Prophecy Against Egypt
1 iIn the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 j“Son of man, kset your face against lPharaoh king of Egypt, mand prophesy against him and nagainst all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God:
o“Behold, I am against you,
Pharaoh king of Egypt,
pthe great dragon that lies
in the midst of his streams,
qthat says, ‘My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.’
4 I will rput hooks in your jaws,
and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;
and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,
with all the fish of your streams
that stick to your scales.
5 sAnd I will cast you out into the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your streams;
you shall fall ton the open field,
and unot be brought together or gathered.
To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens
sI give you as food.
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt vshall know that I am the Lord.
“Because you1 have been wa staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 xwhen they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.2 8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: yBehold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. vThen they will know that I am the Lord.
z“Because you3 said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ 10 therefore, zbehold, I am against you and aagainst your streams, and aI will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, bfrom Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 cNo foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 dAnd I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. eI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.
13 “For thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years fI will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and gI will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to hthe land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, iand never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be jthe reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. kThen they will know that I am the Lord God.”
17 lIn the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 m“Son of man, nNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: oBehold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; pand he shall carry off its wealth4 qand despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 rI have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.
21 “On that day sI will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and tI will open your lips among them. uThen they will know that I am the Lord.”
A Lament for Egypt
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 v“Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:
w“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
3 wFor the day is near,
xthe day of the Lord is near;
it will be ya day of clouds,
a time of doom for5 the nations.
4 zA sword shall come upon Egypt,
aand anguish shall be in bCush,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
and cher wealth6 is carried away,
and dher foundations are torn down.
5 bCush, and ePut, and Lud, and fall Arabia, and Libya,7 and the people of the land that is in league,8 shall fall with them by the sword.
6 “Thus says the Lord:
gThose who support Egypt shall fall,
and hher proud might shall come down;
ifrom Migdol to Syene
they shall fall within her by the sword,
declares the Lord God.
7 jAnd they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,
and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.
8 kThen they will know that I am the Lord,
when lI have set fire to Egypt,
and gall her helpers are broken.
9 “On that day mmessengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting bpeople of Cush, and aanguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom;9 for, behold, it comes!
10 “Thus says the Lord God:
n“I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He and his people with him, othe most ruthless of nations,
shall be brought in to destroy the land,
zand they shall draw their swords against Egypt
and fill the land with the slain.
12 And pI will qdry up the Nile
and will sell the land into the hand of revildoers;
sI will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,
by the hand of tforeigners;
uI am the Lord; I have spoken.
13 “Thus says the Lord God:
v“I will destroy the idols
and put an end to the images in wMemphis;
xthere shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;
so yI will put fear in the land of Egypt.
14 I will make zPathros a desolation
and will set fire to aZoan
band will execute judgments on cThebes.
15 And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
the stronghold of Egypt,
and cut off the multitude10 of Thebes.
16 And I will set fire to Egypt;
Pelusium shall be in great agony;
Thebes shall be breached,
and wMemphis shall face enemies11 by day.
17 The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,
and the women12 shall go into captivity.
18 At dTehaphnehes ethe day shall be dark,
when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,
and fher proud might shall come to an end in her;
she shall be covered by a cloud,
and her daughters shall go into captivity.
19 Thus gI will execute judgments on Egypt.
hThen they will know that I am the Lord.”
Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon
20 iIn the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 j“Son of man, kI have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, lit has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and mwill break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 nI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And oI will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put pmy sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him qlike a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. rThen they shall know that I am the Lord, swhen I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Pharaoh to Be Slain
1 tIn the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 u“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to vhis multitude:
w“Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, xAssyria was a ycedar in zLebanon,
with beautiful branches and aforest shade,
band of towering height,
its top among the clouds.13
4 The waters nourished it;
the deep made it grow tall,
making cits rivers flow
around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
5 So dit towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long
from eabundant water in its shoots.
6 fAll the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
7 It was gbeautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
efor its roots went down
to abundant waters.
8 hThe cedars iin the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree iin the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.
9 I made it beautiful
in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of jEden envied it,
that were in the garden of God.
10 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because kit14 towered high and set its top among the clouds,15 and lits heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 mForeigners, mthe most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. nOn the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all othe ravines of the land, and pall the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 qOn its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 rAll this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,16 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, sto the world tbelow, among the children of man,17 with those who go down to the pit.
15 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day uthe cedar18 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 vI made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, uwhen I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. wAnd all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, xwere comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, yto those who are slain by the sword; yes, zthose who were its arm, awho lived under its shadow among the nations.
18 b“Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness wamong the trees of Eden? cYou shall be brought down with wthe trees of Eden to the world below. dYou shall lie among the uncircumcised, ywith those who are slain by the sword.
b“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”
Deliver Me, O Lord
A Song of mAscents.
1 In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Deliver me, O Lord,
from lying lips,
from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given to you,
nand what more shall be done to you,
you deceitful tongue?
with glowing qcoals of the broom tree!
5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in rMeshech,
that I dwell among sthe tents of tKedar!
6 Too long have I had my dwelling
among those who hate peace.
7 uI am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!
The Man of Lawlessness
1 Now concerning athe coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our bbeing gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,1 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or calarmed, either dby a spirit or a espoken word, or ea letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that fthe day of the Lord has come. 3 gLet no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, hunless the rebellion comes first, and ithe man of lawlessness2 is revealed, jthe son of destruction,3 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, kproclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For lthe mystery of lawlessness mis already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then nthe lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus owill kill with pthe breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by qthe appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan rwith all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for sthose who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore tGod sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe uwhat is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned vwho did not believe the truth but whad pleasure in unrighteousness.
Stand Firm
13 But xwe ought always to give thanks to God for you, ybrothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you zas the firstfruits4 ato be saved, bthrough sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through cour gospel, aso that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, dstand firm and hold to ethe traditions that you were taught by us, either fby our spoken word or by four letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, gwho loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hhope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and iestablish them in every good work and word.
Pray for Us
1 Finally, brothers,5 jpray for us, that kthe word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,6 as happened among you, 2 and lthat we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For mnot all have faith. 3 But nthe Lord is faithful. He will establish you and oguard you against pthe evil one.7 4 And qwe have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord rdirect your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
Warning Against Idleness
6 Now we command you, brothers, sin the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, tthat you keep away from any ubrother vwho is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know whow you ought to imitate us, because xwe were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but ywith toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was znot because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves aan example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: bIf anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you cwalk in idleness, not busy at work, but dbusybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.8
13 As for you, brothers, edo not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and fhave nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 gDo not regard him as an enemy, but hwarn him as a brother.
Benediction
16 Now may ithe Lord of peace himself jgive you peace at all times in every way. kThe Lord be with you all.
17 I, Paul, write lthis greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. 18 mThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
