A Funeral Song for the King of Egypt
1 Twelve years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the Lord spoke to me on the first day of the twelfth month. He said:
2 Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the king of Egypt and tell him I am saying:
You act like a lion
roaming the earth;
but you are nothing more than
a crocodile in a river,
churning up muddy water
with your feet.
3 King of Egypt, listen to me. I, the Lord God, will catch you in my net and let a crowd of foreigners drag you to shore. 4 I will throw you into an open field, where birds and animals will come to feed on your flesh. 5 I will spread your rotting flesh over the mountains and in the valleys, 6 and your blood will flow throughout the land and fill up the streams. 7 I will cover the whole sky and every star with thick clouds, so that the sun and moon will stop shining. 8 The heavens will become black, leaving your country in total darkness. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
9 Foreign nations you have never heard of will be shocked when I tell them how I destroyed you. 10 They will be horrified, and when I flash my sword in victory on the day of your death, their kings will tremble in the fear of what could happen to them.
11 The king of Babylonia is coming to attack you, king of Egypt! 12 Your soldiers will be killed by the cruelest army in the world, and everything you take pride in will be crushed. 13 I will slaughter your cattle that graze by the river, and no people or livestock will be left to muddy its water. 14 The water will be clear, and streams will be calm. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
15 Egypt will become a barren wasteland, and no living thing will ever survive there. Then you and your people will know that I am the Lord.
16 This is your warning, and it will be used as a funeral song by foreign women to mourn the death of your people. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
A Sad Ending for Egypt
17 On the fifteenth day of that same month, the Lord said:
18 Ezekiel, son of man, mourn for the Egyptians and condemn them to the world of the dead, where they will be buried alongside the people of other powerful nations. 19 Say to them:
You may be more beautiful
than the people
of other nations,
but you will also die
and join the godless
in the world below.
20 You cannot escape! The enemy's sword is ready to slaughter every one of you. 21 Brave military leaders killed in battle will gladly welcome you and your allies into the world of the dead.
22-23 The graves of soldiers from Assyria are there. They once terrified people, but they were killed in battle and now lie deep in the world of the dead.
24-25 The graves of soldiers from Elam are there. The very sight of those godless soldiers once terrified their enemies and made them panic. But now they are disgraced and ashamed as they lie in the world of the dead, alongside others who were killed in battle.
26 The graves of soldiers from Meshech and Tubal are there. These godless soldiers who terrified people were all killed in battle. 27 They were not given a proper burial like the heroes of long ago, who were buried with their swords under their heads and with their shields over their bodies. These were the heroes who made their enemies panic.
28 You Egyptians will be cruelly defeated, and you will be buried alongside these other godless soldiers who died in battle.
29 The graves of kings and leaders from Edom are there. They were powerful at one time. Now they are buried in the world of the dead with other godless soldiers killed in battle.
30 The graves of the rulers of the north are there, as well as those of the Sidonians. Their powerful armies once terrified enemies. Now they lie buried in the world of the dead, where they are disgraced like other soldiers killed in battle.
31 The Lord God says:
When your king of Egypt sees all of these graves, he and his soldiers will be glad they are not the only ones suffering. 32 I sent him to terrify people all over the earth. But he and his army will be killed and buried alongside other godless soldiers in the world of the dead. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
1 And in the twelfth yeere in the twelfth moneth, and in the first day of the moneth, the worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 2 Sonne of man, take vp a lamentation for Pharaoh King of Egypt, and say vnto him, Thou art like a lyon of the nations and art as a dragon in the sea: thou castedst out thy riuers and troubledst the waters with thy feete, and stampedst in their riuers. 3 Thus sayth the Lord God, I will therefore spread my net ouer thee with a great multitude of people, and they shall make thee come vp into my net. 4 Then will I leaue thee vpon the land, and I will cast thee vpon the open field, and I wil cause all the foules of the heauen to remaine vpon thee, and I will fill all the beastes of the field with thee. 5 And I will lay thy flesh vpon the mountaines, and fill the valleys with thine height. 6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, euen to ye mountaines, and the riuers shall be full of thee. 7 And when I shall put thee out, I will couer the heauen, and make the starres thereof darke: I will couer the sunne with a cloude, and the moone shall not giue her light. 8 All the lightes of heauen will I make darke for thee, and bring darkenesse vpon thy lande, sayeth the Lord God. 9 I will also trouble the heartes of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations and vpon the countries which thou hast not knowen. 10 Yea, I will make many people amased at thee, and their Kings shalbe astonished with feare for thee, when I shall make my sworde to glitter against their faces, and they shall be afraide at euery moment: euery man for his owne life in the day of thy fall. 11 For thus sayth the Lord God, The sworde of the King of Babel shall come vpon thee. 12 By the swordes of the mightie will I cause thy multitude to fall: they all shall be terrible nations, and they shall destroy the pompe of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shalbe consumed. 13 I will destroy also all the beastes thereof from the great watersides, neither shall the foote of man trouble them any more, nor the hooues of beast trouble them. 14 Then will I make their waters deepe, and cause their riuers to runne like oyle, sayeth the Lord God. 15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the countrey with all that is therein, shall be laid waste: when I shall smite all them which dwell therein, then shall they know that I am ye Lord. 16 This is the mourning wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for Egypt, and for all her multitude, sayeth the Lord God. 17 In the twelfth yeere also in the fifteenth day of the moneth, came the worde of the Lord vnto me, saying, 18 Sonne of man, lament for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them downe, euen them and the daughters of the mighty nations vnto the nether partes of the earth, with them that goe downe into the pit. 19 Whome doest thou passe in beautie? goe downe and sleepe with the vncircumcised. 20 They shall fall in the middes of them that are slaine by the sword: shee is deliuered to the sword: draw her downe, and all her multitude. 21 The most mighty and strong shall speake to him out of the mids of hell with them that helpe her: they are gone downe and sleepe with the vncircumcised that be slaine by the sworde. 22 Asshur is there and all his companie: their graues are about him: all they are slaine and fallen by the sworde. 23 Whose graues are made in the side of the pit, and his multitude are rounde about his graue: all they are slaine and fallen by the sworde, which caused feare to be in the land of the liuing. 24 There is Elam and all his multitude round about his graue: al they are slaine and fallen by the sword which are gone downe with the vncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused themselues to be feared in the land of the liuing, yet haue they borne their shame with them that are gone downe to the pit. 25 They haue made his bed in the mids of the slaine with al his multitude: their graues are round about him: all these vncircucised are slaine by the sworde: though they haue caused their feare in the land of ye liuing, yet haue they borne their shame with them that goe downe to the pitte: they are laide in the middes of them, that be slaine. 26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude, their graues are round about them: al these vncircumcised were slaine by the sworde, though they caused their feare to be in ye land of the liuing. 27 And they shall not lie with the valiant of the vncircumcised, that are fallen, which are gone down to the graue, with their weapons of warre, and haue laied their swords vnder their heads, but their iniquitie shalbe vpon their bones: because they were the feare of the mighty in the lande of the liuing. 28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the middes of the vncircumcised, and lie with them that are slaine by the sworde. 29 There is Edom, his Kings, and all his princes, which with their strength are laied by them that were slaine by the sworde: they shall sleepe with the vncircumcised, and with them that goe downe to the pit. 30 There be al the princes of the North, with al the Zidonians, which are gone downe with the slaine, with their feare: they are ashamed of their strength, and the vncircumcised sleepe with them that be slaine by the sword, and beare their shame with them that goe downe to the pit. 31 Pharaoh shall see them, and hee shall be comforted ouer all his multitude: Pharaoh, and all his armie shall be slaine by the sword, saieth the Lord God. 32 For I haue caused my feare to be in the lande of the liuing: and he shall be laid in the mids of the vncircumcised with them, that are slaine by the sword, euen Pharaoh and all his multitude, sayeth the Lord God.