Judgment against Pharaoh

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:

3Speak, and say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the middle of his rivers, which has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.

4But 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 middle of your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers shall stick to your scales.

5And I will leave you thrown into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers: you shall fall on the open fields; you shall not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given you for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

7When they took hold of you by your hand, you did break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned on you, you brake, and made all their loins to be at a stand.

The Desolation of Egypt

8Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and cut off man and beast out of you. 9And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10Behold, therefore I am against you, and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even to the border of Ethiopia. 11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13Yet thus said the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people where they were scattered: 14And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which brings their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Egypt the Reward of Nebuchadnezzar

17And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 18Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor with which he served against it, because they worked for me, said the Lord GOD.

21In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the middle of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.