Ézéchiel 32

A lament for Pharaoh

¹In the twelfth month of the twelfth year, on its first day, the word of the LORD came to me: ²Son of man, raise a lament over Pharaoh king of Egypt \q and say to him, \q You think of yourself as a lion among the nations, \q but you are like a monster in the seas, \q thrashing about in your rivers, churning the water with your feet \q and muddying the streams.^{a 3}The Lord GOD says this: \q I will throw my net over you \q with a throng of many peoples, \q and they will drag you up in my net. ⁴I will leave you on the land \q and fling you onto the open field. \q I will let all the birds of the sky settle on you \q and let the wild animals of the whole earth gorge themselves on you. ⁵I will spread your flesh on the mountains \q and fill the valleys with your carcass.^{b 6}I will drench the land with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains, \q and the ravines will be full of you. ⁷When I snuff you out, I will veil the heavens \q and make their stars go dark. \q I will wrap the sun in a cloud, \q and the moon will give no light. ⁸All the bright lights of the heavens \q I will turn dark above you, \q and I will bring darkness over your land, \q declares the Lord GOD. ⁹I will trouble \q the hearts of many peoples \q when I bring news of your destruction among the nations, \q to lands you have never known. ¹⁰I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with horror over you \q when I brandish my sword before them. \q They will tremble every moment, each one for his own life, \q on the day of your fall.

The sword of Babylon

¹¹For the Lord GOD says this: \q The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. ¹²I will make your hordes fall by the swords of warriors, \q all of them the most ruthless of nations. \q They will shatter the pride of Egypt, \q and all its hordes will be destroyed. ¹³I will destroy all its cattle \q beside the abundant waters. \q No human foot will churn them again, \q and no hooves of cattle will muddy them. ¹⁴Then I will let their waters settle \q and make their rivers flow smooth as oil, \q declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁵When I make the land of Egypt desolate and strip the land of all that fills it, \q when I strike down everyone living in it, \q then they will know that I am the LORD. ¹⁶This is a lament, and it will be chanted; \q the women of the nations will chant it. \q Over Egypt and all its hordes they will chant it, \q declares the Lord GOD.

Egypt among the fallen

¹⁷It was the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, when the word of the LORD came to me:^{c 18}Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and send them down, Egypt and the daughters of mighty nations, to the world below, with those who go down to the pit. ¹⁹Are you lovelier than anyone else? Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised! ²⁰They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is ready; Egypt is dragged away with all her hordes. ²¹From the depths of Sheol the mightiest of warriors will speak to Pharaoh and his allies: “They have come down; they lie among the uncircumcised, killed by the sword.” ²²Assyria is there with all its company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword. ²³Their graves are set in the deepest parts of the pit, and its company lies around its grave. All of them were slain, fallen by the sword, who once filled the land of the living with terror. ²⁴Elam is there, with all its hordes around its grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the world below, those who spread their terror in the land of the living. Now they bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. ²⁵Among the slain a bed has been made for Elam with all its hordes, their graves around it, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword. Because their terror was spread in the land of the living, they now carry their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they are laid among the slain. ²⁶Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their hordes, their graves around them, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword, because they once made the land of the living fear them. ²⁷They do not lie with the fallen warriors of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol armed for war, their swords laid under their heads and their guilt resting on their bones, though the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.^{de 28}And you too, Pharaoh, will be broken among the uncircumcised and lie with those killed by the sword. ²⁹Edom is there, its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit. ³⁰All the chiefs of the north are there, and all the Sidonians. They went down with the slain, put to shame for all the terror their might once caused. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword and bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. ³¹Pharaoh will see them and be comforted over all his hordes, Pharaoh and all his army, killed by the sword, declares the Lord GOD. ³²For I spread my terror in the land of the living. So Pharaoh and all his hordes will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, declares the Lord GOD.^f