Proclamation 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: 2Mortal, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; 3speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:

I am against you,

Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great dragon sprawling

in the midst of its channels,

saying, ‘My Nile is my own;

I made it for myself.’

4I will put hooks in your jaws,

and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales.

I will draw you up from your channels,

with all the fish of your channels

sticking to your scales.

5I will fling you into the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your channels;

you shall fall in the open field,

and not be gathered and buried.

To the animals of the earth and to the birds of the air

I have given you as food.

6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know

that I am the LORD

because you29.6 Gk Syr Vg: Heb they were a staff of reed

to the house of Israel;

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 legs unsteady.29.7 Syr: Heb stand

8Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you human being and animal; 9and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Because you29.9 Gk Syr Vg: Heb he said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it’, 10therefore, I am against you, and against your channels, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia.29.10 Or Nubia; Heb Cush 11No human foot shall pass through it, and no animal foot shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited for forty years. 12I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries; and her cities shall be a desolation for forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries.

13Further, thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered; 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. 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. 16The Egyptians29.16 Heb It shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel; they will recall their iniquity, when they turned to them for aid. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Babylonia Will Plunder Egypt

17In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18Mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made his army labour 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 labour that he had expended against it. 19Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I will give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he laboured, because they worked for me, says the Lord GOD.

21On that day I will cause a horn to sprout up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.