Ezekiel 28-30

28¹ Then this message came to me from the Lord : ² "Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign Lord : "In your great pride you claim, 'I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.' But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are a god. ³ You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you. ⁴ With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth- gold and silver for your treasuries. ⁵ Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud. ⁶ "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, ⁷ I will now bring against you a foreign army, the terror of the nations. They will draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom and defile your splendor! ⁸ They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die in the heart of the sea, pierced with many wounds. ⁹ Will you then boast, 'I am a god!' to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man! ¹⁰ You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!"

¹¹ Then this further message came to me from the Lord : ¹² "Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord : "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone - red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald- all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. ¹⁴ I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. ¹⁵ "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. ¹⁶ Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. ¹⁷ Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. ¹⁸ You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. ¹⁹ All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you will exist no more."

The Prophecy against Zidon

²⁰ Then another message came to me from the Lord : ²¹ "Son of man, turn and face the city of Sidon and prophesy against it. ²² Give the people of Sidon this message from the Sovereign Lord : "I am your enemy, O Sidon, and I will reveal my glory by what I do to you. When I bring judgment against you and reveal my holiness among you, everyone watching will know that I am the Lord . ²³ I will send a plague against you, and blood will be spilled in your streets. The attack will come from every direction, and your people will lie slaughtered within your walls. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord . ²⁴ No longer will Israel's scornful neighbors prick and tear at her like briers and thorns. For then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord . ²⁵ "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. ²⁶ They will live safely in Israel and build homes and plant vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the Lord their God."

Prophecies against Egypt

29¹ On January 7, during the tenth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, this message came to me from the Lord : ² "Son of man, turn and face Egypt and prophesy against Pharaoh the king and all the people of Egypt. ³ Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord : "I am your enemy, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt- you great monster, lurking in the streams of the Nile. For you have said, 'The Nile River is mine; I made it for myself.' ⁴ I will put hooks in your jaws and drag you out on the land with fish sticking to your scales. ⁵ I will leave you and all your fish stranded in the wilderness to die. You will lie unburied on the open ground, for I have given you as food to the wild animals and birds. ⁶ All the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord, for to Israel you were just a staff made of reeds. ⁷ When Israel leaned on you, you splintered and broke and stabbed her in the armpit. When she put her weight on you, you collapsed, and her legs gave way.

⁸ "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring an army against you, O Egypt, and destroy both people and animals. ⁹ The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord . "Because you said, 'The Nile River is mine; I made it,' ¹⁰ I am now the enemy of both you and your river. I will make the land of Egypt a totally desolate wasteland, from Migdol to Aswan, as far south as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹ For forty years not a soul will pass that way, neither people nor animals. It will be completely uninhabited. ¹² I will make Egypt desolate, and it will be surrounded by other desolate nations. Its cities will be empty and desolate for forty years, surrounded by other ruined cities. I will scatter the Egyptians to distant lands. ¹³ "But this is what the Sovereign Lord also says: At the end of the forty years I will bring the Egyptians home again from the nations to which they have been scattered. ¹⁴ I will restore the prosperity of Egypt and bring its people back to the land of Pathros in southern Egypt from which they came. But Egypt will remain an unimportant, minor kingdom. ¹⁵ It will be the lowliest of all the nations, never again great enough to rise above its neighbors. ¹⁶ "Then Israel will no longer be tempted to trust in Egypt for help. Egypt's shattered condition will remind Israel of how sinful she was to trust Egypt in earlier days. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign Lord ."

¹⁷ On April 26, the first day of the new year, during the twenty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, this message came to me from the Lord : ¹⁸ "Son of man, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought so hard against Tyre that the warriors' heads were rubbed bare and their shoulders were raw and blistered. Yet Nebuchadnezzar and his army won no plunder to compensate them for all their work. ¹⁹ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, plundering everything it has so he can pay his army. ²⁰ Yes, I have given him the land of Egypt as a reward for his work, says the Sovereign Lord, because he was working for me when he destroyed Tyre. ²¹ "And the day will come when I will cause the ancient glory of Israel to revive, and then, Ezekiel, your words will be respected. Then they will know that I am the Lord ."

30¹ This is another message that came to me from the Lord : ² "Son of man, prophesy and give this message from the Sovereign Lord : "Weep and wail for that day, ³ for the terrible day is almost here- the day of the Lord ! It is a day of clouds and gloom, a day of despair for the nations. ⁴ A sword will come against Egypt, and those who are slaughtered will cover the ground. Its wealth will be carried away and its foundations destroyed. The land of Ethiopia will be ravished. ⁵ Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all Arabia, and all their other allies will be destroyed in that war. ⁶ "For this is what the Lord says: All of Egypt's allies will fall, and the pride of her power will end. From Migdol to Aswan they will be slaughtered by the sword, says the Sovereign Lord . ⁷ Egypt will be desolate, surrounded by desolate nations, and its cities will be in ruins, surrounded by other ruined cities. ⁸ And the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord when I have set Egypt on fire and destroyed all their allies. ⁹ At that time I will send swift messengers in ships to terrify the complacent Ethiopians. Great panic will come upon them on that day of Egypt's certain destruction. Watch for it! It is sure to come! ¹⁰ "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: By the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, I will destroy the hordes of Egypt. ¹¹ He and his armies-the most ruthless of all- will be sent to demolish the land. They will make war against Egypt until slaughtered Egyptians cover the ground. ¹² I will dry up the Nile River and sell the land to wicked men. I will destroy the land of Egypt and everything in it by the hands of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken! ¹³ "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will smash the idols of Egypt and the images at Memphis. There will be no rulers left in Egypt; terror will sweep the land. ¹⁴ I will destroy southern Egypt, set fire to Zoan, and bring judgment against Thebes. ¹⁵ I will pour out my fury on Pelusium, the strongest fortress of Egypt, and I will stamp out the hordes of Thebes. ¹⁶ Yes, I will set fire to all Egypt! Pelusium will be racked with pain; Thebes will be torn apart; Memphis will live in constant terror. ¹⁷ The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in battle, and the women will be taken away as slaves. ¹⁸ When I come to break the proud strength of Egypt, it will be a dark day for Tahpanhes, too. A dark cloud will cover Tahpanhes, and its daughters will be led away as captives. ¹⁹ And so I will greatly punish Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord ."

²⁰ On April 29, during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, this message came to me from the Lord : ²¹ "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. His arm has not been put in a cast so that it may heal. Neither has it been bound up with a splint to make it strong enough to hold a sword. ²² Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am the enemy of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt! I will break both of his arms-the good arm along with the broken one-and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. ²³ I will scatter the Egyptians to many lands throughout the world. ²⁴ I will strengthen the arms of Babylon's king and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he will lie there mortally wounded, groaning in pain. ²⁵ I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. And when I put my sword in the hand of Babylon's king and he brings it against the land of Egypt, Egypt will know that I am the Lord . ²⁶ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, dispersing them throughout the earth. Then they will know that I am the Lord ."