Ezekiel 29

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

2Son 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 sea monster lying in the midst of his Nile channels, who says, “My Nile is mine, and I made myself.”’

4I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your Nile channels cling to your scales; and I will bring you up from the midst of your Nile channels, and all the fish of your Nile channels will cling to your scales.

5I will cast you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field; you will not be gathered or collected. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens.

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

7When they took hold of you with their hand, you were crushed, and you split open every shoulder for them; and when they leaned on you, you were broken, and you made all their hips stand unsteadily.

8Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am bringing a sword against you, and I will cut off from you man and beast.

9And the land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste, and they will know that I am Yahweh, because he said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it.’

10Therefore, behold, I am against you and against your Nile channels, and I will make the land of Egypt ruins, a desolation laid waste, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.

11No human foot will pass through it, and no animal foot will pass through it; and it will not be inhabited for forty years.

12And 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; and I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them through the lands.

13For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt 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, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.

15It will be the lowliest of the kingdoms, and it will no longer exalt itself above the nations; and I will diminish them, so that they will not rule over the nations.

16And it will no longer be for the house of Israel a source of confidence, bringing iniquity to remembrance when they turn after them; then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.

17And it happened in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

18Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor greatly against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet there was no pay for him or for his army from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it.

19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its multitude, plunder its spoil, and seize its booty; and it will be wages for his army.

20As his wages for which he labored against it, I have given him the land of Egypt, 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 an opening of the mouth among them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.