Jezekiel 29

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

2 Son of man, set your face against Pharao king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against the whole of Egypt:

3 and say, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I am against Pharao, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, that says, The rivers are mine, and I made them.

4 And I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your river to stick to your sides, and I will bring you up out of the midst of your river:

5 and I will quickly cast down you and all the fish of your river: you shall fall on the face of the plain, and shall by no means be gathered, and shall not be brought together: I have given you for food to the wild beasts of the earth and to the fowls of the sky.

6 And all the dwellers in Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

7 When they took hold of you with their hand, you did break: and when every hand was clapped against them, and when they leaned on you, you were utterly broken, and did crush the loins of them all.

8 Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast;

9 and the land of Egypt shall be ruined and desert; and they shall know that I am the Lord; because you say, The rivers are mine, and I made them.

10 Therefore, behold, I am against you, and against all your rivers, and I will give up the land of Egypt to desolation, and the sword, and destruction, from Magdol and Syene even to the borders of the Ethiopians.

11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it, and it shall not be inhabited for forty years.

12 And I will cause her land to be utterly destroyed in the midst of a land that is desolate, and her cities shall be [desolate] forty years in the midst of cities that are desolate: and I will disperse Egypt amongst the nations, and will utterly scatter them into the countries.

13 Thus says the Lord; After forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations amongst whom they have been scattered;

14 and I will turn the captivity of the Egyptians, and will cause them to dwell in the land of Phathore, in the land whence they were taken;

15 and it shall be a base kingdom beyond all [other] kingdoms; it shall not any more be exalted over the nations; and I will make them few in number, that they may not be [great] amongst the nations.

16 And they shall no more be to the house of Israel a confidence bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they follow after them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, on the first [day] of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head was bald, and every shoulder peeled; yet there was no reward to him or to his army [serving] against Tyre, nor for the service wherewith they served against it.

19 Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I [will] give to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he shall take the plunder thereof, and seize the spoils thereof; and [it] shall be a reward for his army.

20 In return for his service wherewith he served against Tyre, I have given him the land of Egypt; thus says the Lord God:

21 In that day shall a horn spring forth for all the house of Israel, and I will give you an open mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.