September 16
Ezekiel 29:1 — 31:18

29 In the tenth year, in the tenth [month], on the twelfth [day] of the month, the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh the king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against Egypt in its entirety. 3 Speak, and you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Here I am against you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great sea monster lying stretched out in the midst of his Nile canals, that has said, ‘My Nile River belongs to me, and I—I have made [it] for myself.’ 4 And I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your Nile canals to cling to your scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your Nile canals and all the fish of your Nile canals that cling to your very scales. 5 And I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your Nile canals. Upon the surface of the field you will fall. You will not be gathered up nor be collected together. To the wild beasts of the earth and to the flying creatures of the heavens I will give you for food. 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt will have to know that I am Jehovah, for the reason that they proved to be, as a support, a reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of you by the hand, you got to be crushed, and you caused a split in their entire shoulder. And when they supported themselves upon you, you got to be broken, and you caused all their hips to wobble.”

8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Here I am bringing upon you a sword, and I will cut off from you earthling man and domestic animal. 9 And the land of Egypt must become a desolate waste and a devastated place; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah, for the reason that he has said, ‘To me the Nile River belongs, and I myself have made [it].’ 10 Therefore here I am against you and against your Nile canals, and I will make the land of Egypt devastated places, dryness, a desolated waste, from Migdol to Syene and to the boundary of Ethiopia. 11 There will not pass through it the foot of earthling man, nor will the foot of domestic animal pass through it, and for forty years it will not be inhabited. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolate waste in the midst of desolated lands; and its own cities will become a desolate waste in the very midst of devastated cities for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”

13 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “At the end of forty years I shall collect the Egyptians together out of the peoples among whom they will have been scattered, 14 and I will bring back the captive group of the Egyptians; and I will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they must become a lowly kingdom. 15 Lower than the [other] kingdoms it will become, and it will no more lift itself up over the [other] nations, and I will make them so few as not to have the [other] nations in subjection. 16 And it will no more prove to be the house of Israel’s confidence, bringing error to remembrance by their turning after them. And they will have to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”’”

17 Now it came about in the twenty-seventh year, in the first [month], on the first [day] of the month, that the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar himself, the king of Babylon, made his military force perform a great service against Tyre. Every head was one made bald, and every shoulder was one rubbed bare. But as for wages, there proved to be none for him and his military force from Tyre for the service that he had performed against her.

19 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am giving to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he must carry off its wealth and make a big spoil of it and do a great deal of plundering of it; and it must become wages for his military force.’

20 “‘As his compensation for service that he did against her I have given him the land of Egypt, because they acted for me,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

21 “In that day I shall cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and to you I shall give occasion to open the mouth in the midst of them; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.”

30 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Howl, YOU people, ‘Alas for the day!’ 3 for a day is near, yes, a day belonging to Jehovah is near. A day of clouds, an appointed time of nations it will prove to be. 4 And a sword will certainly come into Egypt, and severe pains must occur in Ethiopia when one falls slain in Egypt and they actually take its wealth and its foundations are actually torn down. 5 Ethiopia and Put and Lud and all the mixed company and Chub and the sons of the land of the covenant—with them they will fall by the very sword.”’

6 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘The supporters of Egypt must also fall, and the pride of its strength must come down.’

“‘From Migdol to Syene they will fall in it even by the sword,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. 7 ‘They must also be made desolate in the midst of desolated lands, and its own cities will come to be right in the midst of devastated cities. 8 And they will have to know that I am Jehovah when I set a fire in Egypt and all its helpers are actually broken. 9 In that day messengers will go forth from before me in the ships, in order to drive self-confident Ethiopia into trembling. And severe pains must occur among them in the day of Egypt, for, look! it must come.’

10 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘I will also cause the crowd of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the tyrants of [the] nations, are being brought in to reduce the land to ruin. And they must draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. 12 And I will make the Nile canals dry ground and will sell the land into the hand of bad men, and I will cause the land and its fullness to be desolated by the hand of strangers. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken.’

13 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘I will also destroy the dungy idols and cause the valueless gods to cease out of Noph, and there will no more prove to be a chieftain out of the land of Egypt; and I shall certainly put fear in the land of Egypt. 14 And I will bring Pathros to desolation and set a fire in Zoan and execute acts of judgment in No. 15 And I will pour out my rage upon Sin, the fortress of Egypt, and cut off the crowd of No. 16 And I will set a fire in Egypt. Sin will without fail be in severe pains, and No itself will come to be for capture by breaches; and as regards Noph—there will be adversaries during the daytime! 17 As for the young men of On and Pibeseth, by the sword they will fall, and into captivity the [cities] themselves will go. 18 And in Tehaphnehes the day will actually grow dark, when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt. And in her the pride of her strength will actually be made to cease. As for her, clouds themselves will cover her, and into captivity her own dependent towns will go. 19 And I will execute acts of judgment in Egypt; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”

20 And it occurred further that in the eleventh year, in the first [month], on the seventh [day] of the month, the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying: 21 “Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh the king of Egypt I shall certainly break, and, look! it will not be bound up at all in order to give [it] healing by putting a bandage on for binding it up, for it to become strong to take hold of the sword.”

22 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am against Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong one and the broken one, and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and give my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and as a deadly wounded one he will certainly do a great deal of groaning before him. 25 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the very arms of Pharaoh will fall; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah when I give my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he actually extends it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”

31 And it occurred further that in the eleventh year, in the third [month], on the first [day] of the month, the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his crowd,

“‘Whom have you come to resemble in your greatness? 3 Look! An Assyrian, a cedar in Lebanon, pretty in bough, with a woody thicket offering shadow, and high in stature, so that among the clouds its treetop proved to be. 4 Waters were what made it get big; the watery deep caused it to grow high. With its streams it was going all around its planting place; and its channels it sent forth to all the trees of the field. 5 That is why it grew higher in its stature than all the [other] trees of the field.

“‘And its boughs kept multiplying, and its branches continued getting longer because of much water in its watercourses. 6 On its boughs all the flying creatures of the heavens made their nests, and under its branches all the wild beasts of the field gave birth, and in its shade all the populous nations would dwell. 7 And it came to be pretty in its greatness, in the length of its foliage, for its root system proved to be over many waters. 8 [Other] cedars were no match for it in the garden of God. As for juniper trees, they bore no resemblance as respects its boughs. And plane trees themselves did not prove to be like it in branches. No [other] tree in the garden of God resembled it in its prettiness. 9 Pretty is the way that I made it in the abundance of its foliage, and all the [other] trees of Eden that were in the garden of the [true] God kept envying it.’

10 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you became high in stature, so that it put its treetop even among the clouds and its heart became exalted because of its height, 11 I shall also give it into the hand of the despot of [the] nations. Without fail he will act against it. According to its wickedness I will drive it out. 12 And strangers, the tyrants of [the] nations, will cut it down, and people will abandon it upon the mountains; and in all the valleys its foliage will certainly fall, and its branches will be broken among all the streambeds of the earth. And out from its shade all the peoples of the earth will come down and abandon it. 13 Upon its fallen trunk all the flying creatures of the heavens will reside, and upon its branches there will certainly come to be all the wild beasts of the field; 14 to the end that none of the watered trees may become high in their stature, or put their treetops even among the clouds, and that none drinking water may stand up against them in their height, for they will certainly all of them be given to death, to the land down below, in the midst of the sons of mankind, to those going down into the pit.’

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘On the day of its going down to Sheol I shall certainly cause a mourning. On its account I will cover the watery deep, that I may hold back its streams and [that] the many waters may be restrained; and on its account I shall darken Lebanon, and on its account the trees of the field will all swoon away. 16 At the sound of its downfall I shall certainly cause nations to rock when I bring it down to Sheol with those going down into the pit, and in the land down below all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all those drinking water, will be comforted. 17 With him they themselves also have gone down to Sheol, to those slain by the sword, and those who as his seed have dwelt in his shadow in the midst of nations.’

18 “‘Whom have you come to resemble thus in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? But you will certainly be brought down with the trees of Eden to the land down below. In the midst of the uncircumcised ones you will lie down with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his crowd,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”