Pay attention! I am against you,

Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

Great dragon* crouching

in the midst of the Nile,

Who says, “The Nile belongs to me;

I made it myself!”b

4* I will put hooks in your jaws

and make all the fish of your Nile

Cling to your scales;

I will drag you up from your Nile,

With all the fish of your Nile

clinging to your scales.c

5I will hurl you into the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your Nile.

You will fall into an open field,

you will not be picked up or gathered together.

To the beasts of the earth

and the birds of the sky

I give you as food.d

6e Then all the inhabitants of Egypt

will know that I am the Lord.

Because you were a staff of reeds*

for the house of Israel:

7When they took hold of you, you would splinter,

throwing shoulders out of joint.

When they leaned on you, you would break,

pitching them down headlong.

8Therefore thus says the Lord God:

Look! I am bringing the sword against you

to cut off from you people and animals.

9The land of Egypt shall become a desolate waste;

then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Because you said, “The Nile belongs to me;

I made it!”

10Beware! I am against you

and against your Nile.

I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins,

into a dry, desolate waste,

From Migdol to Syene,*

up to the border of Ethiopia.f

11No foot shall pass through it,

no human being or beast cross it;

it will remain uninhabited for forty years.

12I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate

among desolate lands;

Its cities, the most deserted

among deserted cities for forty years;

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations

and disperse them throughout other lands.g

13But thus says the Lord God:

At the end of forty years

I will gather the Egyptians

from among the peoples

where they are scattered;

14I will restore Egypt’s fortunes,

bringing them back to the land of Pathros,*

the land of their origin.

But there it will be a lowly kingdom,

15lower than any other kingdom,

no longer able to set itself above the nations.

I will make them few in number,

so they cannot rule other nations.

16No longer shall they be security

for the house of Israel,

But a reminder of its iniquity

in turning away to follow them.

Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.h