Ezekiel
Chapter 29
1 In the tenth year, on the tenth month, on the twelfth day, God’s message came to me, saying,
2 Human, look toward Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, speak against him and all of Egypt.
3 Say this: God says, “Look, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the rivers, who claims, ‘The river is mine; I made it for myself.’”
4 I will put hooks in your jaws, make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales, pull you out from your rivers, and all the fish will stick to your scales.
5 I will abandon you in the wilderness, along with all the fish from your rivers. You will lie in the fields, not collected or gathered. I have made you food for the animals of the land and the birds in the sky.
6 Everyone in Egypt will understand that I am God, because they were like a weak stick to the people of Israel.
7 When they grabbed your hand, you snapped and tore their shoulder; when they leaned on you, you broke and caused their hips to freeze.
8 So God says: “Look, I will bring a sword against you and will wipe out both people and animals from you.”
9 Egypt will become empty and ruined; and they will understand that I am God: because he claimed, “The river is mine, and I made it.”
10 Look, I am against you and your rivers, and I will turn Egypt into complete ruins, from the tower of Syene to the border of Ethiopia.
11 No person or animal will walk through it, and no one will live there for forty years.
12 I will turn Egypt into a barren land among other barren countries, and its cities will be ruined for forty years along with other destroyed cities. I will spread the Egyptians among different nations and scatter them across various countries.
13 God says, “After forty years, I will bring the Egyptians back together from the places where they were spread out.”
14 I will end Egypt’s captivity and make them return to Pathros, their homeland; there, they will be a lowly kingdom.
15 It will become the weakest of the kingdoms; it will not rise above the nations anymore because I will make them smaller, so they won’t rule over the nations again.
16 The people of Israel will no longer rely on what makes them sin, and they will realize that I am God.
17 In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, God’s message came to me.
18 Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work hard attacking Tyre: they lost their hair and injured their shoulders, but he and his army got nothing from Tyre for their effort.
19 So God says, “Look, I will give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will take their people, their wealth, and their goods as payment for his army.”
20 I have rewarded him with the land of Egypt for his work, because they worked for me, says God.
21 On that day, I will make Israel’s power grow, and I will let you speak freely among them; then they will know that I am God.