- In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, which has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick unto your scales, and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers shall stick unto your scales. And I will leave you thrown into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You shall fall upon the open fields. You shall not be brought together nor gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of you by your hand, you did break and rend all their shoulder. And when they leaned upon you, you broke and made all their loins to be at a stand.
- Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you and cut off man and beast out of you. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Because he has said, The river is mine and I have made it — behold therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.
- Yet thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people to whom they were scattered, and I will bring again the captives of Egypt and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself anymore above the nations, for I will diminish them that they shall no more rule over the nations. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel which brings their iniquity to remembrance when they shall look after them, but they shall know that I am the Lord God.
- And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder was chafed, yet he had no wages, nor his army, for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor by which he served against it, because they worked for me, says the Lord God. In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the midst of them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
- The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God: Howl, Woe for the day! For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day. It shall be the time of the heathen. And 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. Ethiopia, 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.
- Thus says 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, says the Lord God. And 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. And they shall know that I am the Lord when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. In 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 behold, it comes.
- Thus says the Lord God: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 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. And 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.
- Thus says 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. And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt, and I will cut off the multitude of No. And I will set fire in Egypt. Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword, and these cities shall go into captivity. At Tahpanhes 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. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
- 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, Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and behold, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a dressing to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Therefore, thus says 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. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries. And 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 mortally wounded man. But 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. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
- And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his multitude, Who are you like in your greatness? Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore, his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelled all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches — for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him. The fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied him.
- Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have lifted up yourself in height, and he has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness, and strangers — the terrible of the nations — have cut him off and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land, and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow and have left him. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches, to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water. For they are all delivered unto death, to the depths of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
- Thus says the Lord God: In the day when he went down to the grave, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were held back. And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field withered for him. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the depths of the earth. They also went down into hell with him, unto them that are slain with the sword, and they that were his arm, that dwelled under his shadow in the midst of the heathen. To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shall you be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the depths of the earth. You shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.
- And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say unto him, You are like a young lion of the nations, and you are as a whale in the seas; and you came forth with your rivers and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers. Thus says the Lord God: I will therefore spread out my net over you with a company of many people, and they shall bring you up in my net. Then will I leave you upon the land, I will cast you forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon you; and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you. And I will lay your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your height. I will also water with your blood the land wherein you swim, even to the mountains, and the rivers shall be full of you. And when I shall put you out, I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and set darkness upon your land, says the Lord God.
- I will also vex the hearts of many people when I shall bring your destruction among the nations into the countries which you have not known. Yea, I will make many people appalled at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you when I shall brandish my sword before them. And they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.
- For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. By the swords of the mighty will I cause your multitude to fall — the terrible of the nations — all of them. And they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters, neither shall the foot of man trouble them anymore, nor the hooves of beasts trouble them. Then will I make their waters deep and cause their rivers to run like oil, says the Lord God. When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord.
- This is the lamentation with which they shall lament her. The daughters of the nations shall lament her, they shall lament for her, even for Egypt and for all her multitude, says the Lord God.
- It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the depths of the earth with them that go down into the pit. Who do you pass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword. Draw her and all her multitudes. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: They are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
- Assyria is there, and all her company. His graves are about him, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the sides of the pit; and her company is round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
- There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which have gone down uncircumcised into the depths of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living. Yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. Though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. He is put in the midst of them that are slain.
- There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude. Her graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which have gone down to hell with their weapons of war. And they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. Yea, you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and shall lie with them that are slain with the sword.
- There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword. They shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
- There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who are gone down with the slain. With their terror they are ashamed of their might, and they lie uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.
- Pharaoh shall see them and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, says the Lord God, for I have caused my terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.
Chapter 15