Prophecy against Egypt

¹Yahweh spoke to me again, saying,

²“Son of man, prophesy and announce what I, Lord Yahweh , say to Egypt :[#30:2 Mighty Egypt, a dominant world power for centuries, known for her pagan worship, was being judged by the Sovereign God. King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were the instruments in God’s hands to bring Egypt’s downfall.]

“ ‘Weep and wail, for the day of disaster is here!

³Yes, the day is near, the day of Yahweh is near!

It will be a day dark with clouds,

a time of trouble for the nations.’

⁴“War will come upon Egypt, and terror will invade the land of Ethiopia. Egypt’s foundations will be leveled, multitudes will be slaughtered, and her riches will be carried away.[#30:4 Or “Cush,” that is, the upper Nile region.; #30:4 These “riches” would also include the people themselves.]

⁵Egypt and all her allies, Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia, all Arabia, and Kub —they will all fall by the sword!”[#30:5 Or “and the sons of my covenant” (LXX), that is, the Jews.; #30:5 Or “Put.”; #30:5 Or “Lud.”; #30:5 Or “Lub” (LXX). The location of this land is unknown.]

⁶Yahweh says, “Egypt’s allies will fall, and the pride of Egypt’s might will crumble. They will fall by the sword from Migdol in the north to Syene in the south . I, Yahweh , have spoken.

⁷“They will be the most desolate in the midst of wasted countries, and their cities the most ruined among ruined cities.

⁸Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I set fire to Egypt and shatter all who support her.

⁹“At that time, I will dispatch messengers by river ships to terrify the unsuspecting Ethiopians. They will panic on the day of Egypt’s doom. Judgment is sure to come![#30:9 Or “swift messengers” (LXX).]

¹⁰Lord Yahweh says: I will use the armies of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to destroy the huge population of Egypt.[#30:10 Or “wealth,” which includes Egypt’s people. See v. 4.]

¹¹I will bring him and his savage armies to ravage the country. They will wage war against Egypt and fill the country with corpses.

¹²I will dry up the waterways of the Nile and hand over the country to evil men. I will cause the land to be destroyed and everything in it, at the hand of foreigners. I, Yahweh , have spoken.”

¹³Lord Yahweh says: “I will demolish the idols and destroy the false gods from Noph. Egypt will be left without a ruler and a plague of fear will sweep over Egypt.[#30:13 Or “Memphis,” once a very important governmental center of Egypt, located about thirteen miles (twenty kilometers) from the southern point of the Nile delta. When judging a nation, God begins with destroying their false gods.]

¹⁴I will make southern Egypt deserted, burn Zoan to the ground, and punish Thebes.[#30:14 Zoan was a city on one of the eastern branches of the Nile delta, not far from the mouth of the river. It is also known by its Greek name, Tanis. See Isa. 19:11–15.; #30:14 Or “No” or “No-Amon,” after the god Amon. Thebes was a magnificent city and the second most important city in Egypt after Memphis. It was the religious capital of Egypt, where many Egyptian kings built magnificent temples. See Nah. 3:8.]

¹⁵I will pour out my fury on Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt. I will wipe out the great population of Thebes.[#30:15 Or “Sin,” a strategic city on the border of Egypt and the Philistine lands.]

¹⁶I will set Egypt on fire! Pelusium will be seized with great agony! The walls of Thebes will be torn down, and Noph will face distress daily from her enemies.[#30:16 Or “face her enemies by day.” The meaning of the last clause in the Hebrew is uncertain. The Septuagint reads “Memphis will be flooded.”]

¹⁷And the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will go into captivity and their young soldiers will fall by the sword.[#30:17 Or “On and Pi-Beseth,” two cities located on the eastern branch of the Nile delta. Both cities were important religious sites in Egypt.]

¹⁸At Tahpanhes, I will turn day to darkness when I shatter Egypt’s strength and silence the boast of her might. I will blanket Egypt with dark clouds, and her people will go into captivity.[#30:18 Tahpanhes was a fortress city in the eastern Nile delta.; #30:18 As translated from the Targum. The Hebrew is “[yoke] bars.”; #30:18 Or “daughters” or “villages.” The term benot is a homonym that may denote both meanings.]

¹⁹That is how I will punish Egypt, and then they will acknowledge that I am Yahweh .”

God Will Defeat Egypt

²⁰In the eleventh year of our captivity , on the seventh day of the first month, Yahweh spoke to me, saying:[#30:20 This date was probably April 29, 587 BC, almost four months after Ezekiel’s prophecy against Egypt in 29:1.]

²¹“Son of man, I have broken the powerful arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, you can see that no one has set the bone to make it heal. No one has wrapped it to help it heal and get strong enough to hold a sword again.

²²Therefore, Lord Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt; I will break both his arms, the strong one and the broken one, and I will make him drop the sword from his hand.

²³I will scatter the Egyptians to the wind and disperse them among the nations.

²⁴I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand. I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he will moan in pain like a dying man before the Babylonian king.

²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but I will make the arms of Pharaoh hang limp. 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.

²⁶I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign lands. And then the people of Egypt will acknowledge that I am Yahweh .’ ”