Chronological
Chapter 28
The Prince of Tyre. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:
Your heart has grown proud,
and thus you say, “I am a god;
I sit on a godly throne
in the heart of the seas.”
But in reality you are a man, and not a god,
even though you compare your mind
with that of a god.
3 Are you as wise as Daniel?
Is no secret hidden from you?
4 By your wisdom and your intelligence,
you have amassed great wealth for yourself.
You have deposited gold and silver
into your treasuries.
5 Because of your skill in trading,
your wealth has greatly increased;
and as a result of your riches,
your heart is filled with arrogant pride.
6 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
Because you consider your wisdom
to be equal to that of God,
7 I will bring foreigners against you,
the most barbarous of all the nations.
They will draw their swords
against the beauty of your wisdom
and defile your splendor.
8 They will hurl you down to the pit,
and you will die a violent death
in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you then still say, “I am a god,”
when your murderers confront you?
No, you are a man, not a god,
in the hands of those about to slay you.
10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners.
I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
11 This word of the Lord was then addressed to me: 12 Son of man, raise a lament for the king of Tyre and say to him: Thus says the Lord God:
At one time, you were a model of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God,
and adorned with every precious stone:
ruby, topaz, and emerald,
chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise, and jade.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created, they were made.
14 I appointed a cherub as your guardian;
you were on the holy mountain of God,
walking amid the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your behavior
from the day you were created,
until iniquity first appeared in you.
16 As a result of your abundant trade,
you became filled with violence, and you sinned.
Therefore, I cast you down in disgrace
from the mountain of God,
and the guardian cherub drove you out
from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart had grown proud
because of your beauty,
and for the sake of your splendor,
you corrupted your wisdom.
I flung you to the earth,
so great was your guilt,
and I made you a spectacle to behold
in the sight of kings.
18 Because of the immense number of your crimes
and your dishonesty in business,
you profaned our sanctuaries.
Therefore, I have brought forth fire from your midst,
and I allowed it to devour you.
I have reduced you to ashes on the ground
for everyone to behold.
19 All of the nations who knew you
were aghast at your fate.
You have come to a hideous end,
and you will be no more.
20 Against Sidon. This word of the Lord came to me: 21 Son of man, turn toward Sidon[a] and prophesy against her, and say: 22 Thus says the Lord God:
I am against you, O Sidon,
and I will show my glory in your midst.
Then people will know that I am the Lord
when I inflict punishments on her
and manifest my holiness in her.
23 For I will send a plague upon her,
and there will be bloodshed in her streets.
And the dead shall fall in her midst
by the sword raised against her from all sides;
then they will know that I am the Lord.
24 No longer will the people of Israel have to endure thorns that wound, or briars that tear from hostile neighbors who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
25 Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of all the nations, then they will live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live there in safety, building houses and planting vineyards. They will live there in security while I inflict punishments upon all their neighbors who have despised them. Thus they will know that I am the Lord, their God.
Chapter 29
Against Egypt.[b] 1 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, this word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against the whole of Egypt. 3 Speak to him and say: Thus says the Lord:
Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh,
king of Egypt,
you great crocodile
lurking in the streams of the Nile,
you who claimed, “The Nile is mine;
it is I who made it.”
4 I will put hooks through your jaws
and cause the fish of your Nile
to stick to your scales.
Then I will draw you up
from the midst of its tributaries,
with all the fish of those channels
clinging to your scales.
5 I will fling you into the desert,
you and all the fish of your tributaries.
You will fall upon the open field
and not be taken up or buried.
I will give you as food
to the animals of the earth
and the birds of the air.
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
that I am the Lord.
The support they gave the Israelites
was no greater than a staff of reed.
7 When they grasped you,
you splintered in their hands.
Whenever they leaned on you, you broke,
causing all their limbs to give way.
8 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will bring a sword against you and cut off from your presence both man and animal. 9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate waste, and the inhabitants will know that I am the Lord.
Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I was the one who made it,” 10 therefore I am against you and your tributaries. I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste, from Migdol[c] to Syene, and even beyond to the frontiers of Ethiopia. 11 No human foot shall pass through it, nor shall any animal foot do so. It shall remain uninhabited for forty years. 12 I shall make Egypt the most desolate of countries, and its cities will be the most deserted of all those that have been laid waste for forty years. Moreover, I intend to scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them over foreign lands.
13 However, thus says the Lord God: After forty years have passed, I will gather the Egyptians back from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14 I shall restore the fortunes of Egypt and resettle her people in the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they will become a lowly kingdom.
15 Egypt will be the most insignificant of kingdoms and never again will exalt itself above the nations. I will make them few in number so that it will never again rule over the nations. 16 Egypt will no longer be a nation for the house of Israel to trust in, but will rather be for Israel a reminder of its guilt when they turned to Egypt for help. Thus they will know that I am the Lord God.
17 Nebuchadnezzar’s Payment. In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, this word of the Lord came to me: 18 Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has led his army in an exhausting campaign against Tyre. Everyone’s head was rubbed bare and the skin of every shoulder was raw, yet neither he nor his army derived any profit from the campaign he led against Tyre.
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I now intend to hand over the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He shall carry off its wealth, despoil and plunder it, and amass the wages for his army. 20 As regards payment for his toil, I have given him the land of Egypt because he and his army did it for me, says the Lord God.
21 On that day, I will make a horn sprout up for the house of Israel, and I will empower you to speak out in their midst. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Chapter 30
The Lord’s Vengeance on Egypt.1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God:
Cry out, “Alas for the day!”
3 For near is the day.
The day of the Lord is near.
It will be a day of clouds,
a day of reckoning for the nations.
4 The sword will fall on Egypt,
and there will be anguish in Ethiopia
when the slain fall in Egypt,
when her riches are seized
and her foundations are destroyed.
5 Ethiopia and Put and Lud,
and all Arabia and Lybia,
and the people of the covenant land
will fall with them by the sword.
6 Thus says the Lord:
Those who support Egypt shall fall,
and her proud strength will be brought low.
From Migdol to Syene,
they shall fall by the sword,
says the Lord God.
7 They will be the most desolate of desolate lands,
and their cities will lie
in the midst of ruined cities.
8 Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I set fire to Egypt
and all her helpers are crushed.
9 On that day, I will commission messengers to hasten forth by ship at my command to strike terror into the hearts of the complacent Ethiopians, and anguish will afflict them on the day of Egypt’s destruction, which is near at hand.
10 Thus says the Lord God:
I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
11 He and his armed forces,
the most ruthless of the nations,
will be brought in to ravage the land.
They shall draw their swords against Egypt,
and the land will be covered with corpses.
12 I will dry up the channels of the Nile
and sell the land to wicked men.
By the hand of foreigners
the entire land and everything in it
will be laid waste.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
13 Thus says the Lord God:
I will destroy the idols
and put an end to the false gods in Memphis.
There will no longer be a prince in Egypt,
and I will instill terror in that land.
14 I will make Pathros a place of desolation;
I will set fire to Zoan
and inflict my punishments on Thebes.
15 I will pour forth my wrath upon Pelusium,[d]
the stronghold of Egypt,
and destroy the hordes of Thebes.
16 I will set fire to Egypt;
Syene shall writhe in agony.
Thebes shall be breached,
and its walls shall be demolished.
17 The young men of On and Pi-beseth
shall fall by the sword,
and the cities themselves
shall be taken into captivity.
18 At Tahpanhes, the day will turn into darkness
when I shatter the scepter of Egypt there,
and its proud might shall come to an end.
Egypt will be covered with a cloud,
and her villages will go into captivity.
19 These will be the punishments I inflict upon Egypt.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
20 Pharaoh’s Broken Arm. In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, this word of the Lord came to me: 21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. As you can see, it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage to make it strong enough to wield a sword.
22 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I am prepared to move against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the uninjured one and the one that was broken, and make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. 24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand. However, I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will lie wounded and groaning before him like a dying man.
25 I will strengthen even more the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon for him to wield against the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them in foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Chapter 31
Allegory of the Great Cypress. 1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, this word of the Lord was addressed to me: 2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his hordes:
What can compare in greatness with you?
3 Consider Assyria, formerly a cypress in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches and lofty in stature,
and its top above the thick foliage.
4 The waters nourished it;
deep springs caused it to grow tall;
those springs also made its rivers flow
around the place it was planted,
sending forth streams of water
to all the trees of the field.[e]
5 Therefore, it towered in height
above all other trees of the field.
Its branches grew long
because of the abundant water.
6 All the birds of the air
rested in its boughs.
Under its branches, all the wild animals of the field
gave birth to their young,
and numerous people of every race
dwelt in its shade.
7 It was beautiful and stately
in the length of its branches,
for its roots sank down
to a source of abundant water.
8 The cedars in the garden of God
could not compare with it,
nor could the fir trees equal its boughs.
No plane tree had such branches;
no tree in the garden of God
could equal its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful
with its mass of foliage;
it was the envy of all the trees in Eden
that were in the garden of God.
10 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because it grew to a towering stature, with its top reaching the clouds, and then became arrogant with pride about its height, 11 I handed it over to the prince of the nations.[f] I empowered him to deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have rejected it.
12 Foreigners from the most barbarous nations cut it down and abandoned it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and its boughs lie broken in every ravine throughout the land. All the peoples of the land fled from its shade and abandoned it.
13 On its fallen trunk
all the birds of the air rested,
and all the wild animals
sought shelter among its branches.
14 Thus, never again will any tree by the waters grow to a lofty height and stretch its top to the clouds, nor will any well-watered tree ever attain such a height.
For all of them are destined for death,
for the depths below,
along with all mortal beings
who go down to the abyss.
15 Thus says the Lord God: On the day it went down to Sheol, I closed the deep over it. I stopped its streams, and its mighty waters were held back. I cast gloom over Lebanon because of it, and all the trees of the countryside began to wither. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I hurled it down to Sheol with those who go down to the abyss. All the trees of Eden, the loveliest and the best of Lebanon, were consoled, all that were well watered. 17 Those who dwelt in its shade, its allies among the nations, went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.
18 Which among the trees of Eden was your equal in glory and greatness? Yet you have been hurled down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie in the company of the uncircumcised who have been slain by the sword. Thus, it will be for Pharaoh and all his hordes, says the Lord God.
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