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Lamentation for Egypt

30The word of the Lord came to me: ²Mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:
Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
³   For a day is near,
   the day of the Lord is near;
it will be a day of clouds,
   a time of doom^* for the nations.
⁴ A sword shall come upon Egypt,
   and anguish shall be in Ethiopia,^*
when the slain fall in Egypt,
   and its wealth is carried away,
   and its foundations are torn down.
⁵Ethiopia,^* and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,^* and the people of the allied land^* shall fall with them by the sword.

⁶ Thus says the Lord:
Those who support Egypt shall fall,
   and its proud might shall come down;
from Migdol to Syene
   they shall fall within it by the sword,
says the Lord God.
⁷ They shall be desolated among other desolated countries,
   and their cities shall lie among cities laid waste.
⁸ Then they shall know that I am the Lord,
   when I have set fire to Egypt,
   and all who help it are broken.

9 On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting Ethiopians;^* and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom;^* for it is coming!

10 Thus says the Lord God:
I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,
   by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.
¹¹ He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations,
   shall be brought in to destroy the land;
and they shall draw their swords against Egypt,
   and fill the land with the slain.
¹² I will dry up the channels,
   and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;
I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it
   by the hand of foreigners;
I the Lord have spoken.

13 Thus says the Lord God:
I will destroy the idols
   and put an end to the images in Memphis;
there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;
   so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
¹⁴ I will make Pathros a desolation,
   and will set fire to Zoan,
   and will execute acts of judgement on Thebes.
¹⁵ I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium,
   the stronghold of Egypt,
   and cut off the hordes of Thebes.
¹⁶ I will set fire to Egypt;
   Pelusium shall be in great agony;
Thebes shall be breached,
   and Memphis face adversaries by day.
¹⁷ The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword;
   and the cities themselves^* shall go into captivity.
¹⁸ At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,
   when I break there the dominion of Egypt,
and its proud might shall come to an end;
   the city^* shall be covered by a cloud,
   and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity.
¹⁹ Thus I will execute acts of judgement on Egypt.
   Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Proclamation against Pharaoh

20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²¹Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²²Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the lands. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groans of one mortally wounded. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt, ²⁶and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.