Never a World Power Again

29 1-6 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, confront Pharaoh king of Egypt. Preach against him and all the Egyptians. Tell him, ‘God, the Master, says:

“‘Watch yourself, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
    I’m dead set against you,
You lumbering old dragon,
    lolling and flaccid in the Nile,
Saying, “It’s my Nile.
    I made it. It’s mine.”
I’ll set hooks in your jaw;
    I’ll make the fish of the Nile stick to your scales.
I’ll pull you out of the Nile,
    with all the fish stuck to your scales.
Then I’ll drag you out into the desert,
    you and all the Nile fish sticking to your scales.
You’ll lie there in the open, rotting in the sun,
    meat to the wild animals and carrion birds.
Everybody living in Egypt
    will realize that I am God.

6-9 “‘Because you’ve been a flimsy reed crutch to Israel so that when they gripped you, you splintered and cut their hand, and when they leaned on you, you broke and sent them sprawling—Message of God, the Master—I’ll bring war against you, do away with people and animals alike, and turn the country into an empty desert so they’ll realize that I am God.

9-11 “‘Because you said, “It’s my Nile. I made it. It’s all mine,” therefore I am against you and your rivers. I’ll reduce Egypt to an empty, desolate wasteland all the way from Migdol in the north to Syene and the border of Ethiopia in the south. Not a human will be seen in it, nor will an animal move through it. It’ll be just empty desert, empty for forty years.

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“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast.(A) Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“‘Because you said, “The Nile(B) is mine; I made it,(C) 10 therefore I am against you(D) and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt(E) a ruin and a desolate waste(F) from Migdol(G) to Aswan,(H) as far as the border of Cush.[a](I)

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 29:10 That is, the upper Nile region