Chapter 30
1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Wail, ‘Alas for that day!’ 3For the day is near, the Day of the LORD is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. 4A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down. 5Cush, Put, and Lud, and all the various peoples, as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land, will fall with Egypt by the sword. 6For this is what the LORD says: The allies of Egypt will fall, and her proud strength will collapse. From Migdol to Syene they will fall by the sword within her, declares the Lord GOD. 7They will be desolate among desolate lands, and their cities will lie among ruined cities. 8Then they will know that I am the LORD when I set fire to Egypt and all her helpers are shattered. 9On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom. For it is indeed coming. 10This is what the Lord GOD says: I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. 12I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken. 13This is what the Lord GOD says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill fear in that land. 14I will lay waste Pathros, set fire to Zoan, and execute judgment on Thebes. 15I will pour out My wrath on Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the crowds of Thebes. 16I will set fire to Egypt, Pelusium will writhe in anguish, Thebes will be split open, and Memphis will face daily distress. 17The young men of On and Pi-beseth will fall by the sword, and those cities will go into captivity. 18The day will be darkened in Tahpanhes when I break the yoke of Egypt and her proud strength comes to an end. A cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity. 19So I will execute judgment on Egypt, and they will know that I am the LORD.” 20In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 21“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword. 22Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken, and will make the sword fall from his hand. 23I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. 24I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, who will groan before him like a mortally wounded man. 25I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king, and he wields it against the land of Egypt. 26I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
Chapter 31
1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: ‘Who can be compared to your greatness? 3Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds. 4The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field. 5Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the field. Its branches multiplied, and its boughs grew long as it spread them out because of the abundant waters. 6All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade. 7It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant waters. 8The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty. 9I made it beautiful with its many branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God.’ 10Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height, 11I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it. 12Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it. 13All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs. 14This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’ 15This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below. 17They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations. 18Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’ ”