Ezekiel 29

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

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

3 Speak and say, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I will be against thee, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great crocodile that lieth in the midst of his streams, who hath said, Mine is my stream, and I have made it for myself.

4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will fasten the fish of thy streams on thy scales; and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy streams, with all the fish of thy streams which shall stick fast on thy scales.

5 And I will cast thee out into the wilderness, thee with all the fish of thy streams; upon the open field shalt thou fall; thou shalt not be brought in, nor gathered up: to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven have I given thee for food.

6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord; because they have been a reed-staff to the house of Israel.

7 When they took hold of thee with the hand, thou wast cracked, and didst rend for them all the shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou wast broken, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.

8 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and I will cut off out of thee man and beast.

9 And the land of Egypt shall be changed into a waste and ruin, and they shall know that I am the Lord; because he hath said, The stream is mine, and I have made it.

10 Therefore, behold, I will be against thee, and against thy streams, and I will render the land of Egypt a mass of ruins, a waste, and a wilderness, from Migdol to Seveneh even up to the border of Ethiopia.

11 There shall not pass through it the foot of man, and the foot of beast shall not pass through it, and it shall not be inhabited forty years.

12 And I will render the land of Egypt a desolate land in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities among the cities that are ruined shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13 For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, [only] at the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they shall have been scattered;

14 And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their own origin: and they shall be there an unimportant kingdom.

15 Among the kingdoms it shall be the lowest; neither shall it raise itself any more above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

16 And it shall be no more unto the house of Israel for a dependence, bringing [their] iniquity to remembrance, when they turned after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Eternal.

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

18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath caused his army to perform a great service against Tyre; every head hath been made bald, and every shoulder hath been rubbed sore: yet no reward hath come to him or to his army from Tyre, for the service that he hath performed against it.

19 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I will give unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon the land of Egypt; and he shall carry away its multitude, and take its spoil, and plunder its prey: and this shall be the reward for his army.

20 As his recompense for that which he hath served against it, have I given him the land of Egypt, for that which they had done against me, saith the Lord Eternal.

21 On that day will I cause to grow a horn for the house of Israel, and unto thee will I open the mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord.