The King of Egypt Is Compared to a Crocodile
1 On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. 2 “Mortal man,” he said, “give a solemn warning to the king of Egypt. Give him this message from me: You act like a lion among the nations, but you are more like a crocodile splashing through a river. You muddy the water with your feet and pollute the rivers. 3 When many nations gather, I will catch you in my net and let them drag the net ashore. 4 I will throw you out on the ground and bring all the birds and animals of the world to feed on you. 5 I will cover mountains and valleys with your rotting corpse. 6 I will pour out your blood until it spreads over the mountains and fills the streams. 7 When I destroy you, I will cover the sky and blot out the stars. The sun will hide behind the clouds, and the moon will give no light. 8 I will put out all the lights of heaven and plunge your world into darkness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.
9 “Many nations will be troubled when I spread the news of your destruction through countries you never heard of. 10 What I do to you will shock many nations. When I swing my sword, kings will shudder with fright. On the day you fall, all of them will tremble in fear for their own lives.”
11 The Sovereign Lord says to the king of Egypt, “You will face the sword of the king of Babylonia. 12 I will let soldiers from cruel nations draw their swords and kill all your people. All your people and everything else that you are proud of will be destroyed. 13 I will slaughter your cattle at every water hole. There will be no people or cattle to muddy the water any more. 14 I will let your waters settle and become clear and let your rivers run calm. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. 15 When I make Egypt a desolate wasteland and destroy all who live there, they will know that I am the Lord. 16 This solemn warning will become a funeral song. The women of the nations will sing it to mourn for Egypt and all its people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”
The World of the Dead
17 On the fifteenth day of the first month of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. 18 “Mortal man,” he said, “mourn for all the many people of Egypt. Send them down with the other powerful nations to the world of the dead. 19 Say to them:
“Do you think you are more beautiful than anyone else?
You will go down to the world of the dead
and lie there among the ungodly.
20 “The people of Egypt will fall with those who are killed in battle. A sword is ready to kill them all. 21 The greatest heroes and those who fought on the Egyptian side welcome the Egyptians to the world of the dead. They shout: ‘The ungodly who were killed in battle have come down here, and here they lie!’
22 “Assyria is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, 23 and their graves are in the deepest parts of the world of the dead. All her soldiers fell in battle, and their graves surround her tomb. Yet once they terrified the land of the living.
24 “Elam is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, and they went down, uncircumcised, to the world of the dead. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced. 25 Elam lies down among those killed in battle, and the graves of her soldiers are all around her. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced, sharing the fate of those killed in battle.
26 “Meshech and Tubal are there, with the graves of their soldiers all around. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. Yet once they terrified the living. 27 They were not given honorable burial like the heroes of ancient times, who went fully armed to the world of the dead, their swords placed under their heads and their shields over their bodies. These heroes were once powerful enough to terrify the living.
28 “That is how the Egyptians will lie crushed among the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.
29 “Edom is there with her kings and rulers. They were powerful soldiers, but now they lie in the world of the dead with the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.
30 “All the princes of the north are there, and so are the Sidonians. Their power once spread terror, but now they go down in disgrace with those killed in battle and are laid to rest, uncircumcised. They share the disgrace of those who go down to the world of the dead.
31 “The sight of all these who were killed in battle will be a comfort to the king of Egypt and his army,” says the Sovereign Lord.
32 “I caused the king of Egypt to terrorize the living, but he and all his army will be killed and laid to rest with all the uncircumcised who die in battle.” The Sovereign Lord has 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.