Dual Panel1THIS word of the LORD came to me on the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year:
2“O man, face towards Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and the whole of Egypt.
3Say to them: The Lord GOD says: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster, lurking in the streams of the Nile. You have said, ‘My Nile is my own; it was I who made it.’
4But I shall put hooks in your jaws and they will cling to your scales. I shall haul you up out of its streams with all its fish clinging to your scales.
5I shall fling you into the desert, you and all the fish in your streams; you will fall on the ground with none to give you burial; I shall give you as food to beasts and birds.
6Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. The support you gave the Israelites was no better than a reed.
7When they grasped you, you splintered in their hands and tore their armpits; when they leaned on you, you broke and their limbs gave way.
8“The Lord GOD says: I am bringing a sword on you to destroy both people and animals.
9Egypt will become a desolate waste land, and they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; it was I who made it,’
10I am against you and your Nile. I shall make Egypt desolate, wasted by drought, from Migdol to Syene and as far as the frontier of Cush.
11Untrodden by people or animals, it will lie uninhabited for forty years.
12I shall make Egypt the most desolate of desolate lands, her cities the most derelict of derelict cities. For forty years they will lie derelict, and I shall scatter the Egyptians among the nations, dispersing them throughout the earth.
13“The Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I shall gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they are scattered.
14I shall restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring her people back to Pathros, the land of their origin, where they will be a petty kingdom.
15It will become the most paltry of kingdoms and never again lord it over the nations, for I shall make the Egyptians too few to rule over them.
16The Israelites, always mindful of their sin in turning to Egypt for help, will never trust Egypt again. They will know that I am the Lord GOD.”
17This word of the LORD came to me on the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year:
18“O man, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon kept his army in the field against Tyre so long that everyone's head was rubbed bare and everyone's shoulder chafed. But no gain from Tyre accrued to him or to his army from their campaign.
19This, therefore, is the word of the Lord GOD: I am now giving Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, he will despoil and plunder it, and so his army will receive their wages.
20I have given him Egypt in payment for his service because they have spurned my authority. This is the word of the Lord GOD.
21“At that time I shall make Israel renew her strength, and give you back the power to speak among them, and they will know that I am the LORD.”