“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard [at My command] against Tyre; every [soldier’s] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [from carrying loads of dirt and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no wages from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended during the siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].”

Therefore this is what the Lord God says: I am going to give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seizing its spoil and taking its plunder. This will be his army’s compensation.

In that day, will I cause to bud a horn for the house of Israel, And to thee, will I give an opening of mouth in their midst, So shall they know that, I, am Yahweh.

Another message came to me from the LORD, who had this to say:

Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!

"'This is what the Lord says: Egypt's supporters will fall; her confident pride will crumble. From Migdol to Syene they will die by the sword within her, declares the sovereign Lord.

So shall they be made desolate in the midst of lands that are desolate,- And :his cities - in the midst of cities that are laid waste, shall be found.

So shall they know that, I am Yahweh,- By my setting a fire in Egypt, When all her helpers shall be broken.

On that day [swift] messengers will go from Me in ships to frighten the careless and unsuspecting Ethiopians, and there will be anguish and trembling in them as in the day of [judgment for] Egypt; for behold, it is coming!”

So says the Lord Jehovah: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

I'll dry up their waterways, and evil men will sell off the land. I'm going to make that land desolate, along with everything that's in it, and I'm going to use foreigners to do it. I, the LORD have spoken!'"

This is what the Lord God says:

I will destroy the idols and put an end
to the false gods in Memphis.
There will no longer be
a prince from the land of Egypt.
So I will instill fear in that land.

I'll pour out my anger on Sin, Egypt's strong fortress, and I'll eliminate the gangs in Thebes.

So will I set a fire in Egypt, Sore anguish shall take Sin. And, No, shall be for rending asunder, And Noph, be in strait every day,

It will be a dark day for Tahpanhes when I break the yokes of Egypt. That's when her arrogant power will come to an end. She'll be covered by a cloud, and her citizens will go into captivity.

So I will execute judgments against Egypt,
and they will know that I am Yahweh.

On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of our captivity, a message came to me from the LORD. It had this to say:

“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Look, it has not been bandaged—no medicine has been applied and no splint put on to bandage it so that it can grow strong enough to handle a sword.

For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and by me his strong arm will be broken; and I will make the sword go out of his hand.

And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall. They will know that I am Yahweh when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he wields it against the land of Egypt.

So will I disperse the Egyptians among the nations, And scatter them throughout the lands, And they shall know that, I, am Yahweh.

Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

See, a pine-tree with beautiful branches and thick growth, giving shade and very tall; and its top was among the clouds.

That's why it grew taller than any of the trees in the fields. Its boughs flourished. Its branches grew luxurious because all the water made it spread out well.

So it was beautiful, being so tall and its branches so long, for its root was by great waters.

The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it;
the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,
nor could the plane trees match its boughs.
No tree in the garden of God
could compare with it in beauty.

I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

For this cause the Lord has said: Because he is tall, and has put his top among the clouds, and his heart is full of pride because he is so high,

so I have given him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him; I have expelled him for his evil.

Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations, cut it down and left it lying. Its limbs fell on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

All the birds of the sky will nest in its ruins, and all the animals of the field will rest on its fallen branches

so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand [arrogantly] in their height. For they have all been handed over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).”

Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, In the day when he descended into hades, I caused a mourning. I covered over him the roaring deep, And restrained the currents thereof And stayed were the mighty waters, So caused I gloom over him unto Lebanon, And all the trees of the field for him were covered with a shroud.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, will be comforted in the earth beneath [at Assyria’s downfall].

“Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes”—the declaration of the Lord God.

On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of our captivity, a message came to me from the LORD, who had this to say:

Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

So says the Lord Jehovah: I will therefore spread out My net over you with an assembly of many peoples; and they shall lift you up in My net.

Yea, I will make many people with their kings so afraid through thee, that their hair shall stand up, when I shake my sword at their faces. Suddenly shall they be astonished, every man in himself, at the day of thy fall.

For this is what the Lord God says:

The sword of Babylon’s king
will come against you!

I will make your hordes fall
by the swords of warriors,
all of them ruthless men from the nations.
They will ravage Egypt’s pride,
and all its hordes will be destroyed.

All the cattle also of Egypt will I destroy, that they shall come no more upon the waters: so that neither man's foot nor beasts claw, shall steer them any more.

That's when I'll make their waterways flow smoothly, and their rivers flow like olive oil,' declares the Lord GOD."

"Then I make the land of Egypt desolation, so that the land will be stripped from its fullness when I strike all of [those] dwelling in it, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh.

It is a lamentation, and thus they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall say it in lamenting; they shall say it in lamenting over Egypt and over all her multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah.

"So who's more beautiful than you? You'll be buried with the uncircumcised.

The strong among the great ones will say to him from the underworld, Are you more beautiful than any? go down, you and your helpers, and take your rest among those without circumcision, and those who have been put to the sword.

Whose graves have been set In the recesses of the pit, And so her gathered host is round about her grave, All of them thrust through. Fallen by the sword, Who caused terror in the land of the living.

There, is Persia with all her multitude, round about her grave, - All of them, thrust through The fallen by the sword Who have descended, uncircumcised into the earth below Who made themselves a terror in the land of the living, And so they have borne their confusion with them who descend into the pit:

In the midst of them who were thrust through, have they have placed a couch for her with all her multitude, Round about it, are her graves,-All of them, uncircumcised. Thrust through with the sword. For that their terror was caused in the land of the living. And so they have borne their confusion, with them who descend into the pit, In the midst of them who were thrust through, hath it been pleased.

There, are the princes of the-North lull of them, and all the Zidonians, Who have descended with them who were thrust through. By reason of the terror they caused, of their might, are they ashamed, So they have lain down uncircumcised. With them who were thrust through by the sword, And they have bowed their confusion with them who descend into the pit.

Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

"For he spread my terror in [the] land of [the] living, and [so] he will be laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by [the] sword: Pharaoh and all of his hordes,"{declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

if he see the sword coming upon the land, and blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

After all, he heard the alarm sounding, but did not heed the warning, so his shed blood will remain his own responsibility. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved himself.

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

However, if you warn the wicked to turn from his behavior and he does not do so, he will die in his guilt, and you will have saved yourself."

And thou, son of man, say unto the house of Israel: Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

(The pledge the wicked restoreth, plunder he repayeth,) In the statutes of life he hath walked, So as not to do perversity, He surely liveth -- he doth not die.

Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.

Son of man, those who are living in these waste places in the land of Israel say, Abraham was but one, and he had land for his heritage: but we are a great number; the land is given to us for our heritage.

Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.

So shall they know that I, am Yahweh, - When I makes the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

“But as for you, son of man, your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses say one to another, every one to his brother, ‘Come now and hear what the message is that comes from the Lord.’

They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not practice them; for with their mouth they express loving devotion, but their heart goes after their (unlawful) gain.

And lo! thou art to them - As a bewitching song, Of one with a beautiful voice. And skilfully touching the strings, - So will they hear thy words, And yet be going to do none of them.

So {when it comes}, look! It is coming! And [then] they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them."

A message came from the LORD for me, and it had this to say:

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; And they became food for every wild beast of the field. So were they scattered.

My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and [so] upon all the surface of the world my flock were scattered, and {there was no one seeking them}, and {there was no one searching for them}."

'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I [am] against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will {no longer} feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them."

“For this is what the Lord God says: See, I Myself will search for My flock and look for them.

As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

I will tend them with good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

"I'm going to seek both the lost as well as the scattered, and bring them both back so their broken bones can be set and the sick can be healed. But in righteousness I'll exterminate the fat and the stiff-necked.'"

“Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

forsomuch as ye have shot the weak sheep upon the sides and shoulders, and run upon them with your horns, so long till ye have utterly scattered them abroad.

And [so] I will save my flock, and {they will no longer be} for plunder, and I will judge between {one sheep and another}.

“I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate dangerous animals in the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

I will make them and the places around My hill (Jerusalem, Zion) a blessing. And I will make showers come down in their season; there will be [abundant] showers of blessing (divine favor).

And the tree of the field shall yield his fruit And The land, shall yield her increase, And they shall remain on their own sell in security,- So shall they know that I, am Yahweh, When I have broken a the bars of their yoke, And shall deliver them out of the hand of them who have been using them as slaves.

They will no longer be prey to the nations, and the predators of the earth will not devour them; but they will live safely, and no one will make them afraid [in the day of the Messiah’s reign].

I will set up an excellent plant for them, so that they shall suffer no more hunger in the land, neither bear the reproof of the Heathen anymore.

So shall they know that, I, Yahweh their God am with them,- And that they are my people the house of Israel, Declareth My Lord. Yahweh.

And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.

Thy cities, will I lay waste, And thou - a desolation, shalt become, So shalt thou know that I, am Yahweh.