A Lament for Egypt

1The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,

2Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Howl you, Woe worth the day!

3For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

4And the sword shall come on Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

5Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

6Thus said the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, said the Lord GOD.

7And they shall be desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the middle of the cities that are wasted.

8And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.

9In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come on them, as in the day of Egypt: for, see, it comes.

10Thus said the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

11He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.

12And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.

13Thus said the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

14And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.

15And I will pour my fury on Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.

16And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.

17The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.

18At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

19Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

The Broken Arms of Pharaoh

20And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 21Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, see, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out on the land of Egypt. 26And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.