1 - ?Judgment on Pharaoh?
In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the 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.
3 - Speak to him and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: "'I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, "The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself."
4 - But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales.
5 - I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.
6 - Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. "'You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel.
7 - When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.
8 - "'Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast.
9 - Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord. "'Because you said, "The Nile is mine; I made it,"
10 - therefore I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush.
11 - The foot of neither man nor beast will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years.
12 - I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries.
13 - "'Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered.
14 - I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom.
15 - It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations.
16 - Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.'"
17 - ?Nebuchadnezzar's Reward?
In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me:
18 - "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre.
19 - Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army.
20 - I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord.
21 - "On that day I will make a horn