< Ezekiel 29 >
1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, came the word of Yahweh unto me, saying:
2 Son of man, Set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, And prophesy against him, and against Egypt all of it:
3 Speak, and thou shalt say— Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh Behold me! against thee O Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great Crocodile that lieth along in the midst of his rivers: Who saith— My river is, mine own, Since I myself made it me!
4 Therefore will I put hooks in thy jaws, And cause the fish of thy rivers to stick fast in thy scales, - And will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, And, all the fish of thy rivers, to thy scales, shall stick fast;
5 And I will stretch thee out towards the desert, Thee and all the fish of thy rivers, On the face of the field, shalt thou lie Thou shalt not be carried away nor shalt thou be gathered, To the wild beast of the earth and to the bird of the heavens, have I given thee for food.
6 So shall all the inhabitants of Egypt know that I, am Yahweh, Because they were a staff of reed to the house of Israel:
7 Whensoever they took hold of thee by the hand, thou didst run through, and tear open for them every hand, —And whensoever they leaned upon thee, thou didst break, and caused all their loins to halt.
8 Therefore, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, Behold me! bringing upon thee a sword, - And I will cut off out of thee, man and beast;
9 And the land of Egypt shall become an astonishment and a desolation, So shall they know that, I, am Yahweh, —Because he said— The river is mine own, Since, I, myself made it!
10 Therefore, behold me! against thee and against thy rivers, - And I will make the land of Egypt to be most desolate an astounding desolation, from Migdol to Syene even up to the boundary of Ethiopia:
11 The foot of man shall not pass through it, Nor shall the foot of beast, pass through it, Neither shall it be inhabited forty years:
12 So will I make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of lands made desolate And her cities—in the midst of cities that have been laid waste, shall become a desolation forty years, - And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, And scatter them throughout the lands.
13 For thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, — At the end of forty years, will I gather the Egyptians from among the peoples whither I had dispersed them;
14 And I will turn the captivity of the Egyptians, And will cause them to return To the land of Pathros Upon the land of their nativity, - And they shall become, there a kingdom abased:
15 More than [any of] the kingdoms, shall she be abased, And shall lift herself up no more over the nations, —Yea I will make them too small to rule over the nations.
16 So shall it become no more unto the house of Israel a security. Calling to mind iniquity, by their turning to follow them, - And they shall know that, I, am The Lord Yahweh.
17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year in the first month on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
18 Son of man Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, hath made his army undergo a long service against Tyre, Every head, hath been made bald, and, Every shoulder, worn bare, — But pay, hath he had none nor hath his army, out of Tyre, for the service wherewith he hath served against it.
19 Therefore, Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Behold me! giving to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, the land of Egypt, — And he shall carry off her multitude And capture her spoil And seize her prey, So shall she become pay for his army.
20 As a reward for his labour wherewith he hath served, have I given to him the land of Egypt, —in that they wrought for me, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh.
21 In that day, will I cause to bud a horn for the house of Israel, And to thee, will I give an opening of mouth in their midst, So shall they know that, I, am Yahweh.