Ezekiel 30

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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The day of the LORD on Egypt

¹The word of the LORD came to me: ²Son of man, prophesy and say, The Lord GOD says this: Wail and cry, “Alas for that day!” ³For the day is close; the day of the LORD is close. It will be a cloudy day, a time of reckoning for the nations. ⁴A sword will come against Egypt, and Cush will be in anguish when the slain fall in Egypt, when its wealth is carried off and its foundations are torn down. ⁵Cush and Put and Lud, all the foreign peoples, Kub, and the people of the land in covenant with them will fall by the sword along with Egypt.

Egypt’s helpers fall

⁶The LORD says this: Those who hold Egypt up will fall, and its proud strength will come down. From Migdol to Syene they will fall by the sword within it, declares the Lord GOD. ⁷They will be desolate among desolate lands, and its cities will lie among ruined cities. ⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I kindle a fire in Egypt and all its helpers are crushed. ⁹On that day messengers will set out from me in ships to terrify Cush, which feels secure. Anguish will seize them on the day of Egypt’s doom, for it is surely coming.

By the hand of Babylon

¹⁰The Lord GOD says this: By the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon I will bring the hordes of Egypt to an end. ¹¹He and his army with him, the most ruthless of nations, will be brought in to ruin the land. They will bare their swords against Egypt and fill the land with corpses. ¹²I will dry up the streams of the Nile and sell the land into the power of evil men. By the hand of foreigners I will lay waste the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Judgment on Egypt’s cities

¹³The Lord GOD says this: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the worthless gods in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt, and I will fill the land of Egypt with fear. ¹⁴I will lay Pathros waste, set fire to Zoan and carry out judgments on Thebes. ¹⁵I will pour out my wrath on Sin, the fortress of Egypt, and cut off the hordes of Thebes. ¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt. Sin will writhe in agony, Thebes will be breached, and Memphis will face enemies in broad daylight. ¹⁷The young men of Aven and Pi-beseth will fall by the sword, and the cities themselves will go into captivity. ¹⁸At Tahpanhes the day will turn dark when I break Egypt’s yoke bars there, and its proud strength will come to an end. A cloud will cover it, and its daughter towns will go into captivity. ¹⁹So I will carry out judgments on Egypt. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

Pharaoh’s broken arm

²⁰In the first month of the eleventh year, on its seventh day, the word of the LORD came to me: ²¹Son of man, I have broken the arm of Egypt’s king, Pharaoh. It has not been bandaged for healing or put in a splint to make it strong enough to hold a sword.

Both arms broken

²²Therefore the Lord GOD says this: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the strong one and the one already broken, and make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and spread them through the lands. ²⁴I will give strength to the arms of the king of Babylon and place my sword in his hand. But Pharaoh’s arms I will break, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. ²⁵I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but Pharaoh’s arms will drop. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I hand my sword to the king of Babylon and he swings it against the land of Egypt. ²⁶I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and spread them through the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.