Ezekiel 29

Pharaoh and the Nile

1In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, turn your face toward Pharaoh king of Egypt. Prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3Say: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying among his Nile channels, who says, ‘My Nile is mine; I made it for myself.’ 4I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your channels cling to your scales. I will pull you up from your channels, with all their fish clinging to your scales. 5I will abandon you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your channels. You will fall in the open country, neither gathered nor collected. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. 6Then everyone living in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you have been a reed staff to the house of Israel. 7When they grasped you in their hand, you splintered and tore every shoulder. When they leaned on you, you broke and forced every back upright.

Egypt laid waste

8“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am bringing a sword against you and will cut off humans and animals from you. 9Egypt will become a desolate waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because Pharaoh said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’ 10I am against you and your Nile channels. I will make Egypt a ruined, desolate waste, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11No human foot will pass through it, nor any animal’s foot. It will be uninhabited for forty years. 12I will make Egypt desolate among desolate lands. Its cities will lie desolate among ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the lands. 13“For this is what the Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14I will restore Egypt’s fortunes and bring them back to Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them few, so they no longer rule the nations. 16Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the house of Israel, calling their guilt to mind when they turn to it. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

Payment for the army

17In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first 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 bald and every shoulder rubbed raw, yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre for the work they did against her. 19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am giving Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and take its plunder as wages for his army. 20I have given him Egypt as payment for the work he did, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD. 21“On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel. I will give you an open mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”