A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt

1And it happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2“Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,

‘You liken yourself to a young lion of the nations,

Yet you are like the monster in the seas;

And you burst forth in your rivers

And muddied the waters with your feet

And [†]fouled their rivers.’”

3Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“So I will spread My net over you

With an assembly of many peoples,

And they shall bring you up in My net.

4I will abandon you on the land;

I will hurl you on the [†]open field.

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

And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth [†]with you.

5I will put your flesh on the mountains

And fill the valleys with your refuse.

6I will also make the land drink the discharge of your blood

As far as the mountains,

And the ravines will be full of you.

7And when I extinguish you,

I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

And the moon will not give its light.

8All the shining lights in the heavens

I will darken over you

And will give darkness on your land,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

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

11For thus says Lord Yahweh, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you. 12By the swords of the mighty ones I will cause your multitude to fall; all of them are ruthless ones of the nations,

And they will devastate the lofty pride of Egypt,

And all its multitude will be destroyed.

13I will also make all its cattle perish from beside many waters;

And the foot of man will not muddy them anymore,

And the hoofs of beasts will not muddy them.

14Then I will make their waters settle

And will cause their rivers to [†]run like oil,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

15“When I make the land of Egypt a desolation,

And the land is desolate of its fullness,

When I strike all those who inhabit it,

Then they shall know that I am Yahweh.

16This is a lamentation, and they shall [†]lament over it. The daughters of the nations shall [†]lament over it. Over Egypt and over all her multitude they shall [†]lament over it,” declares Lord Yahweh.

17Now it happened in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 18“Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit;

19‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?

Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’

20They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. [†]She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her multitude away. 21The [†]dominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

22“Assyria is there and all her assembly; [†]her graves are round about [†]her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, 23whose graves are put in the remotest parts of the pit, and her assembly is all round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who put terror in the land of the living.

24“Elam is there and all her multitude all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who put their terror in the land of the living and bore their dishonor with those who went down to the pit. 25They have put a bed for her among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around it; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was put in the land of the living), and they bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit; [†]they were put in the midst of the slain.

26“Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them. All of them were slain by the sword uncircumcised, though they put their terror in the land of the living. 27Nor do they lie beside the fallen mighty ones of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were put under their heads; but the punishment for their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these mighty ones was once in the land of the living. 28But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.

29“There also is Edom, its kings, and all its [†]princes, who [†]for all their might are put with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

30“There also are the [†]chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit.

31“These Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his military force,” declares Lord Yahweh. 32“Though I put 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,” declares Lord Yahweh.