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The Message Against Egypt
29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of exile,[a] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 2 “Son of man,[b] look toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Speak for me against him and Egypt. 3 Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
“‘I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
You are the great monster[c] lying beside the Nile River.
You say, “This is my river!
I made this river!”
4-5 “‘But I will put hooks in your jaws.
The fish in the Nile River will stick to your scales.
I will pull you and your fish up
out of your rivers and onto the dry land.
You will fall on the ground,
and no one will pick you up or bury you.
I will give you to the wild animals and birds.
You will be their food.
6 Then all the people living in Egypt
will know that I am the Lord!
“‘Why will I do these things?
Because the people of Israel leaned on Egypt for support,
but Egypt was only a weak blade of grass.
7 The people of Israel leaned on Egypt for support,
but Egypt only pierced their hands and shoulder.
They leaned on you for support,
but you broke and twisted their back.’”
8 So this is what the Lord God says:
“I will bring a sword against you.
I will destroy all your people and animals.
9 Egypt will be empty and destroyed.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
God said, “Why will I do these things? Because you said, ‘This is my river. I made this river.’ 10 So I am against you. I am against the many branches of your Nile River. I will destroy Egypt completely. The cities will be empty from Migdol to Aswan and as far as the border of Ethiopia. 11 No person or animal will pass through Egypt. Nothing will pass through or settle there for 40 years. 12 I will destroy Egypt. The cities will be in ruins for 40 years! I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. I will make them strangers[d] in foreign lands.”
13 This is what the Lord God says: “I will scatter the people of Egypt among many nations. But at the end of 40 years, I will gather those people together again. 14 I will bring back the Egyptian captives. I will bring back the Egyptians to the land of Pathros, to the land where they were born. But their kingdom will not be important. 15 It will be the least important kingdom. It will never again lift itself above the other nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. 16 And the family of Israel will never again depend on Egypt. The Israelites will remember their sin—they will remember that they turned to Egypt for help and not to God, and they will know that I am the Lord God.”
Babylon Will Get Egypt
17 On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year of exile,[e] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army fight hard against Tyre. They shaved every soldier’s head. Every shoulder was rubbed bare from carrying heavy loads. Nebuchadnezzar and his army worked hard to defeat Tyre, but they got nothing from all that hard work.” 19 So this is what the Lord God says: “I will give Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will carry away the people. He will take the many valuable things in Egypt to pay his army. 20 I will give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as a reward for the hard work he did for me.” This is what the Lord God said!
21 “On that day I will make the family of Israel strong. So Ezekiel, I will let you speak to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
The Army of Babylon Will Attack Egypt
30 The word of the Lord came to me again. He said, 2 “Son of man,[f] speak for me. Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
“‘Cry and say,
“A terrible day is coming.”
3 That day is near!
Yes, the Lord’s day for judging is near.
It will be a cloudy day,
the time for judging the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt!
People in Ethiopia will shake with fear, when Egypt falls.
The army of Babylon will take the Egyptians as prisoners.
Egypt’s foundations will be torn down.
5 “‘Many people made peace agreements with Egypt. But all those people from Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and the people of Israel[g] will be destroyed!
6 “‘This is what the Lord says:
Those who support Egypt will fall!
The pride in her power will end.
The people in Egypt will be killed in battle,
all the way from Migdol to Aswan.
This is what the Lord God said!
7 Egypt will join the other countries that were destroyed.
Its cities will be among those that are in ruins.
8 I will start a fire in Egypt,
and all her helpers will be destroyed.
Then they will know that I am the Lord!
9 “‘At that time I will send out messengers. They will go in ships to carry the bad news to Ethiopia. Ethiopia now feels safe, but the people of Ethiopia will shake with fear when Egypt is punished. That time is coming!’”
10 This is what the Lord God says:
“I will use the king of Babylon.
I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the people of Egypt.
11 Nebuchadnezzar and his people
are the most terrible of the nations,
and I will bring them to destroy Egypt.
They will pull out their swords against Egypt.
They will fill the land with dead bodies.
12 I will make the Nile River become dry land.
Then I will sell the dry land to evil people.
I will use strangers to make that land empty.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
The Idols of Egypt Will Be Destroyed
13 This is what the Lord God says:
“I will also destroy the idols in Egypt.
I will take the statues away from Memphis.
There will no longer be a leader in the land of Egypt.
I will put fear there instead.
14 I will make Pathros empty.
I will start a fire in Zoan.
I will punish Thebes.
15 I will pour out my anger against Pelusium, the fortress of Egypt!
I will destroy the people of Thebes.
16 I will start a fire in Egypt;
the city of Pelusium will ache with fear.
The soldiers will break into the city of Thebes,
and Memphis will have new troubles every day.
17 The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis[h] will die in battle,
and the women will be taken away as prisoners.
18 It will be a dark day in Tahpanhes when I break Egypt’s control.[i]
Her proud power will be finished!
A cloud will cover Egypt,
and her daughters will be taken away as prisoners.
19 So I will punish Egypt.
Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
Egypt Will Become Weak Forever
20 On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of exile,[j] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. No one will wrap his arm with a bandage. It will not heal, so his arm will not be strong enough to hold a sword.”
22 This is what the Lord God says: “I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the strong arm and the arm that is already broken. I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. 24 I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong. I will put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh will cry out in pain, the kind of cry that a dying man makes. 25 So I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“I will put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon. Then he will stretch the sword out against the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
32 Do I need to give you more examples? I don’t have enough time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 All of them had great faith. And with that faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, and God helped them in the ways he promised. With their faith some people closed the mouths of lions. 34 And some were able to stop blazing fires. Others escaped from being killed with swords. Some who were weak were made strong. They became powerful in battle and defeated other armies. 35 There were women who lost loved ones but got them back when they were raised from death. Others were tortured but refused to accept their freedom. They did this so that they could be raised from death to a better life. 36 Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were tied up and put in prison. 37 They were killed with stones. They were cut in half. They were killed with swords. The only clothes some of them had were sheepskins or goatskins. They were poor, persecuted, and treated badly by others. 38 The world was not good enough for these great people. They had to wander in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground.
39 God was pleased with all of them because of their faith. But not one of them received God’s great promise. 40 God planned something better for us. He wanted to make us perfect. Of course, he wanted those great people to be made perfect too, but not before we could all enjoy that blessing together.
We Also Should Follow Jesus’ Example
12 We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 2 We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3 Think about Jesus. He patiently endured the angry insults that sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get discouraged and stop trying.
God Is Like a Father
4 You are struggling against sin, but you have not had to give up your life for the cause. 5 You are children of God, and he speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words:
“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing,
and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6 The Lord disciplines everyone he loves;
he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” (A)
7 So accept sufferings like a father’s discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all children are disciplined by their fathers. 8 So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God. 9 We have all had fathers here on earth who corrected us with discipline. And we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life. 10 Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us so that we can be holy like him. 11 We don’t enjoy discipline when we get it. It is painful. But later, after we have learned our lesson from it, we will enjoy the peace that comes from doing what is right.
Be Careful How You Live
12 You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13 Live in the right way so that you will be saved and your weakness will not cause you to be lost.
112 [a] Praise the Lord!
Great blessings belong to those who fear and respect the Lord,
who are happy to do what he commands.
2 Their descendants will be given power on earth.
Those who do right will be greatly blessed.
3 Their family will be very rich,
and their goodness will continue forever.
4 A light shines in the dark for those who are good,
for those who are merciful, kind, and fair.
5 It is good for people to be kind and generous
and to be fair in business.
6 Such good people will never fall.
They will always be remembered.
7 They will not be afraid of bad news.
They are confident because they trust in the Lord.
8 They remain confident and without fear,
so they defeat their enemies.
9 They freely give to the poor.
Their goodness will continue forever.
They will be honored with victory.
10 The wicked become angry when they see this.
They grind their teeth in anger, but then they disappear.
They will never get what they want most.
17 As one piece of iron sharpens another, so friends keep each other sharp.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International