Dirge for Pharaoh and Egypt

1In the twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile by the king of Babylon], in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, take up a dirge (funeral poem to be sung) over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,

‘You have compared yourself to a young lion among the nations,

But you are like a monster in the seas;

You burst into your rivers

And disturbed and muddied the waters with your feet

And fouled their rivers [the source of their prosperity].’”

3Thus says the Lord GOD,

“I will spread out My net over you

With a company of many nations,

And they will bring you up in My net.

4“Then I will leave you (Egypt) on the land;

I will hurl you on the open field.

And I will make all the birds of the sky dwell on you,

And I will satisfy the animals of all the earth with you.

5“And I will scatter your flesh on the mountains

And fill the valleys with your debris [your corpses and their worms].

6“I will also water the land with your flowing blood

As far as the mountains,

And the ravines will be full of you.

7“And when I extinguish you,

I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and darken their stars;

I will cover the sun with a cloud

And the moon will not give its light.

8“All the bright lights in the heavens

I will darken over you

And I will place darkness on your land,”

Says the Lord GOD. 9“I will also put fear into the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction [and captivity] among the nations, into countries which you have not known. 10I will make many peoples appalled at you [at your judgment and your defeat], and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword [of judgment] before them; they will tremble and shudder every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your downfall.”

11For thus says the Lord GOD, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you. 12I will make your horde [of people] fall by the swords of the mighty--all of them are tyrants among the nations,

And they will devastate the pride and presumption of Egypt,

And all its hordes will be destroyed.

13“I will also destroy all its cattle from beside its great waters;

And the foot of man will not muddy them anymore

Nor will the hoofs of the animals muddy them.

14“Then I will make their waters quiet and clear;

I will make their rivers run [slowly and smoothly] like oil,”

Says the Lord GOD.

15“When I make the land of Egypt desolate,

And the country is stripped and deprived of all that which filled it,

When I strike all those who live in it,

Then they will know [without any doubt] that I am the LORD. 16This is the dirge (funeral poem to be sung) and they shall sing it [for her]. The daughters of the nations shall sing it; for Egypt and for all her hordes they shall sing it,” says the Lord GOD.

17In the twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile], on the fifteenth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, wail over the hordes of Egypt and cast them down, both her and the daughters of the powerful and majestic nations, to the nether world (the place of the dead), with those who go down to the pit;

19‘Whom [among them] do you surpass in beauty?

Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised (the barbaric, the boorish, the crude).’ 20They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She (Egypt) is handed over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her hordes away [to judgment]. 21The strong among the mighty rulers will say of him (Pharaoh) and his allies from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down [defeated]; they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

22“Assyria is there with all her warriors; their graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, 23whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit and her army is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.

24“[a]Elam [a conquest of Assyria] is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who made their terror spread in the land of the living and bore their shame and defeat with those who went down to the pit. 25They have made a bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it; they are all uncircumcised (barbaric, boorish, crude), slain by the sword (for their terror had been spread in the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they were laid among the slain.

26“Meshech, Tubal, and all their hordes are there; their graves [b]surround them. All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27Nor do they lie beside the fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid [with honors] under their heads. The punishment for their sins rested on their bones, for the terror of these heroes was once in the land of the living. 28But you will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and you will lie [without honors] with those who are slain by the sword.

29“Edom is there also, her kings and all her princes, who for all their power and strength are laid with those who were slain by the sword; they will lie [in shame and defeat] with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

30“The princes of the north are there also, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their power, have gone down in shame with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

31“Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted for all his hordes slain by the sword--Pharaoh and all his army,” says the Lord GOD. 32“Though I instilled a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes,” says the Lord GOD.