Ezekiel - The Old Testament

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² 'Son of man, prophesy and say, "The Lord Yahweh says this: Howl: Disaster day!

³ For the day is near, the day of Yahweh is near; it will be a day dark with cloud, a time of doom for the nations.

⁴ "The sword will come on Egypt, and anguish on the country of Cush when the slaughtered fall in Egypt, when her riches are carried away and her foundations are destroyed.

⁵ Cush, Put and Lud, all Arabia, Cub and the children of the country of the covenant will fall by the sword with them.

⁶ "Yahweh says this: "The supports of Egypt will fall; the pride of her strength will crumble; they will fall by the sword from Migdol to Syene -- declares the Lord Yahweh.

⁷ "They will be the most desolate of desolate countries, and its cities the most ruined of cities.

⁸ And they will know that I am Yahweh when I set fire to Egypt and all its supports are shattered.

⁹ "That day, I shall send messengers by ship to terrify the carefree Cushites, and anguish will overtake them on the day of Egypt -- it is coming now!

¹⁰ The Lord Yahweh says this: I shall destroy the huge population of Egypt at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹ He and his people, the most barbarous of nations, will be brought to ravage the country. They will draw the sword against Egypt and fill the country with corpses.

¹² I shall dry up the courses of the Nile and sell the country to the wicked. I shall lay the whole country waste and everything in it, at the hand of foreigners. I, Yahweh, have spoken.

¹³ "The Lord Yahweh says this: I shall destroy the foul idols and take the false gods away from Noph. Egypt will be left without a ruler. I shall spread fear through Egypt.

¹⁴ I shall lay Pathros waste, set Zoan on fire, inflict my punishments on No.

¹⁵ I shall vent my fury on Sin, the bastion of Egypt; I shall wipe out the throngs of No.

¹⁶ I shall set fire to Egypt; Sin will be seized with convulsions; a breach will be opened at No and the waters flood out.

¹⁷ The young men of On and Pi-Beseth will fall by the sword and the cities themselves go into captivity.

¹⁸ At Tahpanhes day will turn to darkness when I shatter the sceptres of Egypt there, when the pride of her strength ceases. A cloud will cover Egypt itself, and its daughters will go into captivity.

¹⁹ Such will be the punishments I inflict on Egypt. And they will know that I am Yahweh." '

²⁰ In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

²¹ 'Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; you can see that no one has dressed his wound by applying remedies to it, by bandaging it and by dressing it, to make it strong enough to wield the sword.

²² This being so, the Lord Yahweh says this, "Look, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt; I shall break his arms, the sound one and the broken one, and make the sword drop from his hand.

²³ I shall scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse it among the countries.

²⁴ I shall strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand. I shall break Pharaoh's arms and, confronted with his enemy, he will groan like a dying man.

²⁵ I shall strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall. And they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put my sword into the hands of the king of Babylon and he wields it against Egypt.

²⁶ I shall scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse it among the countries; and they will know that I am Yahweh." '