Prophecies against Egypt

291 In the tenth year , in the tenth month, on the twelfth e of the month , the word of the Lord came to me saying , 2 "Son of man , set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt . 3 "Speak and say , 'Thus says the Lord GOD , "Behold , I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt , The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers , That has said , 'My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.' 4 "I will put hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales . And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers , And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales . 5 "I will abandon you to the wilderness , you and all the fish of your rivers ; You will fall on the open field ; you will not be brought together or gathered . I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky . 6 "Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the Lord , Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel . 7 "When they took hold of you with the hand , You broke and tore all their hands ; And when they leaned on you, You broke and made all their loins quake ."

8 'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD , "Behold , I will bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast . 9 "The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste . Then they will know that I am the Lord . Because you said , 'The Nile is mine, and I have made it,' 10 therefore , behold , I am against you and against your rivers , and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation , from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia . 11 "A man's foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years . 12 "So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands . And her cities , in the midst of cities that are laid waste , will be desolate forty years ; and I will scatter 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 gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom e they were scattered . 14 "I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of Pathros , to the land of their origin , and there they will be a lowly kingdom . 15 "It will be the lowest 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 rule over the nations . 16 "And it will never again be the confidence of the house of Israel , bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD .""'

17 Now in the twenty-seventh e year , in the first month, on the first of the month , the word of the Lord came to me saying , 18 "Son of man , Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre ; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare . But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it." 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD , "Behold , I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon . And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder ; and it will be wages for his army . 20 "I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed , because they acted for Me," declares the Lord GOD . 21 "On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel , and I will open e your mouth in their midst . Then they will know that I am the Lord ."