    to pull you up in my net.
⁴Then I will throw you on the land
    dropping you onto the ground.
I will let the birds of the sky rest on you
    and all the animals of the earth eat you until they are full.
⁵I will scatter your flesh on the mountains
    and fill the valleys with what is left of you.
⁶I will drench the land with your flowing blood
    as far as the mountains,
    and the ravines will be full of your flesh.
⁷When I make you disappear,
    I will cover the sky and make the stars dark.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
    and the moon will not shine.
⁸I will make all the shining lights in the sky
    become dark over you;
    I will bring darkness over your land,
    says the Lord God.
⁹I will cause many people to be afraid
    when I bring you as a captive into other nations,
    to lands you have not known.
¹⁰I will cause many people to be shocked about you.
    Their kings will tremble with fear because of you
    when I swing my sword in front of them.
They will shake every moment
    on the day you fall;
    each king will be afraid for his own life.

¹¹“‘So this is what the Lord God says:

The sword of the king of Babylon
    will attack you.
¹²I will cause your people to fall
    by the swords of mighty soldiers,
    the most terrible in the world.
They will destroy the pride of Egypt
    and all its people.
¹³I will also destroy all Egypt’s cattle
    which live alongside much water.
The foot of a human will not stir the water,
    and the hoofs of cattle will not muddy it anymore.
¹⁴So I will let the Egyptians’ water become clear.
    I will cause their rivers to run as smoothly as olive oil,
    says the Lord God.
¹⁵When I make the land of Egypt empty
    and take everything that is in the land,
when I destroy all those who live in Egypt,
    then they will know that I am the Lord.’

¹⁶“This is the funeral song people will sing for Egypt. The women of the nations will sing it; they will sing a funeral song for Egypt and all its people, says the Lord God.”

Read full chapter