A Lament for Pharaoh King of Egypt
1 On the first day of the twelfth month, in the twelfth year of king Jehoaichin’s captivity, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and tell him:
‘You likened yourself to a young lion of the nations,
yet you are like a monster in the seas.
You thrashed around in your rivers
and stirred up the waters with your feet
and muddied their rivers.’
3 This is what the Lord God says:
‘I will spread out my net over you
with an assembly of many peoples,
and they will draw you up in my net.
4 I will leave you on the land.
I will cast you out on the open field
and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you.
I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.
5 I will lay your flesh on the mountains
and fill the valleys with your remains.
6 I will drench the land
with the flow of your blood,
even to the mountains.
The watercourses will be full of your blood.
7 When I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens
and make its stars dark.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light.
8 I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you
and set darkness on your land,’ says the Lord God.
9 ‘I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples,
when I bring your destruction among the nations,
into the countries which you have not known.
10 Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you,
and their kings will be horribly afraid for you,
when I brandish my sword before them.
They will tremble at every moment,
every man for his own life,
in the day of your fall.’
11 For the Lord God says:
‘The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you.
12 I will cause your hordes to fall by the swords of the mighty.
They are all the most ruthless among the nations.
They will bring the pride of Egypt to nothing,
and all its hordes will be destroyed.
13 I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters.
The foot of man will not trouble them any more,
nor will the hoofs of animals trouble them.
14 Then I will make their waters clear,
and cause their rivers to run like oil,’ says the Lord God.
15 ‘When I make the land of Egypt desolate and waste,
a land destitute of that of which it was full,
when I strike all those who dwell in it,
then they will know that I am the Lord.’
16 This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with this. They will lament with it over Egypt and over all her multitude, says the Lord God.”
Egypt Cast into the Pit
17 Also on the fifteenth day of the month, in the twelfth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit:
19 ‘Whom do you pass in beauty?
Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.
20 They will fall among those who are slain by the sword.
She is delivered to the sword.
Draw her away with all her multitudes.
21 The strong among the mighty will speak to him
from the midst of Sheol with those who help him.
They have gone down.
The uncircumcised lie still, slain by the sword.
22 Assyria is there with all her company.
Her graves are all around her.
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit,
and her company is around her grave;
all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
who caused terror in the land of the living.
24 There is Elam
and all her multitude around her grave.
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
who have gone down uncircumcised
into the lower parts of the earth,
who caused their terror
in the land of the living,
and have borne their shame
with those who go down to the pit.
25 They have set her a bed among the slain
with all her multitude.
Her graves are around her,
all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
for their terror was caused in the land of the living,
and they have borne their disgrace
with those who go down to the pit
and are placed among the slain.
26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude.
Their graves are around them,
all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
for they caused their terror in the land of the living.
27 They will not lie with the mighty
who are fallen of the uncircumcised,
who have gone down to Sheol
with their weapons of war,
and have laid their swords under their heads,
and their iniquities are on their bones,
although they were the terror of the mighty
in the land of the living.
28 But you will be broken
among the uncircumcised,
and will lie with those
who are slain by the sword.
29 There is Edom, her kings and all her princes,
who in their might are laid
with those who are slain by the sword.
They will lie with the uncircumcised
and with those who go down to the pit.
30 There are the princes of the north, all of them,
and all the Sidonians who have gone down with the slain.
They are put to shame in the terror
which they caused by their might.
They lie uncircumcised with those
who are slain by the sword,
and bear their shame
with those who go down to the pit.
31 Pharaoh will see them,
and will be comforted over all his multitude,
Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,” says the Lord God.
32 For I have put his terror
in the land of the living.
He will be laid among the uncircumcised,
with those who are slain by the sword,
Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.”