And in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his multitude:
Whom are you like in your greatness?

Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and forest shade
And great height,
And its top shoots were among the thick boughs.

Waters nourished it,
The deep springs made it grow;
Its rivers flowed around
The place it was planted;
And it flowed out its channels
To all the trees of the field.

Therefore its height was exalted
Above all the trees of the field,
And its boughs were multiplied,
And its branches lengthened,
Because of abundant waters, as it spread.

All the birds of the sky
Made their nests in its boughs,
And all the beasts of the field
Bore their young under its branches,
And in its shade
All great nations dwelt.

Thus it was beautiful in its greatness,
In the length of its branches;
For its roots were beside abundant waters.

Cedars in the garden of God could not hide it;
Cypresses could not compare to its boughs,
And plane trees could not equal its branches;
No tree in the garden of God could compare to it in its beauty.

I made it beautiful
By the multitude of its branches,
So that all the trees of Eden,
Which were in the garden of God, envied it.

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Because you are exalted in height — it set its top shoots among the thick boughs, and its heart is lifted up in its height —

Therefore I will deliver it into the hands of the mighty one of the nations; he will surely deal with it. I have driven it out according to its wickedness.

And strangers, the most ruthless of the nations, have cut it down and left it on the mountains, and its branches have fallen into all the valleys, and its boughs lie broken by all the ravines of the land; and all the peoples of the earth have abandoned its shade and left it.

Upon its fallen trunk
All the birds of the sky will dwell,
And upon its branches
All the beasts of the field will be.

This is so that none of the well-watered trees will exalt themselves in their height by setting their top shoots among the thick boughs, and none of the well-watered trees will stand next to them in their height; for all of them have been delivered to death, to the lowest parts of the earth among the children of men who descend into the pit.

Thus says the Lord Jehovah, On the day it descended to Sheol I caused a mourning; I covered the deep springs for it, and I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were shut up. I also made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted on account of it.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all who drink water, were comforted in the lowest parts of the earth.

They also descended with it into Sheol to those who were slain by the sword; indeed to those who were its arm, who dwelt under its shade among the nations.

Which among the trees of Eden then are you like in glory and in greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lowest parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord Jehovah.

And in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him,
You likened yourself to a lion of the nations,
Yet you are like a monster in the seas;
And you gushed forth with your rivers
And muddied the waters with your feet
And fouled their rivers.

Thus says the Lord Jehovah,
I will spread My net upon you
With a company of many peoples,
And they will bring you up in My dragnet.

And I will abandon you upon the land;
I will cast you out into the open field,
And I will cause all the birds of the sky to settle upon you
And satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you.

And I will lay your flesh upon the mountains
And fill the valleys with your  ¹corpse.

I will also drench the land with your outpoured blood
As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you.

And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon will not give its light.

All the bright lights of heaven
I will darken over you
And send darkness upon your land,
Declares the Lord Jehovah.

I will also bring anguish to the hearts of many peoples, when I bring news of your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.

Yes, I will astonish many peoples because of you, and their kings will shudder excessively over you, when I brandish My sword before them; they will also tremble continually, everyone for his own life, on the day of your fall.

For thus says the Lord Jehovah, The king of Babylon's sword will come upon you.

By the swords of the mighty,
All of them the ruthless of the nations,
I will cause your multitude to fall;
And they will devastate the pride of Egypt,
And all its multitude will be destroyed.

I will also destroy all its beasts
From beside abundant waters;
No longer will human feet muddy them,
Nor will the hooves of beasts muddy them.

Then I will make their waters clear
And their rivers flow like oil, declares the Lord Jehovah.

When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
A land destitute of what filled it,
When I strike all its inhabitants,
They will know that I am Jehovah.

This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with it; over Egypt and over all her multitude they will lament with it, declares the Lord Jehovah.

In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, her and the daughters of mighty nations, to the lowest parts of the earth, with those who descend to the pit.

Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.

They will fall in the midst of those slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword. Drag her away with all her multitudes.

The strong among the mighty will speak to him and his allies from the midst of Sheol; they have gone down; they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

Assyria and all her company are there with their graves all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword,

Whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who had struck terror in the land of the living.

Elam and all her multitude are there, all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have descended uncircumcised into the lowest parts of the earth, who had struck their terror in the land of the living and bore their disgrace with those who descend to the pit.

They have made her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; their graves are all around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. Although their terror was struck in the land of the living, they now bear their disgrace with those who descend to the pit. They are placed among the slain.

Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. Although they had struck their terror in the land of the living,

They will not lie with the mighty uncircumcised who fell, who descended to Sheol with their weapons of war and laid their swords under their heads and their iniquities upon their bones, even though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

But you will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and lie with those slain by the sword.

Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are placed with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who descend to the pit.

The princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians are there, who descended with the slain; they are put to shame in spite of the terror they struck by their might. They also lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

Pharaoh will see them and be comforted over all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord Jehovah.

For I have put his terror in the land of the living, and he will be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord Jehovah.

 ¹Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, Whenever I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their midst and set him up as their watchman,

And when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people;

Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and ignores the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet and ignored the warning; his own blood will be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and the sword comes and takes someone away from them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

It is you, O son of man, whom I have appointed as a  ¹watchman to the house of Israel; therefore when you hear the word from My mouth, give them warning from Me.

When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Yet if you warn the wicked man of his way to turn from it and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, and you have  ¹delivered your soul.

And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, This is what you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and because of them we are wasting away. How then can we live?

Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn away from his way and live. Turn away, turn away from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

And you, son of man, say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him on the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not stumble him on the day he turns away from his wickedness. The righteous cannot be kept alive just because of his  ¹righteousness on the day he sins.

When I say concerning the righteous man, He will surely live, but if he has confidence in his righteousness and practices iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered. As for his iniquity that he practiced, in it he will die.

Again, when I say to the wicked man, You will surely die, but if he turns away from his sin and practices justice and righteousness —

If the wicked man restores a pledge, makes restitution for what he took in robbery, walks in the statutes of life, practicing no iniquity — he will surely live; he will not die.

None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him; he has practiced justice and righteousness; he will surely live.

Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair; but as for them, their way is not fair.

When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, he will even die in it.

And when a wicked man turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his ways.

And in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been struck down.

Now the hand of Jehovah had come upon me in the evening, before the coming of the one who had escaped; and He had opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning. Therefore my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb.

Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, the inhabitants of those ruined places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one person, and he was given the land as an inheritance; but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for an inheritance.

Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, You eat meat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood. Will you indeed possess the land?

You depend on your sword; you have committed abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Will you indeed possess the land?

Thus will you say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, As I live, surely those who are in the ruined places will fall by the sword, and he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.

And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her strength will cease, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate without anyone passing through.

Then will they know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

And as for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the entrances of the houses and speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, Come now, and hear what is the word that comes forth from Jehovah.

And they come to you just as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words but do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

And indeed you are to them like a very lovely song of one with a pleasant voice, who can play an instrument well; for they hear your words but do not do them.

And when this comes about — indeed it comes — then they will know that a prophet has been among them.