1. In the tenth year, in the tenth {cf15i month}, in the twelfth {cf15i day} of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
3. speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4. And I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, with all the fish of thy rivers which stick unto thy scales.
5. And I will leave thee {cf15i thrown} into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open field; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the earth and to the fowls of the heaven,
6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and didst rend all their shoulders: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
8. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and will cut off from thee man and beast.
9. And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
10. therefore behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13. For thus saith the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples whither they were scattered:
14. and I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
15. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first {cf15i month}, in the first {cf15i day} of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18. Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it:
19. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20. I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompence for which he served, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
21. In that day will I cause an horn to bud forth unto the house of Israel, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.