A Lament for Egypt
30 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: 2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God:
Howl,
“Woe to the day!”
3 For the day is near,
even the day of the Lord is near,
a cloudy day,
it shall be the time of doom for the nations.
4 The sword shall come upon Egypt,
and great pain shall be in Ethiopia,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
they take away her wealth,
and her foundations are broken down.
5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, all Arabia, Kub, and the men of the land that is in league shall fall with them by the sword.
6 Thus says the Lord:
Indeed, those who uphold Egypt shall fall,
and the pride of her power shall come down.
From Migdol to Syene
they shall fall in her by the sword,
says the Lord God.
7 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.
8 They shall know that I am the Lord
when I have set a fire in Egypt
and when all her helpers are destroyed.
9 In that day messengers shall 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 it is coming!
10 Thus says the Lord God:
I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He 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.
12 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 in it,
by the hand of strangers.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
13 Thus says the Lord God:
I will also destroy the idols,
and I will cause their images to cease from Memphis;
and no more shall there be a prince of the land of Egypt.
And I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14 I will make Pathros desolate,
and will set fire in Zoan,
and will execute judgments in Thebes.
15 I will pour out My fury upon Pelusium,
the strength of Egypt;
and I will cut off the multitude of Thebes.
16 I will set fire in Egypt;
Pelusium shall have great pain,
and Thebes shall be rent asunder,
and Memphis shall have distresses daily.
17 The young men of Heliopolis and of Bubastis
shall fall by the sword,
and the women shall go into captivity.
18 In Tahpanhes also the day shall be darkened,
when I 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.
19 Thus I will execute judgments in Egypt,
and they shall know that I am the Lord.
A Prophecy Against Pharaoh
20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And it has not been bound up to be healed or wrapped with a bandage to make it strong to hold the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong and the broken. And I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries. 24 For 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 so that he groans before him with the groanings of a wounded man. 25 So I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down. 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 upon the land of Egypt. 26 When I scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries, then they shall know that I am the Lord.