A Lament for Egypt

The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

⁵ Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,^c]">[c] and the people of the land that is in league,^d]">[d] shall fall with them by the sword.

⁹ “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom;^e]">[e] for, behold, it comes!

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord God:

¹³ “Thus says the Lord God:

Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon

²⁰ In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²¹ “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²² Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. ²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. ²⁵ I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel 31

Pharaoh to Be Slain

In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:

¹⁰ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it^j]">[j] towered high and set its top among the clouds,^k]">[k] and its heart was proud of its height, ¹¹ I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. ¹² Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. ¹³ On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. ¹⁴ All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,^l]">[l] and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,^m]">[m] with those who go down to the pit.

¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar^n]">[n] went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. ¹⁶ I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. ¹⁷ They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations.

¹⁸ “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”