1 On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, a message from the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, face towards Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and the whole of Egypt. 3 Tell him that this is what the Lord God says:

Watch out, because I'm condemning you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying in your rivers, who says, ‘The Nile belongs to me; I made it myself.’ 4 I'm going to put hooks in your jaws and make the fish in your river stick to your scales. I will pull you up out of your river, and all the fish will stick to your scales. 5 I will throw you and the fish away, leaving you in the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left in the open. It won't be collected or taken to be buried. I'll leave you as food for wild animals and birds of prey. 6 Then everyone in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. When you had to deal with the people of Israel you were like a flimsy walking stick made from a reed. 7 When Israel grabbed hold of you, you split apart, damaging their shoulder. When they leaned on you, you broke, putting their backs out. 8 So this is what the Lord God says: I will attack you with a sword and kill both people and animals. 9 Egypt will become an empty wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because you said, ‘The Nile belongs to me; I made it,’ 10 that's why I'm condemning you and your river. I will ruin Egypt, making it into an empty wasteland all the way from Migdol in the north to Syene in the south, and up to the border with Cush.* “Cush”: This country is often translated as Ethiopia but here it refers to the country immediately bordering Egypt to the south, sometimes referred to as Nubia, and today as Sudan. 11 No one, human or animal, will travel that way or live there for forty years.

12 I will make Egypt more of a wasteland than any other country, and its towns will lie in ruins for forty years among all the other ruined towns. I will scatter the Egyptians among the different nations and countries.

13 However, this is what the Lord God says: After forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the different countries where they were scattered. 14 I will bring Egypt out of captivity and take them back to the land of Pathros, where they originally came from. Their kingdom will be insignificant.

15 Egypt will be the lowest of kingdoms and won't ever be more important than other nations again. I will bring Egypt down so that it won't ever be able to rule over the nations again. 16 The people of Israel won't ever trust in Egypt again; instead they will be reminded them of their sin when they turned to the Egyptians for help. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”

17 On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year, a message from the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work really hard in the siege against Tyre. The soldiers had their hair worn off their heads, and their shoulders rubbed raw. However, he and his army didn't gain any benefit from Tyre for all the work they did in attacking it.

19 So this is what the Lord God says: I'm going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon who will seize everything valuable. He will loot the country, robbing it to pay his army. 20 I'm rewarding him for all his work by giving him Egypt because the work they did was for me, declares the Lord God.

21 At that time I will give power back† “Give power back”: literally, “cause a horn to sprout.” to the people of Israel and I will help you speak to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”