Ezekiel 29
The Lord declares judgment against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, calling him a great dragon who claims the river as his own. The Lord will cast Pharaoh into the desert, along with the fish of his rivers, and give him to the beasts of the earth and birds of the air to be devoured. Egypt will be desolate for 40 years, and its people will be scattered among the nations, only to be gathered again and returned to their land as a lowly kingdom. The Lord will also give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, as wages for his service against Tyre.
1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying2"Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you shall prophesy about him and about all of Egypt3Speak, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, you great dragon, who rests in the midst of your rivers. And you say: ‘Mine is the river, and I have made myself.4But I will place a bridle in your jaws. And I will adhere the fish of your rivers to your scales. And I will draw you out of the midst of your rivers, and all your fish will adhere to your scales5And I will cast you into the desert, with all the fish of your river. You will fall upon the surface of the earth; you will not be taken up, nor gathered together. I have given you to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the air, to be devoured6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord. For you have been a staff made of reed to the house of Israel7When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke, and so you wounded all of their shoulders. And when they leaned on you, you shattered, and so you injured all of their lower backs8Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lead the sword over you, and I will destroy both man and beast from among you9And the land of Egypt will be a desert and a wilderness. And they shall know that I am the Lord. For you have said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it.10Therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. And I will make the land of Egypt into a wilderness, destroyed by the sword from the tower of Syene all the way to the borders of Ethiopia11The foot of man will not pass through it, and the foot of cattle will not walk in it. And it will be uninhabited for forty years12And I will set the land of Egypt in desolation, in the midst of desolate lands, and its cities in the midst of overturned cites. And they will be desolate for forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and I will disperse them among the lands13For thus says the Lord God: After the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they had been scattered14And I will lead back the captivity of Egypt, and I will collect them in the land of Pathros, in the land of their nativity. And in that place, they will be a lowly kingdom15It will be the lowest among the other kingdoms, and it will no longer be exalted above the nations. And I will diminish them, lest they rule over the Gentiles16And they will no longer be the confidence of the house of Israel, teaching iniquity, so that they may flee and follow them. And they shall know that I am the Lord God.17And it happened that, in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying18"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has caused his army to serve with great servility against Tyre. Every head was shaven, and every shoulder was stripped of hair. And wages have not been paid to him, nor to his army, for Tyre, for the service by which he served for me against it19Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will station Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in the land of Egypt. And he will take its multitude, and he will prey upon its profits, and he will plunder its spoils. And this shall be the wages for his arm20and for the work by which he has served against it. I have given to him the land of Egypt, because he has labored for me, says the Lord God21In that day, a horn will spring forth for the house of Israel, and I will give to you an open mouth in their midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
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