Add parallel Print Page Options

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.

Read full chapter

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”

Another Prophecy about Egypt

32 On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of our captivity,[a] a message came to me from the Lord, who had this to say:

“Son of Man, start singing this lamentation about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Tell him,

‘You may have called yourself a lion among nations,
    but you’re a monster at sea.
You thrash about in your rivers,
    muddy the water with your feet,
        and relieve yourself in the rivers.’

“This is what the Lord God says:
    ‘I’m coming fishing for you!
Right in the sight of many nations
    they’ll haul you up in my dragnet.
I’ll fling you up onto the land;
    I’ll haul you into the field,
I’ll make every carrion-eating bird come to dine on you,
    and I’ll make all the scavenging animals gorge themselves on you.
I’ll cover the mountains with your flesh
    and fill their valleys with your rotting carcass.[b]
I’ll drench the land with your blood,
    right up to the mountains,
and the ravines will overflow
    with blood that comes from you!
When I extinguish your lights,
    I’ll cover the heavens
        and darken their stars.
I’ll cover the sun with a cloud
    and the moon won’t reflect its light.
I’ll darken the bright lights in the sky above you
    and bring darkness to your territory,’
        declares the Lord God.

“‘I’ll bring distress to the hearts of many nations when I destroy you among nations whose territories you have not known. 10 I’ll make many nations be appalled at you, and their kings will be terrified because of you when I brandish my sword right in their face. They will all tremble from fear for their own safety[c] on the day that you fall!’

11 “This is what the Lord God says: ‘The army[d] of the king of Babylon will attack you. 12 I’m going to make your gangs die using the weapons of valiant warriors, all of whom are ruthless people.

‘They will devastate the majesty of Egypt,
    destroying all of its hordes.
13 I’m going to destroy all of its livestock
    along its many riverbanks.
Human feet won’t muddy the rivers anymore,
    nor will the hooves of livestock stir up the water.
14 That’s when I’ll make their waterways flow smoothly,
    and their rivers flow like olive oil,’[e]
        declares the Lord God.”
15 ‘When I turn the land of Egypt into a desolation,
    and the land is emptied of everything that used to fill it,
when I strike everyone who lives there,
    they will learn that I am the Lord.’

16 “This has been a lamentation. They will chant it, and the citizens[f] of the nations will chant it, too. They’ll chant it about Egypt and about all of its hordes.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 32:1 The Heb. lacks of our captivity
  2. Ezekiel 32:5 So MT; the Syr. Peshittas read your maggots
  3. Ezekiel 32:10 Lit. soul
  4. Ezekiel 32:11 Lit. sword
  5. Ezekiel 32:14 I.e. the rivers will be undisturbed by human activity
  6. Ezekiel 32:16 Lit. daughters