Beginning

31 ¶ And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his people. Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

³ Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud and of a high stature; and his top was highest among the thick boughs.

⁴ The waters made him grow; the deep set him up on high; her rivers ran round his feet and sent her flow to all the trees of the field.

⁵ Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of his many waters, which he sent forth.

⁶ All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt many Gentiles.

⁷ He made himself beautiful in his greatness, with the extension of his branches: for his root was by many waters.

⁸ The cedars in the garden of God did not cover him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

⁹ I have made him beautiful with the multitude of his branches: and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

¹⁰ ¶ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

¹¹ I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the strong one of the Gentiles; he shall surely deal with him; I have cut him down for his wickedness.

¹² And strangers, the strong ones of the Gentiles, shall cut him down and shall leave him; his branches shall fall upon the mountains and by all the valleys, and his boughs shall be broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the peoples of the earth shall go forth from his shadow and shall leave him.

¹³ Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

¹⁴ to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their tops among the thick boughs, neither in their branches shall all that drink waters stand up in their height: for they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, with those that go down to the grave.

¹⁵ Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the many waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted.

¹⁶ I made the Gentiles to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those that descend into the pit: and all the choice trees of Eden, and the best of Lebanon, all that drink waters, shall be comforted in the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁷ They also went down into Sheol with him, with those that were slain with the sword; and those that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Gentiles.

¹⁸ To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet thou shalt be cut down with the trees of Eden unto the lower parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people, said the Lord GOD.

32 ¶ And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, raise up lamentations upon Pharaoh king of Egypt and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as the whale in the seas, that dost dry up thy rivers, and trouble the waters with thy feet, and foul their streams.

³ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many peoples, and they shall bring thee up in my net.

⁴ Then I will leave thee upon the land; I will cast thee forth upon the open field and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.

⁵ And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with thy height.

⁶ I will also water with thy blood the land in which thou dost swim, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.

⁷ And when thou art dead, I will cover the heavens and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

⁸ All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark because of thee and set darkness upon thy land, said the Lord GOD.

⁹ I will also make the hearts of many peoples sad when I shall bring thy destruction upon the Gentiles, into the countries which thou hast not known.

¹⁰ And I will make many peoples amazed at thee and their kings shall be horribly afraid because of thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

¹¹ For thus hath the Lord GOD said: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.

¹² By the swords of the mighty I will cause thy people to fall; they shall all be the strong of the Gentiles and they shall destroy the pride of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be undone.

¹³ I will also destroy all the beasts thereof from upon the many waters; neither shall the foot of man, nor the hoofs of beasts foul them any more.

¹⁴ Then I will make their waters deepen and cause their channels to run like oil, said the Lord GOD.

¹⁵ When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate and the fullness of the land shall be taken away when I shall smite all those that dwell therein, then they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁶ This is the lamentation, and they shall sing it; the daughters of the Gentiles shall sing it: they shall lament over Egypt and over all her multitude, said the Lord GOD.

¹⁷ ¶ It also came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt and cast him down and the habitations of the strong Gentiles into the lower parts of the earth with those that go down into the grave.

¹⁹ Because thou art so beautiful, go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.

²⁰ They shall fall in the midst of those that are slain by the sword; he is delivered to the sword; bring him and all his peoples.

²¹ The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those that help him: they are gone down; they lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

²² Asshur is there and all his company; his graves are about him; all of them slain, fallen by the sword:

²³ whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and his company is round about his grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴ There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the lowest parts of the earth because they spread their terror in the land of the living; yet they have borne their shame with those that go down to the grave.

²⁵ They have set him a bed in the midst of the slain with all his multitude: his graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword because they spread their terror in the land of the living, yet they have borne their shame with those that go down to the pit; he was put in the midst of the dead.

²⁶ There is Meshech, Tubal, and all his multitude; his graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword because they had caused their terror in the land of the living.

²⁷ And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their sins shall be upon their bones because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

²⁸ Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and shalt lie with those that are slain with the sword.

²⁹ There is Edom, his kings, and all his princes, which with their might are laid with those that were slain by the sword; they shall lie with the uncircumcised and with those that go down to the pit.

³⁰ There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who are gone down with the slain with their terror, ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with those that are slain by the sword and bear their shame with those that go down to the pit.

³¹ Pharaoh shall see them and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, said the Lord GOD.

³² Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, he shall also lay in the midst of the uncircumcised with those that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, said the Lord GOD.

33 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring a sword upon the land and the people of the land take a man from within their borders and set him up as a watchman;

³ and he should see the sword coming upon the land, if he should blow the shofar, and warn the people,

⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the shofar and does not take warning; and the coming of the sword should take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

⁵ He heard the sound of the shofar and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul.

⁶ But if the watchman should see the sword coming and not blow the shofar and the people not be warned, if the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away because of his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.

⁷ So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me.

⁸ When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die for his sin; but I will require his blood at thine hand.

⁹ Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he does not turn from his way, he shall die for his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

¹⁰ ¶ Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel: Ye speak thus, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are consumed because of them. How should we then live?

¹¹ Say unto them, As I live, said the Lord GOD, I do not desire the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and that he live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

¹² And thou, son of man, say unto the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him the day that he rebels; and the wickedness of the wicked shall not impede him in the day that he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness in the day that he sins.

¹³ When I am saying to the righteous, Thou shalt shall surely live and he trusting in his own righteousness commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.

¹⁴ And, when I am saying unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turns from his sin, and does judgment and righteousness

¹⁵ if the wicked restores the pledge, returns that which he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity he shall surely live; he shall not die.

¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him. Has he lived according to judgment and righteousness? He shall surely live.

¹⁷ Then the sons of thy people shall say, The way of the Lord is not straight: but their way is the one that is not straight.

¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die thereby.

¹⁹ And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does judgment and righteousness, he shall live thereby.

²⁰ Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not straight. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you each one after his ways.

²¹ ¶ And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.

²² Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening before he that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and he opened my mouth, and I was never dumb again.

²³ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, those that inhabit these wastes in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he possessed the land; but we are many; the land is given us for a possession.

²⁵ Therefore say unto them, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Ye eat with the blood and lift up your eyes toward your idols and shed blood, and shall ye possess this land?

²⁶ Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile each one his neighbour’s wife, and shall ye possess the land?

²⁷ Thou shalt speak unto them like this, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; As I live, surely those that are in those wastes shall fall by the sword, and he that is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those that are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

²⁸ For I will make the land into desert and solitude, and the pride of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that no one shall pass through.

²⁹ Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land into solitude and desert because of all their abominations which they have committed.

³⁰ ¶ And thou, son of man, the sons of thy people are still talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses and speak one to another, each one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.

³¹ And they shall come unto thee as the people come, and they shall be before thee, my people, and they shall hear thy words, but they shall not do them; for with their mouth they flatter, but their heart goes after their covetousness.

³² And, behold, thou art unto them as a singer of love songs, one that has a good voice and can sing well: and they shall hear thy words, but they will not do them.

³³ But when this comes to pass (behold, it comes), then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.