Ezekiel 32:1-16

International Children’s Bible

A Funeral Song

32 It happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month of our captivity. It was on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: ²“Human being, sing a funeral song about the king of Egypt. Say to him:

‘You are like a young lion among the nations.
    You are like a crocodile in the seas.
You splash around in your streams.
    And you stir up the waters with your feet.
    You make the rivers muddy.

³“‘This is what the Lord God says:

I will spread my net over you.
    And I will use a large group of people
    to pull you up in my net.
⁴Then I will throw you on the land.
    I will toss you into the open field.
I will let the birds of the sky rest on you.
    And I will let the animals of the earth eat you until they are full.
⁵I will scatter your flesh on the mountains.
    And I will fill the valleys with what is left of you.
⁶I will drench the land with your flowing blood.
    I will soak the mountains,
    and the ravines will be full of your flesh.
⁷I will make you disappear.
    And I will cover the sky and make the stars dark.
I will cover the sun with a cloud.
    And the moon will not shine.
⁸I will make all the shining lights in the sky
    become dark over you.
    I will bring darkness over your land,
    says the Lord God.
⁹I will cause many people to be afraid
    when I have another nation destroy you.
    Nations you have not known will be afraid because of you.
¹⁰I will cause people to be shocked about you.
    Their kings will tremble with fear because of you
    when I swing my sword before them.
They will shake every moment
    on the day you fall.
    Each king will be afraid for his own life.

¹¹“‘So this is what the Lord God says:

The sword of the king of Babylon
    will come on you.
¹²I will cause your people to fall
    by the swords of mighty soldiers.
    They are the most terrible of all the nations.
They will destroy the pride of Egypt.
    All Egypt’s people will be destroyed.
¹³I will also destroy all Egypt’s cattle
    which live alongside many waters.
The foot of man will not stir the waters.
    And the hooves of cattle will not muddy them anymore.
¹⁴So I will let the Egyptians’ waters become quiet.
    I will cause their rivers to run as smoothly as olive oil,
    says the Lord God.
¹⁵I will make the land of Egypt empty.
    I will take everything that is in the land.
I will destroy all those who live in Egypt.
    Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

¹⁶“This is the funeral song people will sing for Egypt. The women of the nations will sing it for Egypt. They will sing a funeral song for Egypt and all its people, says the Lord God.”

Read full chapter