A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt
1 1In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
2
2"Son of man,
3raise a lamentation over
4Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: "You consider yourself
5a lion of the nations, but you are like
6a dragon
7in the seas;
8you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers.
3
Thus says the Lord GOD:
9I will throw my net over you with a host of
10many peoples, and
11they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4
And
12I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5
I will strew your flesh
13upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass.
6
I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood, and the ravines will be full of you.
7
14When I blot you out,
15I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.
8
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and
16put darkness on your land, declares the Lord GOD.
9
"I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known.
10
17I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when
18I brandish my sword before them.
19They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.
11
"For thus says the Lord GOD:
20The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.
12
I will cause
21your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them
22most ruthless of nations.
23"They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall perish.
13
I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters;
24and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14
Then
25I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, declares the Lord GOD.
15
When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and when the land
26is desolate of all that fills it, when I strike down all who dwell in it, then
27they will know that I am the LORD.
16
28This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over
29all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord GOD."
17
30In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
18
31"Son of man,
32wail over
33the multitude of Egypt, and
34send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations,
35to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:
19
36'Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and
37be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.'
20
They shall fall amid those
38who are slain by the sword. Egypt is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and
39all her multitudes.
21
The mighty chiefs
40shall speak of them,
41with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: 'They have come down, they lie still,
42the uncircumcised,
43slain by the sword.'
22
44"Assyria is there, and all her company,
45its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
23
whose graves are set in
46the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
47who spread terror
48in the land of the living.
24
49"Elam is
50there, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them
51slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into
52the world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and
53they bear their shame
54with those who go down to the pit.
25
55They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude,
56her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.
26
57"Meshech-Tubal is
58there, and all her multitude,
59her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living.
27
And
60they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living.
28
But as for you, you shall be broken
61and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.
29
62"Edom is
63there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.
30
"The princes
64of the north are there, all of them, and all the
65Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain,
66for all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and
67bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
31
"When Pharaoh sees them, he
68will be comforted for
69all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord GOD.
32
70For I spread terror
71in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among
72the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD."