1   On the first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth ^note year the word of the Lord came to me: 2   Man, raise a dirge over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:

    Young lion of the nations, you are undone.
  You were like a monster ^note in the waters of the Nile

Prophecies against foreign nations
    scattering the water with its snout, ^{note note}
  churning the water with its feet
    and fouling the streams.

3   These are the words of the Lord God: When many nations are gathered together I will spread my net over you, and you will be dragged up in its meshes. 4   I will fling you on land, dashing you down on the bare ground. I will let all the birds of the air settle upon you and all the wild beasts gorge themselves on your flesh. 5   Your flesh I will lay on the mountains, and fill the valleys with the worms that feed on it. 6   I will drench the land with your discharge, drench it with your blood to the very mountain-tops, and the watercourses shall be full of you. 7   When I put out your light I will veil the sky and blacken its stars; I will veil the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. 8   I will darken all the shining lights of the sky above you and bring darkness over your land. This is the very word of the Lord God.

9   I will disquiet ^note many peoples when I bring your broken army among the nations into lands you have never known. 10   I will appal many peoples with your fate; when I brandish my sword in the faces of their kings, their hair shall stand on end. In the day of your downfall each shall tremble for his own fate from moment to moment. 11   For these are the words of the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12   I will make the whole horde of you fall by the sword of warriors who are of all men the most ruthless. They shall make havoc of the pride of Egypt, and all its horde shall be wiped out. 13   I will destroy all their cattle beside many waters. No foot of man, no hoof of beast, shall ever churn them up again. 14   Then will I let their waters settle and their streams run smooth as oil. This is the very word of the Lord God. 15   When I have laid Egypt waste, and the whole land is devastated, when I strike down all who dwell there, they shall know that I am the Lord.

16   This is a dirge, and the women of the nations shall sing it as a dirge. They shall sing it as a dirge, as a dirge over Egypt and all its horde. This is the very word of the Lord God.

17   On the fifteenth day of the first ^note month in the twelfth year, the word of the Lord came to me:

   18   Man, raise a lament, you and the daughters of the nations,
      over the hordes of Egypt and her nobles,
    whom I will bring down ^note to the world below
    with those that go down to the abyss.

Prophecies against foreign nations
     19   Are you better favoured than others?
  Go down and be laid to rest with the strengthless dead.

20   A sword stands ready. Those who marched with her, and all her horde, shall fall into the midst of those slain by the sword. 21   Warrior chieftains in Sheol speak to Pharaoh ^note and those who aided him:

The strengthless dead, slain by the sword, have come down and are laid to rest. 22   There is Assyria with all her company, her buried around her, all of them slain and fallen by the sword. 23   Her graves are set in the recesses of the abyss, with her company buried around her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, men who once filled the land of the living with terror. 24   There is Elam, with all her hordes buried around her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword; they have gone down strengthless to the world below, men who struck terror into the land of the living but now share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss. 25   In the midst of the slain a resting-place has been made for her, with all her hordes buried around her; all of them strengthless, slain by the sword. For they who once struck terror into the land of the living now share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss; they are assigned a place in the midst of the slain. 26   There are Meshech and Tubal with all their hordes, with their buried around them, all of them strengthless and slain by the sword, men who once struck terror into the land of the living. 27   Do they not rest with warriors fallen strengthless, ^note who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons, their swords under their heads and their shields over their bones, ^note though the terror of their prowess ^note once lay on the land of the living? 28   You also, Pharaoh, shall lie broken in the company of the strengthless dead, resting with those slain by the sword. 29   There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who, for all their prowess, have been lodged with those slain by the sword; they shall rest with the strengthless dead and with those that go down to the abyss. 30   There are all the princes of the North and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror they inspired by their prowess. They rest strengthless with those slain by the sword, and they share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss.

31   Pharaoh will see them and will take comfort for his lost hordes— Pharaoh who, with all his army, is slain by the sword, says the Lord God; 32   though he spread ^note terror throughout the land of the living, yet he with all his horde is laid to rest with those that are slain by the sword, in the company of the strengthless dead. This is the very word of the Lord God.

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