⁸ Are you any better than the city of Thebes,^[a]
    situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water?
She was protected by the river on all sides,
    walled in by water.

² But go over to Calneh
    and see what happened there.
Then go to the great city of Hamath
    and down to the Philistine city of Gath.
You are no better than they were,
    and look at how they were destroyed.

¹⁴ I will destroy southern Egypt,^[a]
    set fire to Zoan,
    and bring judgment against Thebes.^[b]
15 I will pour out my fury on Pelusium,^[c]
    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.

“To whom would you compare your greatness?
³ You are like mighty Assyria,
    which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,
with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade
    and with its top high among the clouds.

⁵ The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields.
    The riverbed will be parched and dry.
⁶ The canals of the Nile will dry up,
    and the streams of Egypt will stink
    with rotting reeds and rushes.
⁷ All the greenery along the riverbank
    and all the crops along the river
    will dry up and blow away.
⁸ The fishermen will lament for lack of work.
    Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan,
    and those who use nets will lose heart.
⁹ There will be no flax for the harvesters,
    no thread for the weavers.
¹⁰ They will be in despair,
    and all the workers will be sick at heart.