Ezekiel 29

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

In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 Son of man, let your face be turned against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and be a prophet against him and against all Egypt:

Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt:

3 Say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great river-beast stretched out among his Nile streams, who has said, The Nile is mine, and I have made it for myself.

Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself.

4 And I will put hooks in your mouth, and the fish of your streams will be hanging from your skin; and I will make you come up out of your streams, with all the fish of your streams hanging from your skin.

But I will put a bridle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales.

5 And I will let you be in the waste land, you and all the fish of your streams: you will go down on the face of the land; you will not be taken up or put to rest in the earth; I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven.

And I will cast thee forth into the desert, and all the fish of thy river: thou shalt fall upon the face of the earth, thou shalt not be taken up, nor gathered together: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air.

6 And it will be clear to all the people of Egypt that I am the Lord, because you have been a false support to the children of Israel.

And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord: because thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Israel.

7 When they took a grip of you in their hands, you were crushed so that their arms were broken: and when they put their weight on you for support, you were broken and all their muscles gave way.

When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and rent all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brokest, and weakenest all their loins.

8 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am sending a sword on you, cutting off from you man and beast.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring the sword upon thee: and cut off man and beast out of thee.

9 And the land of Egypt will be an unpeopled waste; and they will be certain that I am the Lord: because he has said, The Nile is mine, and I made it.

And the land of Egypt shall become a desert, and a wilderness: and they shall know that I am the Lord: because thou hast said: The river is mine, and I made it.

10 See, then, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an unpeopled waste, from Migdol to Syene, even as far as the edge of Ethiopia.

Therefore, behold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, and wasted by the sword, from the tower of Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia.

11 No foot of man will go through it and no foot of beast, and it will be unpeopled for forty years.

The foot of man shall not pass through it, neither shall the foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be inhabited during forty years.

12 I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the countries which are made waste, and her towns will be unpeopled among the towns which have been made waste, for forty years: and I will send the Egyptians in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries.

And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof in the midst of the cities that are destroyed, and they shall be desolate for forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13 For this is what the Lord has said: At the end of forty years I will get the Egyptians together from the peoples where they have gone in flight:

For thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they had been scattered.

14 I will let the fate of Egypt be changed, and will make them come back into the land of Pathros, into the land from which they came; and there they will be an unimportant kingdom.

And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will place them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their nativity, and they shall be there a low kingdom:

15 It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and never again will it be lifted up over the nations: I will make them small, so that they may not have rule over the nations.

It shall be the lowest among other kingdoms, and it shall no more be exalted over the nations, and I will diminish them that they shall rule no more over the nations.

16 And Egypt will no longer be the hope of the children of Israel, causing sin to come to mind when their eyes are turned to them: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

And they shall be no more a confidence to the house of Israel, teaching iniquity, that they may flee, and follow them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

17 Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made his army do hard work against Tyre, and the hair came off every head and every arm was rubbed smooth: but he and his army got no payment out of Tyre for the hard work which he had done against it.

Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath made his army to undergo hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: and there hath been no reward given him, nor his army for Tyre, for the service that he rendered me against it.

19 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon: he will take away her wealth, and take her goods by force and everything which is there; and this will be the payment for his army.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will set Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon in the land of Egypt: and he shall take her multitude, and take the booty thereof for a prey, and rifle the spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army.

20 I have given him the land of Egypt as the reward for his hard work, because they were working for me, says the Lord.

And for the service that he hath done me against it: I have given him the land of Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the Lord God.

21 In that day I will make a horn put out buds for the children of Israel, and I will let your words come freely among them, and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord.