God declares judgment on Pharaoh, a great monster in the Nile, for being a broken reed to Israel. Egypt will be desolate for forty years, then become a lowly kingdom, and Nebuchadnezzar will receive Egypt as his reward.
1 In the tenth year , in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month , the word of the LORD came unto me, saying ,
2 Son of man , set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt , and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt :
3 Speak , and say , Thus saith the Lord GOD ; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt , the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers , which hath said , My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws , and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales , and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers , and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales .
5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness , thee and all the fish of thy rivers : thou shalt fall upon the open fields ; thou shalt not be brought together , nor gathered : I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven .
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall 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 thee by thy hand , thou didst break , and rend all their shoulder : and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest , and madest all their loins to be at a stand .
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste ; and they shall know that I am the LORD : because he hath said , The river is mine, and I have made it.
10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers , and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate , from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia .
11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years .
12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate , and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years : and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations , and will disperse them through the countries .
13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD ; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered :
14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt , and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros , into the land of their habitation ; and they shall be there a base kingdom .
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations : for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations .
16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel , which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance , when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD .
17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year , in the first month, in the first day of the month , the word of the LORD came unto me, saying ,
18 Son of man , Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus : every head was made bald , and every shoulder was peeled : yet had he no wages , nor his army , for Tyrus , for the service that he had served against it:
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon ; and he shall take her multitude , and take her spoil , and take her prey ; and it shall be the wages for his army .
20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD .
21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth , and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD .