1On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, this word of the LORD came to me, 2“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. 3Speak to him and say, ‘Thus says the Sovereign LORD: “I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your rivers, who has said, ‘This Nile River belongs to me; I have made it for myself.’ 4But I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will pull you up out of your streams, with all the fish of your rivers sticking to your scales. 5And I will leave you stranded in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open fields; you shall not be gathered nor picked up; I will give you as food for the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. 6And all who live in Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel. 7When they grasped you with their hands, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned upon you, you broke, and wrenched all their backs.

8“Therefore, thus says the LORD God: ‘I will bring a sword against you, and kill both man and beast in Egypt. 9And your land shall be a desolate wasteland; and they shall know that I am the LORD; because you said, “The river is mine, and I have made it.” 10For that reason, I am against you, and against your streams, and I will utterly ruin the land of Egypt, from the tower of Seveneh to the border of Ethiopia. 11No foot of man nor beast shall pass through it, nor shall it be inhabited for forty years. 12And I will make the land of Egypt desolate among the other countries that are desolate, and her cities shall lie waste among the ruined cities for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them throughout other countries.

13Yet thus says the LORD God: “At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people where they were scattered; 14And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will return them to the land of Pathros, Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry; and they shall be a lowly kingdom there. 15It shall be the lowest of the kingdoms; it shall not exalt itself above other nations anymore; for I will weaken them so that they shall no longer rule over other nations. 16And Egypt shall no more be a source of confidence for the people of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they looked to them for help; and they shall know that I am the LORD God.”’”’”

17And on the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, this word of the LORD came to me, 18“Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, forced his army to fight so hard against Tyre that every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed raw; yet they received no wages for that tough campaign against Tyre. 19Therefore, thus says the LORD God: ‘I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take her great wealth as spoil, and it shall be used for wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt as a reward for his labor for which he served against Tyre, because his army served Me’, says the LORD God.

21“In that day will I revive the ancient glory of the people of Israel; and I will give your words renewed credibility among the Israelites, Ezekiel; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”