1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me. He said:
2"Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt. Prophesy against him, and against all Egypt."
3"Speak, and say, This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the middle of his rivers. You have said, 'My river is my own, and I made it for myself.'"
4"But I will put hooks in your jaws. I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales. I will bring you up out of the middle of your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers will stick to your scales."
5"I will leave you thrown down in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open fields. You will not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the animals of the field and to the birds of the sky."
6"Then all the people living in Egypt will know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel."
7"When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and you tore all their shoulder. When they leaned on you, you snapped, and you made all their backs shake."
8"So this is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I will bring a sword upon you, and cut off man and beast from you."
9"The land of Egypt will be empty and waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD, because he said, 'The river is mine, and I made it.'"
10"So look, I am against you, and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt completely waste and empty, from the tower of Syene as far as the border of Ethiopia."
11"No foot of man will pass through it, and no foot of beast will pass through it. No one will live in it for forty years."
12"I will make the land of Egypt empty among the countries that are empty. Her cities will be empty for forty years among the cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and spread them through the countries."
13"Yet this is what the Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered."
14"I will bring back the captives of Egypt. I will make them return to the land of Pathros, to the land where they came from. There they will be a lowly kingdom."
15"It will be the lowliest of the kingdoms. It will never again lift itself up above the nations. I will make them few, so that they will no longer rule over the nations."
16"Egypt will no longer be what the house of Israel trusts in, bringing their sin to mind when they turn to look after them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD."
17Then in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me. He said:
18"Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard against Tyrus. Every head was rubbed bald, and every shoulder was rubbed raw. Yet neither he nor his army got any wages from Tyrus for the work he had done against it."
19"So this is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off her crowds, take her goods, and seize her plunder. That will be the wages for his army."
20"I have given him the land of Egypt for the work he did against it, because they worked for me, says the Lord GOD."
21"On that day I will make a horn grow for the house of Israel, and I will let you open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD."