The Fall of the Proud and the Judgment of Empires
Ezekiel 28
1 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, The Lord Yahweh says: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God—
3 behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you;
4 by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures;
5 by your great wisdom and by your trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—
6 therefore the Lord Yahweh says: Because you have set your heart as the heart of God,
7 therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness.
8 They shall bring you down to the pit; and you shall die the death of those who are slain, in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.
11 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, The Lord Yahweh says: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Your settings and your sockets were of gold. They were prepared in the day that you were created.
14 You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 By the abundance of your trade, they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore I have brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
19 All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you have become a terror, and you shall never be any more.”
20 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
21 “Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
22 and say, The Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I am against you, Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword on her on every side; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
24 There shall be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn from any that are around them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”
25 The Lord Yahweh says: “When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob.
26 They shall dwell securely in it; yes, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on all those who despised them all around them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh their God.”
Ezekiel 29
1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt;
3 speak, and say, The Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
4 I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers: you shall fall on the open field; you shall not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
6 All the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke, and made all their loins to be at a stand.
8 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you.
9 The land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. Because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it;
10 therefore, behold, I am against you, and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.
11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of animal shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12 I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13 For the Lord Yahweh says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered;
14 and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
15 It shall be the base of the kingdoms; neither shall it lift itself up any more above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16 It shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”
17 It happened in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, that Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet he had no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it.
19 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude, and take her plunder, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his reward for which he served, because they worked for me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
21 “In that day I will cause a horn to spring up to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.”
Ezekiel 30
1 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, The Lord Yahweh says: Wail, Alas for the day!
3 For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the nations.
4 A sword shall come on Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
5 Ethiopia, Put, Lud, and all the mixed people, and Libya, and the children of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
6 The Lord Yahweh says: They also who uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword,” says the Lord Yahweh.
7 “They shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
8 They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are broken.
9 In that day messengers shall go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and anguish shall come on them, as in the day of Egypt: for, behold, it comes.
10 The Lord Yahweh says: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12 I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”
13 The Lord Yahweh says: “I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14 I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No.
15 I will pour my wrath on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
16 I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall be broken up; and Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime.
17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity.
18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt; and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
19 Thus will I execute judgments on Egypt; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.”
20 It happened in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, behold, it has not been bound up, to apply healing medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
22 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong one, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
25 I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out on the land of Egypt.
26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.”
Scripture: World English Bible Classic (WEB), a public-domain translation. Available for free copying and sharing at eBible.org.
