Ezekiel 30
Egypt falls to Babylon invaders
God rattles the foundation of Egypt
1The Lord gave me a message:2Human, tell everyone this prophecy comes from the Lord God:
It’s time to start mourning.
3A terrible day is coming soon.
It’s Judgment Day for the nations.
4Swords are headed to Egypt.
Terror will continue its southern trek to Ethiopia, [1]
After Egypt falls, and loses its wealth,
And watches its buildings destroyed.
5Everyone in the region is going down: Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and anyone else allied with these groups. The sword is coming to kill you. 6The LORD says this to Egypt:
Invaders will overrun all your allies and crush you. Your power will collapse, and your people will die, killed by the sword, from Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south. Thet’s what the Lord God says.
7You will become just another decimated nation. Your cities will lie in ruins. 8People will know the LORD did this, when invaders set fire to your nation and tear your allies to pieces. 9When Egypt falls, I’ll send messengers on ships to break the news to the people in Ethiopia. They thought they were safe. But this news will terrify them.
God sends Babylon army to crush Egypt
10The Lord God said:I’m going to send King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the Egyptian army. 11He leads the most terrifying nation of all. His army will attack Egypt, destroy the land, and litter the ground with corpses.
12I’ll dry up Egypt’s irrigation channels, and I’ll give the land to evil people. I’m sending invaders to decimate Egypt’s land and everything in it. That’s what I, the LORD, am telling you.
13The Lord God said:
I'm going to destroy your idols
Including those in the city of Memphis. [2]
That town will no longer have a ruler.
14I’ll leave the city of Pathros in ruins.
I’ll burn Zoan.
I’ll punish Thebes. 15I’ll pour anger on Pelusium,
Egypt’s strongest fortress.
I’ll end the glory days of Thebes. [3]
16I’ll set Egypt on fire.
Pelusium [4] will suffer terribly.
Thebes’s defenses will snap.
Memphis will live in fear day after day.
17Young warriors will fall to the sword
In Heliopolis and Bubastis. [5]
Surviving citizens will become captives.
18It’ll be a dark day for Tahpanhes [6]
When Egypt falls.
I’ll shred their powerful army,
Cover the town in a dark cloud,
And send her women away as captives.
19This is the punishment I’m giving Egypt,
So they’ll know that I am the LORD.
God breaks arms of Egypt’s king
20The LORD gave me this message in the spring [7] of the 11th year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity in Babylon:21Human, I snapped the power of Pharaoh’s Egyptian army, like breaking an arm. There’s no fixing this break. It won’t heal and become strong again. 22I am the enemy of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. I’ll break both his arms and force him to drop his sword. 23I’ll scatter surviving Egyptians to other nations.
24I’ll add muscle to the arms of Babylon’s king. But Egypt’s king will groan in pain like a dying man. [8] 25I’ll make Babylon’s king stronger and Pharaoh weaker. When it’s done, people will know that it was the LORD who put the sword in the hands of Babylon’s king and who broke the arms of Pharaoh. I’ll punish Egypt once again. 26I’ll scatter Egyptians to other countries. Then they’ll know that I’m the LORD.
Footnotes
Cush was the ancient name of the region. In the Bible it usually refers to what is now southern Egypt and Ethiopia. But some Bible experts say it may refer to the land settled by the descendants of “Cush” (Genesis 10:7-8). They settled in Babylonia, in what is now Iraq.
Memphis was Egypt’s capital, located near the northern end of the Nile River, where the river flows northward into the Mediterranean Sea. It was 12 miles (20 km) south of Cairo.
Thebes (Hebrew name No) was the New York City and Rome of its day, a hub of culture and religion—the center of faith in Amon, a popular god in Egypt. Thebes may have had more people living there than in any other Egyptian town.
Pelusium, Sin in Hebrew, was a town on Egypt northeast coast, on the main route north to the land of the Philistines and Israel.
Hebrew names are On and Pi-beseth.
Tahpanhes, like Memphis, was a city near the northern end of the Nile River. Tahpanhes was about 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Cairo. It was on a popular caravan route to Israel. This is a city where many Jews escaped to when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
In Hebrew, Ezekiel got his message on the seventh day of the first month of the year, on the Hebrew lunar calendar, Nisan, (between March-April). That puts the date about one year before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
This is a vague description that only hints that Egypt’s king will die because of what happens here.
Discussion Questions
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