Beginning
Egypt Will Be Brought Down to Sheol
31 Now it happened in the (A)eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his (B)multitude,
‘To whom do you liken yourself in your greatness?
3 Behold, Assyria was a (C)cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and forest shade
And (D)lofty in height,
And its top was among the [a]clouds.
4 The (E)waters made it grow; the [b]deep made it high.
With its rivers it was going all around its planting place
And sent out its conduits to all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore (F)its height was loftier than all the trees of the field,
And its boughs became many and its branches long
Because of (G)many waters [c]as it spread them out.
6 All the (H)birds of the sky nested in its boughs,
And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,
And all great nations lived under its shade.
7 So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its foliage;
For its [d]roots extended to many waters.
8 The (I)cedars in (J)God’s garden [e]could not match it;
The [f]cypresses [g]could not liken themselves with its boughs,
And the plane trees were not like its branches.
No tree in (K)God’s garden [h]could liken itself with it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of its foliage,
And all the trees of (L)Eden, which were in the (M)garden of God, were jealous of it.
10 ‘Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because [i]it is lofty in height and has put its top among the [j]clouds, and its (N)heart is high up in its loftiness, 11 therefore I will give it into the hand of a [k](O)dominant one of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have (P)driven it away. 12 (Q)Strangers—(R)ruthless ones of the nations have cut it down and abandoned it; on the (S)mountains and in all the valleys its foliage have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have (T)gone down from its shade and abandoned it. 13 On its downfall all the (U)birds of the sky will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches 14 so that all the trees by the waters may not be lofty in their height, nor put their top among the [l]clouds, nor their dominant ones—all the [m]well-watered ones—stand in their loftiness. For they have all been given over to death, to the (V)earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”
15 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I (W)caused mourning; I covered it with the [n]deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon [o]mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. 16 I made the nations (X)quake at the sound of its downfall when I made it (Y)go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of (Z)Lebanon, all the [p]well-watered ones, were (AA)comforted in the earth beneath. 17 They also (AB)went down with it to Sheol to those who were (AC)slain by the sword; and those who were its [q]strength lived (AD)under its shade among the nations.
18 “To which among the trees of Eden do you thus liken yourself in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the (AE)uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. (AF)So is Pharaoh and all his multitude!”’ declares Lord Yahweh.”
A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt
32 And it happened in the (AG)twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, take up a (AH)lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,
‘You liken yourself to a young (AI)lion of the nations,
Yet you are like the (AJ)monster in the seas;
And you (AK)burst forth in your rivers
And muddied the waters with your feet
And [r]fouled their rivers.’”
3 Thus says Lord Yahweh,
“So I will (AL)spread My net over you
With an assembly of many peoples,
And they shall bring you up in My net.
4 I will abandon you on the land;
I will hurl you on the [s]open field.
And I will cause all the (AM)birds of the sky to dwell on you,
And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth [t]with you.
5 I will put your flesh (AN)on the mountains
And fill the valleys with your refuse.
6 I will also make the land drink the discharge of your (AO)blood
As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you.
7 And when I (AP)extinguish you,
I will (AQ)cover the heavens and darken their (AR)stars;
I will cover the (AS)sun with a cloud,
And the moon will not give its light.
8 All the shining (AT)lights in the heavens
I will darken over you
And will give darkness on your land,”
Declares Lord Yahweh.
9 “I will also (AU)vex the hearts of many peoples when I (AV)bring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known. 10 I will make many peoples [u](AW)appalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and (AX)they will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your downfall.”
11 For (AY)thus says Lord Yahweh, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you. 12 By the swords of the mighty ones I will cause your multitude to fall; all of them are (AZ)ruthless ones of the nations,
And they will (BA)devastate the lofty pride of Egypt,
And all its multitude will be destroyed.
13 I will also make all its cattle perish from beside many waters;
And (BB)the foot of man will not muddy them anymore,
And the hoofs of beasts will not muddy them.
14 Then I will make their waters settle
And will cause their rivers to [v]run like oil,”
Declares Lord Yahweh.
15 “When I make the land of Egypt a (BC)desolation,
And the land is desolate of its fullness,
When I strike all those who inhabit it,
Then they shall (BD)know that I am Yahweh.
16 This is a (BE)lamentation, and they shall [w]lament over it. The daughters of the nations shall [x]lament over it. Over Egypt and over all her multitude they shall [y]lament over it,” declares Lord Yahweh.
17 Now it happened in the (BF)twelfth year, on the (BG)fifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 18 “Son of man, (BH)wail for the hordes of Egypt and (BI)bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the (BJ)nether world, with those who go down to the pit;
19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and make your bed with the (BK)uncircumcised.’
20 They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. [z]She is given over to the sword; they have (BL)drawn her and all her multitude away. 21 The [aa](BM)dominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
22 “(BN)Assyria is there and all her assembly; [ab]her graves are round about [ac]her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose (BO)graves are put in the remotest parts of the pit, and her assembly is all round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who put terror in the land of the living.
24 “(BP)Elam is there and all her multitude all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the (BQ)lower parts of the earth, who put their terror in the (BR)land of the living and (BS)bore their dishonor with those who went down to the pit. 25 They have put a (BT)bed for her among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around it; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was put in the land of the living), and they bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit; [ad]they were put in the midst of the slain.
26 “(BU)Meshech, (BV)Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them. All of them were slain by the sword (BW)uncircumcised, though they put their terror in the land of the living. 27 (BX)Nor do they lie beside the fallen (BY)mighty ones of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were put under their heads; but the punishment for their (BZ)iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these mighty ones was once in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.
29 “There also is (CA)Edom, its kings, and all its [ae]princes, who [af]for all their might are put with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.
30 “There also are the [ag]chiefs of the (CB)north, all of them, and all the (CC)Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit.
31 “These Pharaoh will see, and he will be (CD)comforted for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his military force,” declares Lord Yahweh. 32 “Though I put a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel, Israel’s Watchman
33 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the (CE)sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and (CF)blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then [ah]he who hears the sound of the trumpet and (CG)does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his (CH)blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have (CI)escaped with his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is (CJ)taken away [ai]in his iniquity; but his (CK)blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’
7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have (CL)given you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth and give them (CM)warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will (CN)surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But as for you, if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he (CO)does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have (CP)delivered your life.
10 “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are (CQ)rotting away in them; (CR)how then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘(CS)As I live!’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘I take (CT)no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked (CU)turn from his way and live. (CV)Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ 12 Now as for you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, ‘The (CW)righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will (CX)not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live [aj]by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ 13 When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he (CY)does iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has done he will die. 14 But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he (CZ)turns from his sin and does (DA)justice and righteousness, 15 if a wicked man restores a pledge, (DB)pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the (DC)statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 (DD)None of his sins that he has done will be remembered against him. He has done justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.
17 “Yet the sons of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and (DE)does iniquity, then he shall die in [ak]it. 19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he will live by them. 20 Yet you say, ‘(DF)The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”
Jerusalem Has Been Struck Down
21 Now (DG)it happened in the (DH)twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, that those who escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “(DI)The city has been struck down.” 22 Now the (DJ)hand of Yahweh had been upon me in the evening, before those who escaped came. And He (DK)opened my mouth [al]at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was (DL)opened, and I was no longer mute.
23 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 24 “Son of man, they who (DM)inhabit these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘(DN)Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to (DO)us who are many the land has been given as a possession.’ 25 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “You eat meat with the (DP)blood in it and lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. (DQ)Should you then possess the land? 26 You (DR)stand on account of your sword, you do abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?”’ 27 Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will (DS)fall by the sword, and whoever is in the [am]open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the (DT)caves will die of pestilence. 28 I will (DU)make the land a desolation and a desecration, and the (DV)lofty pride of her strength will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I make the land a desolation and a desecration because of all their abominations which they have done.”’
30 “But as for you, son of man, the sons of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘(DW)Come now and hear what the word is which comes forth from Yahweh.’ 31 They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their (DX)mouth, and their heart goes after their (DY)greedy gain. 32 Behold, you are to them like a lustful song by one who has a (DZ)beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not do them. 33 So when it (EA)comes to pass—behold, it is coming—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”
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