Ezekiel 29

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

2"Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

3Speak and say: Thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon lying in the midst of his rivers, who has said, 'My river is mine, and I have made it for myself.' 4I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales. I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales. 5I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field; you will not be gathered or buried. I have given you as food to the beasts of the land and to the birds of the heavens. 6All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the LORD, because they have been 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 upon you, you broke and made all their loins to shake."

8Therefore thus says the LORD GOD: "Behold, I will bring a sword against you, and I will cut off from you human and animal. 9The land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD, because you have said, 'The river is mine, and I have made it.'

10Therefore behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11No foot of human will pass through it, nor foot of animal will pass through it; and it will not be inhabited for forty years. 12I will make the land of Egypt desolate among desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation among wasted cities for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries."

13For thus says the LORD GOD: "At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom. 15It will be the lowest of the kingdoms; it will never again lift itself up above the nations. I will make them small so that they shall never again rule over the nations. 16It will never again be a source of confidence for the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance when they turn to them, and they will know that I am the LORD GOD."

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

18"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder rubbed bare. Yet he had no wages from Tyre to give to him or his army for the labor he had performed against it.

19Therefore thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, take her spoil, and seize her plunder; it will be wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the LORD GOD.

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