Ezekiel 28-31

New Living Translation

A Message for Tyre’s King

28 Then this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“In your great pride you claim, ‘I am a god!
    I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.’
But you are only a man and not a god,
    though you boast that you are a god.
³You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel
    and think no secret is hidden from you.
⁴With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth—
    gold and silver for your treasuries.
⁵Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich,
    and your riches have made you very proud.

⁶“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are as wise as a god,
⁷    I will now bring against you a foreign army,
    the terror of the nations.
They will draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom
    and defile your splendor!
⁸They will bring you down to the pit,
    and you will die in the heart of the sea,
    pierced with many wounds.
⁹Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’
    to those who kill you?
To them you will be no god
    but merely a man!
¹⁰You will die like an outcast^[a]
    at the hands of foreigners.
    I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

¹¹Then this further message came to me from the Lord: ¹²“Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“You were the model of perfection,
    full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.
¹³You were in Eden,
    the garden of God.
Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone^[b]—
    red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,
    blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper,
    blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—
all beautifully crafted for you
    and set in the finest gold.
They were given to you
    on the day you were created.
¹⁴I ordained and anointed you
    as the mighty angelic guardian.^[c]
You had access to the holy mountain of God
    and walked among the stones of fire.

¹⁵“You were blameless in all you did
    from the day you were created
    until the day evil was found in you.
¹⁶Your rich commerce led you to violence,
    and you sinned.
So I banished you in disgrace
    from the mountain of God.
I expelled you, O mighty guardian,
    from your place among the stones of fire.
¹⁷Your heart was filled with pride
    because of all your beauty.
Your wisdom was corrupted
    by your love of splendor.
So I threw you to the ground
    and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.
¹⁸You defiled your sanctuaries
    with your many sins and your dishonest trade.
So I brought fire out from within you,
    and it consumed you.
I reduced you to ashes on the ground
    in the sight of all who were watching.
¹⁹All who knew you are appalled at your fate.
    You have come to a terrible end,
    and you will exist no more.”

A Message for Sidon

²⁰Then another message came to me from the Lord: ²¹“Son of man, turn and face the city of Sidon and prophesy against it. ²²Give the people of Sidon this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“I am your enemy, O Sidon,
    and I will reveal my glory by what I do to you.
When I bring judgment against you
    and reveal my holiness among you,
everyone watching will know
    that I am the Lord.
²³I will send a plague against you,
    and blood will be spilled in your streets.
The attack will come from every direction,
    and your people will lie slaughtered within your walls.
Then everyone will know
    that I am the Lord.
²⁴No longer will Israel’s scornful neighbors
    prick and tear at her like briers and thorns.
For then they will know
    that I am the Sovereign Lord.

Restoration for Israel

²⁵“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. ²⁶They will live safely in Israel and build homes and plant vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

A Message for Egypt

29 On January 7,^[d] during the tenth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, turn and face Egypt and prophesy against Pharaoh the king and all the people of Egypt. ³Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“I am your enemy, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt—
    you great monster, lurking in the streams of the Nile.
For you have said, ‘The Nile River is mine;
    I made it for myself.’
⁴I will put hooks in your jaws
    and drag you out on the land
    with fish sticking to your scales.
⁵I will leave you and all your fish
    stranded in the wilderness to die.
You will lie unburied on the open ground,
    for I have given you as food to the wild animals and birds.
⁶All the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord,
    for to Israel you were just a staff made of reeds.
⁷When Israel leaned on you,
    you splintered and broke
    and stabbed her in the armpit.
When she put her weight on you,
    you collapsed, and her legs gave way.

⁸“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring an army against you, O Egypt, and destroy both people and animals. ⁹The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said, ‘The Nile River is mine; I made it,’ ¹⁰I am now the enemy of both you and your river. I will make the land of Egypt a totally desolate wasteland, from Migdol to Aswan, as far south as the border of Ethiopia.^[e] ¹¹For forty years not a soul will pass that way, neither people nor animals. It will be completely uninhabited. ¹²I will make Egypt desolate, and it will be surrounded by other desolate nations. Its cities will be empty and desolate for forty years, surrounded by other ruined cities. I will scatter the Egyptians to distant lands.

¹³“But this is what the Sovereign Lord also says: At the end of the forty years I will bring the Egyptians home again from the nations to which they have been scattered. ¹⁴I will restore the prosperity of Egypt and bring its people back to the land of Pathros in southern Egypt from which they came. But Egypt will remain an unimportant, minor kingdom. ¹⁵It will be the lowliest of all the nations, never again great enough to rise above its neighbors.

¹⁶“Then Israel will no longer be tempted to trust in Egypt for help. Egypt’s shattered condition will remind Israel of how sinful she was to trust Egypt in earlier days. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

Nebuchadnezzar to Conquer Egypt

¹⁷On April 26, the first day of the new year,^[f] during the twenty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ¹⁸“Son of man, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar^[g] of Babylon fought so hard against Tyre that the warriors’ heads were rubbed bare and their shoulders were raw and blistered. Yet Nebuchadnezzar and his army won no plunder to compensate them for all their work. ¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, plundering everything it has so he can pay his army. ²⁰Yes, I have given him the land of Egypt as a reward for his work, says the Sovereign Lord, because he was working for me when he destroyed Tyre.

²¹“And the day will come when I will cause the ancient glory of Israel to revive,^[h] and then, Ezekiel, your words will be respected. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Sad Day for Egypt

30 This is another message that came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, prophesy and give this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“Weep and wail
    for that day,
³for the terrible day is almost here—
    the day of the Lord!
It is a day of clouds and gloom,
    a day of despair for the nations.
⁴A sword will come against Egypt,
    and those who are slaughtered will cover the ground.
Its wealth will be carried away
    and its foundations destroyed.
The land of Ethiopia^[i] will be ravished.
⁵    Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all Arabia,^[j]
and all their other allies
    will be destroyed in that war.

⁶“For this is what the Lord says:
All of Egypt’s allies will fall,
    and the pride of her power will end.
From Migdol to Aswan^[k]
    they will be slaughtered by the sword,
    says the Sovereign Lord.
⁷Egypt will be desolate,
    surrounded by desolate nations,
and its cities will be in ruins,
    surrounded by other ruined cities.
⁸And the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord
    when I have set Egypt on fire
    and destroyed all their allies.
⁹At that time I will send swift messengers in ships
    to terrify the complacent Ethiopians.
Great panic will come upon them
    on that day of Egypt’s certain destruction.
Watch for it!
    It is sure to come!

¹⁰“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
By the power of King Nebuchadnezzar^[l] of Babylon,
    I will destroy the hordes of Egypt.
¹¹He and his armies—the most ruthless of all—
    will be sent to demolish the land.
They will make war against Egypt
    until slaughtered Egyptians cover the ground.
¹²I will dry up the Nile River
    and sell the land to wicked men.
I will destroy the land of Egypt and everything in it
    by the hands of foreigners.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹³“This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will smash the idols^[m] of Egypt
    and the images at Memphis.^[n]
There will be no rulers left in Egypt;
    terror will sweep the land.
¹⁴I will destroy southern Egypt,^[o]
    set fire to Zoan,
    and bring judgment against Thebes.^[p]
¹⁵I will pour out my fury on Pelusium,^[q]
    the strongest fortress of Egypt,
and I will stamp out
    the hordes of Thebes.
¹⁶Yes, I will set fire to all Egypt!
    Pelusium will be racked with pain;
Thebes will be torn apart;
    Memphis will live in constant terror.
¹⁷The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis^[r] will die in battle,
    and the women^[s] will be taken away as slaves.
¹⁸When I come to break the proud strength of Egypt,
    it will be a dark day for Tahpanhes, too.
A dark cloud will cover Tahpanhes,
    and its daughters will be led away as captives.
¹⁹And so I will greatly punish Egypt,
    and they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Broken Arms of Pharaoh

²⁰On April 29,^[t] during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. His arm has not been put in a cast so that it may heal. Neither has it been bound up with a splint to make it strong enough to hold a sword. ²²Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am the enemy of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt! I will break both of his arms—the good arm along with the broken one—and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians to many lands throughout the world. ²⁴I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he will lie there mortally wounded, groaning in pain. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. And when I put my sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he brings it against the land of Egypt, Egypt will know that I am the Lord. ²⁶I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, dispersing them throughout the earth. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Compared to Fallen Assyria

31 On June 21,^[u] during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ²“Son of man, give this message to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his hordes:

“To whom would you compare your greatness?
³You are like mighty Assyria,
    which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,
with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade
    and with its top high among the clouds.
⁴Deep springs watered it
    and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant.
The water flowed around it like a river,
    streaming to all the trees nearby.
⁵This great tree towered high,
    higher than all the other trees around it.
It prospered and grew long thick branches
    because of all the water at its roots.
⁶The birds nested in its branches,
    and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.
All the great nations of the world
    lived in its shadow.
⁷It was strong and beautiful,
    with wide-spreading branches,
for its roots went deep
    into abundant water.
⁸No other cedar in the garden of God
    could rival it.
No cypress had branches to equal it;
    no plane tree had boughs to compare.
No tree in the garden of God
    came close to it in beauty.
⁹Because I made this tree so beautiful,
    and gave it such magnificent foliage,
it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden,
    the garden of God.

¹⁰“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because Egypt^[v] became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, ¹¹I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it. ¹²A foreign army—the terror of the nations—has cut it down and left it fallen on the ground. Its branches are scattered across the mountains and valleys and ravines of the land. All those who lived in its shadow have gone away and left it lying there.

¹³“The birds roost on its fallen trunk,
    and the wild animals lie among its branches.
¹⁴Let the tree of no other nation
    proudly exult in its own prosperity,
though it be higher than the clouds
    and it be watered from the depths.
For all are doomed to die,
    to go down to the depths of the earth.
They will land in the pit
    along with everyone else on earth.

¹⁵“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When Assyria went down to the grave,^[w] I made the deep springs mourn. I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water. I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of the field to wilt. ¹⁶I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of its fall, for I sent it down to the grave with all the others who descend to the pit. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the most beautiful and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, took comfort to find it there with them in the depths of the earth. ¹⁷Its allies, too, were all destroyed and had passed away. They had gone down to the grave—all those nations that had lived in its shade.

¹⁸“O Egypt, to which of the trees of Eden will you compare your strength and glory? You, too, will be brought down to the depths with all these other nations. You will lie there among the outcasts^[x] who have died by the sword. This will be the fate of Pharaoh and all his hordes. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Footnotes

28:10 Hebrew will die the death of the uncircumcised.
28:13 The identification of some of these gemstones is uncertain.
28:14 Hebrew guardian cherub; similarly in 28:16.
29:1 Hebrew On the twelfth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on January 7, 587 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
29:10 Hebrew from Migdol to Syene as far as the border of Cush.
29:17 Hebrew On the first day of the first month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on April 26, 571 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
29:18 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 29:19.
29:21 Hebrew I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel.
30:4 Hebrew Cush; similarly in 30:9.
30:5 Hebrew Cush, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Cub. Cub is otherwise unknown and may be another spelling for Lub (Libya).
30:6 Hebrew to Syene.
30:10 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
30:13a The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
30:13b Hebrew Noph; also in 30:16.
30:14a Hebrew Pathros.
30:14b Hebrew No; also in 30:15, 16.
30:15 Hebrew Sin; also in 30:16.
30:17a Hebrew of Awen and Pi-beseth.
30:17b Or and her cities.
30:20 Hebrew On the seventh day of the first month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on April 29, 587 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
31:1 Hebrew On the first day of the third month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on June 21, 587 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
31:10 Hebrew you.
31:15 Hebrew to Sheol; also in 31:16, 17.
31:18 Hebrew among the uncircumcised.