On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year of the exile to Babylon, while I was among the captives on the bank of the Chebar River, heaven opened up and I saw visions from God.

"Tell my rebellious house, "Don't you know what these things mean? Look! The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, captured her king and princes, and took them with him to Babylon.

But he rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Or will the one who did this escape? Will he break the covenant, but still be delivered?'"

"As long as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "in Babylon, that place where the king has enthroned him, whose oath he despised so as to break his covenant, he'll die with him.

I'll spread my net over him so that he'll be caught in my snare. I'll bring him to Babylon and carry out my sentence there because of his treachery toward me.

"Now, Son of Man, demarcate two pathways by which the sword of Babylon's king will arrive in the land. Both pathways will lead from a single land.

"Meanwhile, Babylon's king is standing at the fork of the road, where he can head in either of two directions, and that's where he is practicing divination. Shaking his arrows, he's asking questions of his teraphim while he examines livers.

"Son of Man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem on this very day.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "Watch out! I'm about to bring from the north King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, that king of kings. He'll come with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a vast army.

"Son of Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work very hard to attack Tyre. They tore their hair out and rubbed their shoulders raw! Despite all of that work trying to capture Tyre, neither he nor his army got paid from Tyre for all that!

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He's going to carry off her wealth, confiscate her war implements, and use it all to pay wages for his army!

"This is what the LORD says: "I'm putting an end to that gang from Egypt, and I'm going to use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to do it!

I'm going to strengthen the military might of the king of Babylon, put my own sword in his hand, and break Pharaoh's strength. Then Pharaoh will groan like a dying man right in front of the king of Babylon.

When I strengthen the military might of Babylon, the military might of Pharaoh will fail, and then they will learn that I am the LORD when I place my own sword in the hand of the king of Babylon. He will attack the land of Egypt.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "The army of the king of Babylon will attack you.