Beginning

Egypt Is Like a Cedar Tree

31 On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his people, ‘Who can be compared with you in greatness? ³ Look at Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and many leaves. It was very high, and its top was among the heavy branches. ⁴ The waters made it grow, and the water under the ground made it grow high. Its rivers flowed all around its base, and spread water to all the trees of the field. ⁵ So it was higher than all the trees of the field. And it grew many long and spreading branches because it had so much water. ⁶ All the birds of the air made their nests in its branches. And under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth. All great nations lived in its shadow. ⁷ It was beautiful in its greatness with its spreading branches, for its roots went down to much water. ⁸ The cedars in God’s garden could not compare with it. The fir trees and the chestnut trees could not compare with its branches. No tree in God’s garden was like it in beauty. ⁹ I made it beautiful with its many branches. And all the trees that were in Eden were jealous of it.

¹⁰ ‘So the Lord God says, “Because it has grown high with its top among the heavy branches, its heart has become proud, ¹¹ I will give it over to a powerful ruler of the nations, and he will punish it. Because of its sin, I will drive it out. ¹² Rulers from other nations will cut it down and leave it. Its branches will fall on the mountains and in all the valleys. Its spreading branches will be broken in all the deep valleys of the land. All the people of the earth will go away from its shadow and leave it. ¹³ All the birds of the air will live on its broken pieces. And all the animals of the field will be on its fallen branches. ¹⁴ This will be so that no trees by the water will grow high with their tops among the heavy branches. No trees that drink water will ever grow so high. For they have all been given over to death. They will go to the earth below, among men who die and go down to the grave.”

¹⁵ ‘The Lord God says, “When it goes down to the place of the dead, I will make the waters under the ground cover it in sorrow. I will stop its rivers of water and fill Lebanon with sorrow over it. All the trees of the field will waste away because of it. ¹⁶ I will make the nations shake in fear at the sound of its fall when I send it to the place of the dead with those who go down to the grave. Then all the well-watered trees of Eden, the best of Lebanon, will be comforted in the earth below. ¹⁷ And those who lived under its shadow among the nations will go down to the place of the dead with it, to those who were killed by the sword.

¹⁸ “Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in beauty and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below. You will lie among the sinful, with those who were killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people!”’ says the Lord God.”

King of Egypt Is Like a Dragon

32 On the first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, sing a song of sorrow for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, ‘You compared yourself to a young lion among the nations, yet you are like the big dragon in the seas. You go through your rivers, troubling the water with your feet and making the rivers muddy.’” ³ The Lord God says, “Now I will throw My net over you with an army of many nations. They will lift you up in My net. ⁴ And I will leave you on the land. I will throw you on the open field. I will have all the birds of the air live on you. And I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth. ⁵ I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with what is left of you. ⁶ I will make the land drink your flowing blood as far as the mountains, and the deep valleys will be full of you. ⁷ When I destroy you, I will cover the heavens and make the stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. ⁸ I will make all the shining lights in the heavens dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land,” says the Lord God. ⁹ “I will trouble the hearts of many people when I destroy you among the nations, among lands you have not known. ¹⁰ I will fill many nations with fear and wonder because of you. Their kings will shake in fear for you when I wave My sword in front of them. Every man will keep shaking in fear for his own life, on the day you are destroyed.”

¹¹ For the Lord God says, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. ¹² I will cause your people to be killed by the swords of powerful men who will have no pity, all of them strong rulers of the nations. They will destroy the pride of Egypt and kill all its people. ¹³ I will also destroy all its cattle from beside many waters. No foot of man or animal will fill them with mud any more. ¹⁴ I will make their waters clear and make their rivers flow like oil,” says the Lord God. ¹⁵ “When I destroy the land of Egypt and take from the land everything that was in it, and when I punish all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁶ This is the song of sorrow they will sing. The women of the nations will sing it. They will sing it over Egypt and all her people,” says the Lord God.

The Place of the Dead

¹⁷ In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, cry in a loud voice for the people of Egypt. Send them down with the powerful nations to the place of the dead, with those who go down to the grave. ¹⁹ Say to them, ‘Do you think you are more favored than anyone else? Go down and make your bed with the sinful.’ ²⁰ They will fall among those who are killed by the sword. The sword is ready to kill all of Egypt’s people. ²¹ From the place of the dead the powerful leaders will say of Egypt and her helpers, ‘They have come down. They lie with the sinful, with those killed by the sword.’

²² “Assyria is there, with all of her army. All around her are the graves of her dead, who have been killed by the sword. ²³ Their graves lie in the farthest parts of the place of the dead. Her army is around her grave. All who had spread fear in the land of the living are dead, killed by the sword.

²⁴ “Elam is there, with all of her people around her grave. All of them are dead, killed by the sword. They have gone to the lower parts of the earth having not gone through the religious act of the Jews. They filled the land of the living with fear, and carried their shame with those who went down to the place of the dead. ²⁵ A bed is made for her among the dead with all her people. Their graves are around her. They are all sinful people, killed by the sword. They spread fear in the land of the living, and were put to shame with those who go down to the place of the dead and are among the dead.

²⁶ “Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their people. Their graves are around them. All of them are sinful, killed by the sword, for they had spread fear in the land of the living. ²⁷ They do not lie beside the graves of the powerful men of long ago, who went down to the place of the dead with their swords of war, whose swords were laid under their heads. But the punishment for their sin rested on their bones. For the fear of these powerful men was once in the land of the living. ²⁸ You too, O Pharaoh, will be broken and lie among the sinful, with those killed by the sword.

²⁹ “Edom is there, with its kings and all its leaders. Even with all their power they are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the sinful, with those who go down to the place of the dead.

³⁰ “All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there. Even with the fear they caused by their power, they went down with the dead in shame. They lie as sinful people with those killed by the sword. They carried their shame with those who go down to the place of the dead.

³¹ “When Pharaoh and his army see them, they will be comforted for all his people who were killed by the sword,” says the Lord God. ³² “I spread fear of him in the land of the living, yet Pharaoh and all his people will be laid among the sinful, with those killed by the sword,” says the Lord God.

The Words of the Watchman

33 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people. Say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men to keep watch for them, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and sounds the horn to tell the people of the danger, ⁴ then if anyone hears the horn and does not take care, and a sword comes and kills him, he will be to blame for his own death. ⁵ He heard the sound of the horn, but did not worry about the danger. He will be to blame for his own death. If he had been careful, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, and the people are not told of the danger, and a sword comes and kills one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin. But the blood of the watchman must be given.’

⁷ “Son of man, I have chosen you as a watchman for the people of Israel. So when I give you the word, you must tell them of the danger. ⁸ When I tell a sinful man that he will die for sure, and you do not speak to him about the danger of his way, that sinful man will die in his sin. But your blood must be given. ⁹ But if you tell a sinful man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his sin. But you have saved your life.

God Judges Well

¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the people of Israel, ‘You have said, “Our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I am not pleased when sinful people die. But I am pleased when the sinful turn from their way and live. Turn! Turn from your sinful ways! Why will you die, O people of Israel?’ ¹² Now, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘If a man does what is right and good, it will not save him when he sins.’ And the sins of a sinful man will not make him fall when he turns from his sinful way. But the man who is right and good will not be able to live by his good ways when he sins. ¹³ When I tell the man who is right and good that he will live, and he trusts in his good ways so much that he sins, none of his good works will be remembered. He will die for the sin he has done. ¹⁴ But when I tell the sinful man that he will die, and he turns from his sin and does what is right and good, ¹⁵ if he gives back what a person gave him as trust for a promise, pays back what he had stolen, follows the Laws that give life and does not sin, he will live for sure. He will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins he has done will be remembered against him. He has done what is right and good, and he will live for sure.

¹⁷ “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ But it is their way that is not right. ¹⁸ When the right and good man turns from his good way and sins, he will die for it. ¹⁹ But when the sinful man turns from his sin and does what is right and good, he will live because of it. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O people of Israel, I will judge each of you by his ways.”

Jerusalem Is Taken

²¹ On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year since we had been taken to a strange land, a man who got away from Jerusalem came and said to me, “The city has been taken.” ²² Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before the man came. And He opened my mouth so that when the man came to me in the morning, I was able to speak.

The Sins of the People

²³ Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, the people who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he owned the land. But we are many, and for sure the land has been given to us.’ ²⁵ So tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “You eat meat with the blood in it, and worship your false gods as you kill. Should the land belong to you? ²⁶ You trust in your sword, and keep on sinning. Each of you does sex sins with his neighbor’s wife. Should the land belong to you?”’ ²⁷ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “As I live, those who are in the waste places will be killed by the sword. Whoever is in the open field, I will feed to the wild animals. And those who are in the strong-places and in the caves will die of disease. ²⁸ I will destroy the land and make it a waste. The pride of her power will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be laid waste, so that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I destroy the land and make it a waste because of all the hated sins they have done.”’

³⁰ “As for you, son of man, your people are talking to each other about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses. They are saying, ‘Come and hear the word that has come from the Lord.’ ³¹ They come and sit in front of you as My people, and listen to the words you say. But they do not do them. With their mouth they speak of love, but their hearts are full of sinful desire. ³² They think of you as nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays music well. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it. ³³ When all this comes true, and it will, then they will know that a man of God has been among them.”