1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Son of man, turn your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
3 Speak out and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, great monster sprawled among your streams, who says, My Nile is mine; I made it for myself.
4 I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams cling to your scales; I will haul you up from among your streams, with all the fish of your streams clinging to your scales.
5 I will fling you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you will fall on the open field and not be gathered up or collected. To the animals of the earth and the birds of the sky I have given you as food.
6 Then all who live in Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a reed for a staff to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of you by the hand, you splintered and ripped open all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you snapped and made all their loins shake.
8 So thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to bring a sword on you and cut off man and beast from you.
9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin, and they shall know that I am the LORD. Because he said, The Nile is mine; I made it,
10 I am against you and against your streams, and I will turn the land of Egypt into a total ruin, a desolation, from Migdol to Syene and up to the border of Cush.
11 No human foot will pass through it and no animal's foot will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years.
12 I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the lands.
13 "'For thus says the Lord GOD: When forty years are over I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered.
14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their birth, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.
15 It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again lift itself above the nations; I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.
16 It will never again be the house of Israel's ground of trust; instead it will bring to mind their iniquity of turning to them for help. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.'"
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
18 "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon worked his army hard in a great campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder worn raw, yet neither he nor his army got any pay from Tyre for the campaign he waged against it.
19 So thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, take its spoil and seize its plunder, and that will be the pay for his army.
20 As his wages for the work he did against it, I have given him the land of Egypt, because they acted for me, declares the Lord GOD.
21 "On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will let you open your mouth among them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."