Study

Lamentation for Egypt

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The word of the L ord came to me: ²Mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord G od:

Wail, “Alas for the day!”

3

For a day is near,

the day of the L ord is near;

it will be a day of clouds,

a time of doom for the nations.

4

A sword shall come upon Egypt,

and anguish shall be in Ethiopia,

when the slain fall in Egypt,

and its wealth is carried away,

and its foundations are torn down.

⁵ Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the allied land shall fall with them by the sword.

 

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Thus says the L ord:

Those who support Egypt shall fall,

and its proud might shall come down;

from Migdol to Syene

they shall fall within it by the sword,

says the Lord G od.

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They shall be desolated among other desolated countries,

and their cities shall lie among cities laid waste.

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Then they shall know that I am the L ord,

when I have set fire to Egypt,

and all who help it are broken.

⁹ On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting Ethiopians; and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for it is coming!

 

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord G od:

I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,

by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.

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He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations,

shall be brought in to destroy the land;

and they shall draw their swords against Egypt,

and fill the land with the slain.

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I will dry up the channels,

and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;

I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it

by the hand of foreigners;

I the L ord have spoken.

 

¹³ Thus says the Lord G od:

I will destroy the idols

and put an end to the images in Memphis;

there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;

so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

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I will make Pathros a desolation,

and will set fire to Zoan,

and will execute acts of judgment on Thebes.

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I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium,

the stronghold of Egypt,

and cut off the hordes of Thebes.

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I will set fire to Egypt;

Pelusium shall be in great agony;

Thebes shall be breached,

and Memphis face adversaries by day.

17

The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword;

and the cities themselves shall go into captivity.

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At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,

when I break there the dominion of Egypt,

and its proud might shall come to an end;

the city shall be covered by a cloud,

and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity.

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Thus I will execute acts of judgment on Egypt.

Then they shall know that I am the L ord.

Proclamation against Pharaoh

²⁰ In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the L ord came to me: ²¹Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²²Therefore thus says the Lord G od: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the lands. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groans of one mortally wounded. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am the L ord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt, ²⁶and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the L ord.