A d 1-4. The Sword.
e 5-9. The Allies.
d 10-12. The Sword.
e 13-19. The Allies.
483 B.C.
Ezekiel 30)
1 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
2 "Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD; 'Howl you, Woe be to the day! (Heb. = Alas for the day!)
3 For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near (see Isa. 2:12; 13:6; Rev. 1:10), a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the nations. (I.e. the season in which their power shall be judged and broken.)
4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia (Heb. Cush, allied with Egypt. Cp. v.9; and Jer. 46:9. Also resorted to for help by Israel), when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia (cp. 27:10. Gen. 10:6. These are African people. Cp. Jer. 46:9. Nah. 3:9), and all the mixed multitude (i.e. the allies of Babylon. Cp. Jer. 25:20), and Chub (perhaps Caba, in Mauretania, or Cobe, in Ethiopia), and the sons of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.' '
6 Thus says the LORD; 'They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene (see 29:10) shall they fall in it by the sword, says the Lord GOD.
7 And 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 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
9 In that day shall messengers go forth from before Me in ships (going up the Nile. Ethiopia sent messengers in ships to promise help to Judah, but Yahaveh sent His messengers in ships to prophecy her judgment) to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it comes.'
10 Thus says the Lord GOD; 'I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. (See 26:7; 28:18.)
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 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.'
13 Thus says the Lord GOD; 'I will also destroy the manufactured gods, and I will cause their things of naughts to cease out of Noph (= Memphis. Now Abu Sir); and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14 And I will make Pathros (upper, or southern Egypt) desolate, and will set fire in Zoan (= Tanis: now San; an ancient Egyptian city in lower Egypt [Num. 13:35. Ps. 78:12]. See Isa. 30:4), and will execute judgments in No. (No Ammon. Now Thebes [Nab. 3:80. Cp. Jer. 46:25.)
15 And I will pour my fury upon Sin (= Pelusium, in the Egyptian Delta. See 29:10), the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.
17 The young men of Aven (= On, or Heliopolis [Beth-shemesh, city or house of the sun], north of Memphis) and of Pibeseth (in the Delta, north of Memphis now Tel Basta,) shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.
18 At Tehaphnehes (see Jer. 43:7) also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt (the yokes imposed by Egypt on other peoples. Cp. 34:27): and the pomp of her strength 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 in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.' "
B f 20-22. Arms of Pharaoh broken.
g 23. Dispersion.
f 24,25. Arms of Nebuchadnezzar strengthened.
g 26. Dispersion.
478 B.C. 1st Nisan [27th March]
20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
21 "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a bandage to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; 'Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24 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.
25 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.' "