Ezekiel 29:2-20

2“Son of man, set your face against 1Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all 2Egypt. 3Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord 3God, “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great 45monster that lies in the midst of his 6rivers, That 7has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’4I will put 8hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your 9rivers cling to your scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your 10rivers, And all the fish of your 11rivers will cling to your scales.5I will 12abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your 13rivers; You will fall on the 14open field; you will not be brought together or 1516gathered. I have given you for 17food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the Lord, Because they have been only a 18staff made of reed to the house of Israel.7When they took hold of you with the hand, You 19broke and tore all their 20hands; And when they leaned on you, You broke and made all their loins 21quake.”

8‘Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will 22bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast. 9The 23land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because 24you 25said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’ 10therefore, behold, I am 26against you and against your 27rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of 28Ethiopia. 11A man’s foot will 29not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. 12So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the 30midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will 31scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”

13‘For thus says the Lord God, “At the end of forty years I will 32gather the Egyptians from the peoples 33among whom they were scattered. 14I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of 34Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom. 15It will be the 35lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not 36rule over the nations. 16And it will never again be the 37confidence of the house of Israel, 3839bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned 40to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”’”

17Now in the 41twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, 18“Son of man, 42Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor 43hard against Tyre; every head was made 44bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had 45performed against it.” 19Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I 46will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her 4748wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he 4950performed, because they acted for Me,” declares the Lord God.