Ezekiel 29 :: New International Version (NIV)

Judgment on Pharaoh

Eze 29:1In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 29:2“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

Eze 29:3Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.”

Eze 29:4

Eze 29:4But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales.

Eze 29:5

Eze 29:5I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.

Eze 29:6

Eze 29:6Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. “ ‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel.

Eze 29:7

Eze 29:7When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.[fn]

Eze 29:8

Eze 29:8“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast.

Eze 29:9

Eze 29:9Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. “ ‘Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it,”

Eze 29:10

Eze 29:10therefore I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush.[fn]

Eze 29:11

Eze 29:11The foot of neither man nor beast will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years.

Eze 29:12

Eze 29:12I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries.

Eze 29:13

Eze 29:13“ ‘Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered.

Eze 29:14

Eze 29:14I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom.

Eze 29:15

Eze 29:15It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations.

Eze 29:16

Eze 29:16Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.’ ”

Nebuchadnezzar’s Reward

Eze 29:17

Eze 29:17In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 29:18

Eze 29:18“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre.

Eze 29:19

Eze 29:19Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army.

Eze 29:20

Eze 29:20I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Eze 29:21

Eze 29:21“On that day I will make a horn[fn] grow for the Israelites, and I will open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(29:7)

Syriac (see also Septuagint and Vulgate); Hebrew and you caused their backs to stand

(29:10)

That is, the upper Nile region

(29:21)

Horn here symbolizes strength.

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