⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,^(A)
    like rivers of surging waters.
She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth;
    I will destroy cities and their people.’^(B)

“‘You are like a lion^(B) among the nations;
    you are like a monster^(C) in the seas^(D)
thrashing about in your streams,
    churning the water with your feet
    and muddying the streams.^(E)

“‘I am against you, Pharaoh^(A) king of Egypt,
    you great monster^(B) lying among your streams.
You say, “The Nile^(C) belongs to me;
    I made it for myself.”

²⁴ By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
    ‘With my many chariots^(A)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights^(B) of Lebanon.^(C)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.^(D)
I have reached its remotest heights,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign lands^[a]
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up^(E) all the streams of Egypt.^(F)’

²⁶ “Have you not heard?
    Long ago I ordained^(G) it.
In days of old I planned^(H) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(I)

“‘By the strength of my hand^(A) I have done this,^(B)
    and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.
I removed the boundaries of nations,
    I plundered their treasures;^(C)
    like a mighty one I subdued^[a] their kings.^(D)
14 As one reaches into a nest,^(E)
    so my hand reached for the wealth^(F) of the nations;
as people gather abandoned eggs,
    so I gathered all the countries;^(G)
not one flapped a wing,
    or opened its mouth to chirp.^(H)’”

¹⁵ Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,
    or the saw boast against the one who uses it?^(I)
As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
    or a club^(J) brandish the one who is not wood!
¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    will send a wasting disease^(K) upon his sturdy warriors;^(L)
under his pomp^(M) a fire^(N) will be kindled
    like a blazing flame.

⁹ The enemy boasted,
    ‘I will pursue,^(A) I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;^(B)
    I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
    and my hand will destroy them.’
¹⁰ But you blew with your breath,^(C)
    and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
    in the mighty waters.^(D)