Ezekiel 28-29

Ezekiel 28

¹The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

²Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, This is what the Lord has said: Because your heart has been lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I am seated on the seat of God in the heart of the seas; but you are man and not God, though you have made your heart as the heart of God:

³See, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret which is deeper than your knowledge:

⁴By your wisdom and deep knowledge you have got power for yourself, and put silver and gold in your store-houses:

⁵By your great wisdom and by your trade your power is increased, and your heart is lifted up because of your power:

⁶For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your heart as the heart of God,

⁷See, I am sending against you strange men, feared among the nations: they will let loose their swords against your bright wisdom, they will make your glory a common thing.

⁸They will send you down to the underworld, and your death will be the death of those who are put to the sword in the heart of the seas.

⁹Will you say, in the face of those who are taking your life, I am God? but you are man and not God in the hands of those who are wounding you.

¹⁰Your death will be the death of those who are without circumcision, by the hands of men from strange lands: for I have said it, says the Lord.

¹¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹²Son of man, make a song of grief for the king of Tyre, and say to him, This is what the Lord has said: You are all-wise and completely beautiful;

¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God; every stone of great price was your clothing, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the emerald and the carbuncle: your store-houses were full of gold, and things of great price were in you; in the day when you were made they were got ready.

¹⁴I gave you your place with the winged one; I put you on the mountain of God; you went up and down among the stones of fire.

¹⁵There has been no evil in your ways from the day when you were made, till sin was seen in you.

¹⁶Through all your trading you have become full of violent ways, and have done evil: so I sent you out shamed from the mountain of God; the winged one put an end to you from among the stones of fire.

¹⁷Your heart was lifted up because you were beautiful, you made your wisdom evil through your sin: I have sent you down, even to the earth; I have made you low before kings, so that they may see you.

¹⁸By all your sin, even by your evil trading, you have made your holy places unclean; so I will make a fire come out from you, it will make a meal of you, and I will make you as dust on the earth before the eyes of all who see you.

¹⁹All who have knowledge of you among the peoples will be overcome with wonder at you: you have become a thing of fear, and you will never be seen again.

²⁰And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²¹Son of man, let your face be turned to Zidon, and be a prophet against it, and say,

²²These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, O Zidon; and I will get glory for myself in you: and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I send my punishments on her, and I will be seen to be holy in her.

²³And I will send on her disease and blood in her streets; and the wounded will be falling in the middle of her, and the sword will be against her on every side; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

²⁴And there will no longer be a plant with sharp points wounding the children of Israel, or a thorn troubling them among any who are round about them, who put shame on them; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

²⁵This is what the Lord has said: When I have got together the children of Israel from the peoples among whom they are wandering, and have been made holy among them before the eyes of the nations, then they will have rest in the land which is theirs, which I gave to my servant Jacob

²⁶And they will be safe there, building houses and planting vine-gardens and living without fear; when I have sent my punishments on all those who put shame on them round about them; and they will be certain that I am the Lord their God.

Ezekiel 29

¹In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, let your face be turned against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and be a prophet against him and against all Egypt:

³Say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great river-beast stretched out among his Nile streams, who has said, The Nile is mine, and I have made it for myself.

⁴And I will put hooks in your mouth, and the fish of your streams will be hanging from your skin; and I will make you come up out of your streams, with all the fish of your streams hanging from your skin.

⁵And I will let you be in the waste land, you and all the fish of your streams: you will go down on the face of the land; you will not be taken up or put to rest in the earth; I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven.

⁶And it will be clear to all the people of Egypt that I am the Lord, because you have been a false support to the children of Israel.

⁷When they took a grip of you in their hands, you were crushed so that their arms were broken: and when they put their weight on you for support, you were broken and all their muscles gave way.

⁸For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am sending a sword on you, cutting off from you man and beast.

⁹And the land of Egypt will be an unpeopled waste; and they will be certain that I am the Lord: because he has said, The Nile is mine, and I made it.

¹⁰See, then, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an unpeopled waste, from Migdol to Syene, even as far as the edge of Ethiopia.

¹¹No foot of man will go through it and no foot of beast, and it will be unpeopled for forty years.

¹²I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the countries which are made waste, and her towns will be unpeopled among the towns which have been made waste, for forty years: and I will send the Egyptians in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries.

¹³For this is what the Lord has said: At the end of forty years I will get the Egyptians together from the peoples where they have gone in flight:

¹⁴I will let the fate of Egypt be changed, and will make them come back into the land of Pathros, into the land from which they came; and there they will be an unimportant kingdom.

¹⁵It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and never again will it be lifted up over the nations: I will make them small, so that they may not have rule over the nations.

¹⁶And Egypt will no longer be the hope of the children of Israel, causing sin to come to mind when their eyes are turned to them: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

¹⁷Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made his army do hard work against Tyre, and the hair came off every head and every arm was rubbed smooth: but he and his army got no payment out of Tyre for the hard work which he had done against it.

¹⁹For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon: he will take away her wealth, and take her goods by force and everything which is there; and this will be the payment for his army.

²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as the reward for his hard work, because they were working for me, says the Lord.

²¹In that day I will make a horn put out buds for the children of Israel, and I will let your words come freely among them, and they will be certain that I am the Lord.