Ezekiel 29

¹ In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the 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 all Egypt."

³ Speak and say: Thus says the Lord GOD:
I am against you,
Pharaoh king of Egypt—
the great monster crouching in the midst of his rivers,
who says, "My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself."

⁴ I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish of your rivers
cling to your scales.
I will haul you up from the midst of your rivers
with all the fish of your rivers
clinging to your scales.

⁵ I will fling you into the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your rivers.
You will fall on the open field
and not be gathered or collected.
To the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky
I have given you as food.

⁶ Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the LORD,
because they were a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

⁷ When they grasped you by the hand, you splintered
and tore open all their shoulders.
When they leaned on you, you broke
and made all their legs unsteady.

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
I am about to bring a sword against you
and cut off from you both human and animal.

⁹ The land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste.
Then they will know that I am the LORD.
Because he said, 'The Nile is mine, and I made it'—

¹⁰ therefore I am against you and against your rivers.
I will make the land of Egypt an utter ruin and desolation,
from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.

¹¹ No human foot will pass through it,
and no animal foot will pass through it.
It will be uninhabited for forty years.

¹² I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated lands, and her cities will be a desolation among ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the lands.

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.

¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.

¹⁵ It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.

¹⁶ It will never again be a source of confidence for the house of Israel, bringing to remembrance their iniquity of turning to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.

¹⁷ In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁸ "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder scraped raw. Yet neither he nor his army received any wages from Tyre for the labor he performed against her."

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am about to give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, take her plunder, and seize her spoil, and this will be wages for his army.

²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me—declares the Lord GOD.

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