Beginning
Pharaoh Is Warned Through Assyria’s Destruction
31 And then[a] in the eleventh[b] year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[c] to me, saying,[d] 2 “Son of man,[e] say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd,[f]
‘To whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches[g] and a forest giving shade,
and very high,[h]
and its treetop was between the clouds.
4 Waters made it great,
the deep made it grow high;
its rivers were going all around its planting area,[i]
and its channels it sent out
to all of the trees of the field.
5 Therefore it became tall,
with its height more than all of the trees of the field,
and its branches became numerous,
and its branches became long
from its sending its shoots from abundant water.[j]
6 In its branches all the birds[k] of the heaven[l] made their nest,
and under its branches all the animals[m] of the field gave birth,
and in its shadow all the many nations lived.
7 And it was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches,
for its root was toward much water.
8 Cedars in the garden of God
could not be equal to it;
fir trees[n] could not resemble its branches,
and plane trees were not even like its branches;
any tree even in the garden of God
could not resemble it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches,
and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.’”
10 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because[o] it was tall in height and it set its treetop between[p] thick clouds, and he took pride in his tallness,[q] 11 then[r] I gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he dealt thoroughly[s] with it according to its wickedness. I drove it out. 12 And strangers cut it off, the most ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all of the valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it. 13 On its fallen trunk all the birds[t] of the heaven[u] now dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches. 14 This occurred so that all of the trees with abundant water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between[v] their thick foliage,[w] and so thatall of the trees that are abundantly watered[x] will not stand up to them[y] in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given over to death, to the world below in the midst of mortals,[z] to the people going down to the grave.”[aa]
15 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “On the day of its going down to Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it with the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they had fainted because of it. 16 From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with the people going down to the grave,[ab] and so in the world below all of the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees[ac] were comforted! 17 They also went down with it to Sheol to those who died by the sword,[ad] and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.
18 To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty[ae] among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those who died by the sword.[af] That is Pharaoh and his entire[ag] crowd!”[ah] declares[ai] the Lord Yahweh.
A Lament for Pharaoh, King of Egypt
32 And then[aj] in the twelfth[ak] year, in the twelfth[al] month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[am] to me, saying,[an] 2 “Son of man,[ao] 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.
3 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.
4 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[ap] of all of the world from you.
5 And I will put your flesh on the mountains,
and I will fill the valleys with your carcass.
6 And I will water the land with your discharge from your blood
on the mountains,
and valleys will be filled from[aq] you.
7 And I will cover you at[ar] 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.
8 All[as] sources of light in the heavens,
I will make them dark over you,
and I will put[at] darkness on your land,’”
declares[au] the Lord Yahweh.
9 “And I will disturb the hearts[av] 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[aw] my brandishing my sword before their faces,
and they will tremble continually,[ax]
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[ay] many waters.
The feet of humans[az] 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[ba] 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[bb] 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[bc] the Lord Yahweh.
17 And then[bd] in the twelfth[be] year, on the fifteenth[bf] day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[bg] to me, saying,[bh] 18 “Son of man,[bi] mourn over the hordes of Egypt, and make her go down, and with her the daughters of mighty nations, down to the deep underworld[bj] with the people going down to the grave.[bk] 19 You are more lovely than whom?[bl] Go down and be laid in rest with the uncircumcised. 20 In the midst of the people slain by the sword it[bm] is given they will fall to a sword; they carried her[bn] off and all of her[bo] hordes. 21 The chiefs of the warriors will speak to him from the middle of Sheol; with his helpers they have gone down; the uncircumcised lie still, those slain by the sword.[bp]
22 Assyria is there and all of its assembly; all around it are its graves, all of them killed, those fallen by the sword, 23 who[bq] will be given its graves in the remote areas of the pit, and its assembly will be all around its grave, all of them killed, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam is there and all of its hordes, all around its grave, all of them dead who fell by the sword, those who went down uncircumcised to the depths of the underworld,[br] those who spread their terror to the land of the living, and now they bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave.[bs] 25 In the midst of the slain they made a bed for her with all of her hordes all around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror was spread in the land of the living, and they now bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave;[bt] in the midst of the slain it was placed.
26 Meshech and Tubal are there and all of its hordes, all around him its graves, all of them uncircumcised and killed by the sword, for they gave their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they do not lie with warriors fallen from long ago, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war,[bu] and they placed their sword under their heads, and their shields[bv] were on their bones, for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living. 28 And you[bw] too in the midst of uncircumcised people will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword.
29 There is Edom, its kings and all of its leaders who are laid along with their might with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with the people going down to the grave.[bx]
30 There are also the princes of the north, all of them, all of the Sidonians who have gone down, being ashamed to lie with the slain because[by] of their terror that they caused from their might, and they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and they bear their disgrace along with the people going down to the grave.[bz]
31 Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted over all of his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all of his army,” declares[ca] the Lord Yahweh. 32 “For[cb] he spread[cc] my terror in the land of the living, and so he will be laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword: Pharaoh and all of his hordes,”declares[cd] the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman and His Responsibility
33 And the word of Yahweh came[ce] to me, saying,[cf] 2 “Son of man,[cg] speak to your people,[ch] and you must say to them, ‘A land, if I bring over it a sword and the people of the land take a man, one from their number, and they appoint him for them as a watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land, and he blows on the horn and he warns the people, 4 and anyone who listens[ci] hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning[cj] and the sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his own head. 5 For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life. 6 And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow[ck] the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives,[cl] he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.’
7 “And you, son of man,[cm] I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me. 8 When I say[cn] to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak[co] to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand. 9 But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn[cp] from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.
10 “And you, son of man,[cq] say to the house of Israel, saying,[cr] ‘So you said, saying,[cs] “Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As I live,’[ct] declares[cu] the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight[cv] in the death of the wicked, except[cw] in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’
12 “So[cx] you, son of man,[cy] say to your people[cz] that the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble[da] on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. 13 When I say to the righteous, ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in[db] his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness[dc] will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. 14 And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,’ but[dd] he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness— 15 for example, the wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores stolen property,[de] he goes in the statutes of life so as not to do injustice—certainly he will live; he will not die. 16 All of his sins that he committed,[df] they will not be remembered against[dg] him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.
17 “Yet[dh] your people[di] say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ yet their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die because of it.[dj] 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it[dk] he will certainly live![dl] 20 Yet you said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each person according to his ways.”
21 And then[dm] it was in the twelfth[dn] year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying,[do] “The city was destroyed!” 22 And the hand of Yahweh was on me on the evening before[dp] the coming of the survivor, and he opened my mouth before the survivor came to me in the morning,[dq] and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer[dr] dumb.[ds] 23 And the word of Yahweh came[dt] to me, saying,[du] 24 “Son of man,[dv] the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was one man, and he took possession of the land, and we are many; the land has been given for[dw] us as a possession.’ 25 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You eat blood in your meat, and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and yet you want to take possession of the land?[dx] 26 You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and each man defiles[dy] the wife of his neighbor, and yet you want to take possession of the land?”’[dz]
27 “Thus you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “As I live,[ea] surely[eb] whoever is in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever is on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals[ec] to eat him, and whoever is in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate with no one traveling through them.”’[ed] 29 And they will know that I am Yahweh when I make my land a desolation and a wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.
30 “And you, son of man,[ee] your people,[ef] the ones talking together concerning you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, each one with his brother saying,[eg] ‘Please come and hear what is the word that is going out from Yahweh.’[eh] 31 And they come to you as people do,[ei] and they sit before you,[ej] and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing[ek] passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain. 32 Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song,[el] beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument,[em] and they hear your words, but they are not doing them.[en] 33 So[eo] when it comes,[ep] look! It is coming! And then they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them.”
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