1It was the tenth year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the 12th day of the tenth month, a message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,2‘Son of man, turn your attention to Pharaoh Hophra. He is king of Egypt. Prophesy against him and the whole land of Egypt.3Tell him, “The LORD and King says, ‘ “ ‘Pharaoh Hophra, I am against you. King of Egypt, you are like a huge monster lying among your streams. You say, “The River Nile belongs to me. I made it for myself.”4But I will put hooks in your jaws. I will make the fish in your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams. All the fish will stick to your scales.5I will leave you out in the desert. All the fish in your streams will be there with you. You will fall down in an open field. You will not be picked up. I will feed you to the wild animals and to the birds in the sky.6Then everyone who lives in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. ‘ “ ‘You have been like a walking stick made out of a papyrus stem. The people of Israel tried to lean on you.7They took hold of you. But you broke under their weight. You tore open their shoulders. The people of Israel leaned on you. But you snapped in two. And their backs were broken.’ ” ’8So the LORD and King says, ‘I will send Nebuchadnezzar’s sword against you. He will kill people and animals alike.9Egypt will become a dry and empty desert. Then your people will know that I am the LORD. ‘You said, “The River Nile belongs to me. I made it for myself.”10So I am against you and your streams. I will destroy the land of Egypt. I will turn it into a dry and empty desert from Migdol all the way to Aswan. I will destroy everything as far as the border of Cush.11No people or animals will travel through Egypt. No one will even live there for 40 years.12Egypt will be more empty than any other land. Its destroyed cities will lie empty for 40 years. I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. I will send them to other countries.’13But here is what the LORD and King says. ‘At the end of 40 years I will gather the Egyptians together. I will bring them back from the nations where they were scattered.14I will bring them back from where they were taken as prisoners. I will return them to Upper Egypt. That is where their families came from. There they will be an unimportant kingdom.15Egypt will be the least important kingdom of all. It will never place itself above the other nations again. I will make it very weak. Then it will never again rule over the nations.16The people of Israel will no longer trust in Egypt. Instead, Egypt will remind them of how they sinned when they turned to it for help. Then they will know that I am the LORD and King.’17It was the 27th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the first day of the first month, a message from the LORD came to me. Here is what the LORD said.18‘Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar drove his army in a hard military campaign. The campaign was against Tyre. Their helmets rubbed their heads bare. The heavy loads they carried made their shoulders raw. But he and his army did not gain anything from the campaign he led against Tyre.19So I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth. He will take away anything else they have. He will give it to his army.20I have given Egypt to him as a reward for his efforts. After all, he and his army attacked Egypt because I told them to,’ announces the LORD and King.21‘When Nebuchadnezzar wins the battle over Egypt, I will make the Israelites strong again. Ezekiel, I will open your mouth. And you will be able to speak to them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
Ezekiel 29
English Standard Version
Prophecy Against Egypt
1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: (Eze 20:1)2“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; (Isa 19:1; Eze 2:1; Eze 6:2; Eze 32:2)3speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ (Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Eze 13:8; Eze 29:9; Eze 32:2)4I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales; and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams, with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales. (2Ki 19:28; Eze 19:9; Eze 38:4)5And I will cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open field, and not be brought together or gathered. To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens I give you as food. (Jer 8:2; Jer 9:22; Eze 32:4)6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord. “Because you[1] have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, (2Ki 18:21; Isa 36:6; Eze 6:7)7when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.[2] (Isa 20:5; Isa 30:3; Isa 30:5; Jer 2:36; Jer 37:5; Jer 37:7; Eze 17:17)8Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, (Eze 14:17)9and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord. “Because you[3] said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ (Eze 13:8; Eze 29:3; Eze 29:6)10therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. (Eze 29:9; Eze 30:6; Eze 30:12)11No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. (Eze 32:13; Eze 35:7)12And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. (Jer 46:19; Eze 30:7; Eze 30:23; Eze 30:26)13“For thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, (Isa 19:22; Jer 46:26)14and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. (Isa 11:11; Eze 30:14; Eze 39:25)15It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. (Eze 30:13)16And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.” (Isa 30:2; Isa 36:4; Isa 36:6; La 4:17; Eze 6:7; Eze 29:6)17In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: (Eze 20:1)18“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. (Eze 2:1; Eze 26:7)19Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth[4] and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. (Jer 46:13; Eze 30:4; Eze 30:10; Eze 30:24; Eze 32:11; Eze 32:12)20I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God. (Isa 43:3)21“On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ps 132:17; Eze 6:7; Eze 16:63; Eze 24:27; Eze 33:22; Lu 1:69)