1A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 2“Son of man, prophesy. Say, ‘The Lord and King says,
“ ‘ “Cry out,
‘A terrible day is coming!’
3The day is near.
The day of the Lord is coming.
It will be a cloudy day.
The nations have been sentenced to die.
4I will send Nebuchadnezzar’s sword against Egypt.
Cush will suffer terribly.
Many will die in Egypt.
Then its wealth will be carried away.
Its foundations will be torn down.
5The people of Cush, Libya, Lydia, Kub and the whole land of Arabia will be killed by swords. So will the Jews who live in Egypt. They went there from the covenant land of Israel. And the Egyptians will die too.” ’ ”
6The Lord says,
“Those who were going to help Egypt will die.
The strength Egypt was so proud of will fail.
Its people will be killed by swords
from Migdol all the way to Aswan,”
announces the Lord and King.
7“Egypt will be more empty than any other land.
Its cities will be completely destroyed.
8I will set Egypt on fire.
All those who came to help it will be crushed.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
9“At that time I will send messengers out in ships. They will terrify the people of Cush who are so contented. Cush will suffer greatly when Egypt falls. And you can be sure it will fall.”
10The Lord and King says,
“I will put an end to the huge armies of Egypt.
I will use Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to do this.
11He and his armies will attack the land and destroy it.
They will not show its people any pity at all.
They will use their swords against Egypt.
They will fill the land with dead bodies.
12I will dry up the waters of the Nile River.
I will sell the land to an evil nation.
I will use the power of outsiders
to destroy the land and everything in it.
I have spoken. I am the Lord.”
13The Lord and King says,
“I will destroy the statues of Egypt’s gods.
I will put an end to the gods
the people in Memphis worship.
Egypt will not have princes anymore.
I will spread fear all through the land.
14I will completely destroy Upper Egypt.
I will set Zoan on fire.
I will punish Thebes.
15I will pour out my burning anger on Pelusium.
It is a fort in eastern Egypt.
I will wipe out the huge army of Thebes.
16I will set Egypt on fire.
Pelusium will groan with terrible pain.
Thebes will be ripped apart.
Memphis will suffer greatly
because of everything that happens.
17The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis
will be killed by swords.
Their people will be taken away as prisoners.
18I will break Egypt’s power over other lands.
That will be a dark day for Tahpanhes.
There the strength Egypt was so proud of
will come to an end.
Egypt will be covered with clouds.
The people in its villages
will be taken away as prisoners.
19So I will punish Egypt.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
20It was the 11th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the seventh day of the first month, a message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 21“Son of man, I have broken the powerful arm of Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. No bandages have been put on his arm to heal it. It has not been put in a cast. So his arm will not be strong enough to use a sword. 22I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. I will break both his arms. I will break his healthy arm and his broken one. His sword will fall from his hand. 23I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. I will send them to other countries. 24I will make the arms of the king of Babylon stronger. I will put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh. And he will groan in front of Nebuchadnezzar. He will cry out like someone dying from his wounds. 25I will make the arms of the king of Babylon stronger. But the arms of Pharaoh will not be able to help Egypt. I will put my sword in Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. He will get ready to use it against Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord. 26I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. I will send them to other countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! 3For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 4And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.30.4 pain: or, fear 5Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.30.5 Libya: Heb. Phut30.5 men: Heb. children 6Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.30.6 from…: or, from Migdol to Syene 7And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.30.8 destroyed: Heb. broken 9In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. 10Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.30.12 dry: Heb. drought30.12 all…: Heb. the fulness thereof 13Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.30.14 Zoan: or, Tanis 15And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.30.15 Sin: or, Pelusium 16And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. 17The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.30.17 Aven: or, Heliopolis30.17 Pi-beseth: or, Pubastum 18At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.30.18 darkened: or, restrained 19Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
20¶ And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. 26And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
