Bible in 90 Days

⁴⁰ “You even sent away to distant lands for priests to come with other gods for you to serve, and they have come and been welcomed! You bathed yourself, painted your eyelids, and put on your finest jewels for them. ⁴¹ You sat together on a beautifully embroidered bed and put my incense and my oil upon a table spread before you. ⁴² From your apartment came the sound of many men carousing—lewd men and drunkards from the wilderness, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns upon your head. ⁴³ Will they commit adultery with these who have become old harlot hags? ⁴⁴ Yet that is what they did. They went in to them—to Samaria and Jerusalem, these shameless harlots—with all the zest of lustful men who visit prostitutes. ⁴⁵ But just persons everywhere will judge them for what they really are—adulteresses and murderers. They will mete out to them the sentences the law demands.”

⁴⁶ The Lord God says: “Bring an army against them and hand them out to be crushed and despised. ⁴⁷ For their enemies will stone them and kill them with swords; they will butcher their sons and daughters and burn their homes. ⁴⁸ Thus will I make lewdness and idolatry to cease from the land. My judgment will be a lesson against idolatry for all to see. ⁴⁹ For you will be fully repaid for all your harlotry, your worshiping of idols. You will suffer the full penalty, and you will know that I alone am God.”

24 One day late in December of the ninth year (of King Jehoiachin’s captivity), another message came to me from the Lord.

² “Son of dust,” he said, “write down this date, for today the king of Babylon has attacked Jerusalem. ³ And now give this parable to these rebels, Israel; tell them, ‘The Lord God says: Put a pot of water on the fire to boil. ⁴ Fill it with choicest mutton, the rump and shoulder and all the most tender cuts. ⁵ Use only the best sheep from the flock, and heap fuel on the fire beneath the pot. Boil the meat well, until the flesh falls off the bones.’”

⁶ For the Lord God says: “Woe to Jerusalem, City of Murderers; you are a pot that is pitted with rust and with wickedness. So take out the meat chunk by chunk in whatever order it comes—for none is better than any other.^{[a] 7} For her wickedness is evident to all—she boldly murders, leaving blood upon the rocks in open view for all to see; she does not even try to cover it. ⁸ And I have left it there, uncovered, to shout to me against her and arouse my wrath and vengeance.

⁹ “Woe to Jerusalem, City of Murderers. I will pile on the fuel beneath her. ¹⁰ Heap on the wood; let the fire roar and the pot boil. Cook the meat well, and then empty the pot and burn the bones. ¹¹ Now set it empty on the coals to scorch away the rust and corruption. ¹² But all for naught—it all remains despite the hottest fire. ¹³ It is the rust and corruption of your filthy lewdness, of worshiping your idols. And now, because I wanted to cleanse you and you refused, remain filthy until my fury has accomplished all its terrors upon you! ¹⁴ I, the Lord, have spoken it; it shall come to pass and I will do it.”

¹⁵ Again a message came to me from the Lord, saying:

¹⁶ “Son of dust, I am going to take away your lovely wife. Suddenly, she will die. Yet you must show no sorrow. Do not weep; let there be no tears. ¹⁷ You may sigh, but only quietly. Let there be no wailing at her grave; don’t bare your head nor feet, and don’t accept the food brought to you by consoling friends.”

¹⁸ I proclaimed this to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did all the Lord had told me to.

¹⁹ Then the people said: “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”

^20-21 And I answered, “The Lord told me to say to the people of Israel: ‘I will destroy my lovely, beautiful Temple, the strength of your nation. And your sons and daughters in Judea will be slaughtered by the sword. ²² And you will do as I have done; you may not mourn in public or console yourself by eating the food brought to you by sympathetic friends. ²³ Your head and feet shall not be bared; you shall not mourn or weep. But you will sorrow to one another for your sins and mourn privately for all the evil you have done. ²⁴ Ezekiel is an example to you,’ the Lord God says. ‘You will do as he has done. And when that time comes, then you will know I am the Lord.’”

²⁵ “Son of dust, on the day I finish taking from them in Jerusalem the joy of their hearts and their glory and joys—their wives and their sons and their daughters— ²⁶ on that day a refugee from Jerusalem will start on a journey to come to you in Babylon to tell you what has happened. ²⁷ And on the day of his arrival, your voice will suddenly return to you so that you can talk with him; and you will be a symbol for these people, and they shall know I am the Lord.”

25 Then the Lord’s message came to me again. He said:

² “Son of dust, look toward the land of Ammon and prophesy against its people. ³ Tell them: ‘Listen to what the Lord God says. Because you scoffed when my Temple was destroyed, and mocked Israel in her anguish, and laughed at Judah when she was marched away captive, ⁴ therefore I will let the Bedouins from the desert to the east of you overrun your land. They will set up their encampments among you. They will harvest all your fruit and steal your dairy cattle. ⁵ And I will turn the city of Rabbah into a pasture for camels and all the country of the Ammonites into a wasteland where flocks of sheep can graze. Then you will know I am the Lord.’”

⁶ For the Lord God says: “Because you clapped and stamped and cheered with glee at the destruction of my people, ⁷ therefore I will lay my hand heavily upon you, delivering you to many nations for devastation. I will cut you off from being a nation anymore. I will destroy you; then you shall know I am the Lord.”

⁸ And the Lord God says: “Because the Moabites have said that Judah is no better off than any other nation, ^9-10 therefore I will open up the eastern flank of Moab, wiping out her frontier cities, the glory of the nation—Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon and Kiriathaim. And Bedouin tribes from the desert to the east will pour in upon her, just as they will upon Ammon. And Moab will no longer be counted among the nations. ¹¹ Thus I will bring down my judgment upon the Moabites, and they shall know I am the Lord.”

¹² And the Lord God says: “Because the people of Edom have sinned so greatly by avenging themselves upon the people of Judah, ¹³ I will smash Edom with my fist and wipe out her people, her cattle, and her flocks. The sword will destroy everything from Teman to Dedan. ¹⁴ By the hand of my people, Israel, this shall be done. They will carry out my furious vengeance.”

¹⁵ And the Lord God says: “Because the Philistines have acted against Judah out of revenge and long-standing hatred, ¹⁶ I will shake my fist over the land of the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Cherethites and utterly destroy those along the seacoast. ¹⁷ I will execute terrible vengeance upon them to rebuke them for what they have done. And when all this happens, then they shall know I am the Lord.”

26 Another message came to me from the Lord on the first day of the month, in the eleventh year (after King Jehoiachin was taken away to captivity).

² “Son of dust, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ha! She who controlled the lucrative north-south trade routes along the coast and along the course of the Jordan River^[b] has been broken, and I have fallen heir! Because she has been laid waste, I shall become wealthy!’”

³ Therefore the Lord God says: “I stand against you, Tyre, and I will bring nations against you like ocean waves. ⁴ They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers. I will scrape away her soil and make her a bare rock! ⁵ Her island shall become uninhabited, a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord God. “Tyre shall become the prey of many nations, ⁶ and her mainland city shall perish by the sword. Then they shall know I am the Lord.”

⁷ For the Lord God says: “I will bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—the king of kings from the north—against Tyre with a great army and cavalry and chariots. ⁸ First he will destroy your suburbs; then he will attack your mainland city by building a siege wall and raising a roof of shields against it. ⁹ He will set up battering rams against your walls and with sledgehammers demolish your forts. ¹⁰ The hoofs of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and your walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates, pulling chariots behind them. ¹¹ Horsemen will occupy every street in the city; they will butcher your people, and your famous, huge pillars will topple.

¹² “They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timber and even your dust into the sea. ¹³ I will stop the music of your songs. No more will there be the sound of harps among you. ¹⁴ I will make your island a bare rock,^[c] a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken it.” So says the Lord. ¹⁵ “The whole country will shake with your fall; the wounded will scream as the slaughter goes on.

¹⁶ “Then all the seaport rulers shall come down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and beautiful garments and sit on the ground shaking with fear at what they have seen. ¹⁷ And they shall wail for you, singing this dirge: ‘O mighty island city, with your naval power that terrorized the mainland, how you have vanished from the seas! ¹⁸ How the islands tremble at your fall! They watch dismayed.’”

¹⁹ For the Lord God says: “I will destroy Tyre to the ground. You will sink beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas shall swallow you. ²⁰ I will send you to the pit of hell to lie there with those of long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, dead, like the bodies of those in the underworld who entered long ago the nether world of the dead. Never again will you be inhabited or be given beauty here in the land of those who live. ²¹ I will bring you to a dreadful end; no search will be enough to find you,” says the Lord.

27 Then this message came to me from the Lord. He said:

² “Son of dust, sing this sad dirge for Tyre:

³ “‘O mighty seaport city, merchant center of the world, the Lord God speaks. You say, “I am the most beautiful city in all the world.” ⁴ You have extended your boundaries out into the sea; your architects have made you glorious. ⁵ You are like a ship built of finest fir from Senir. They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. ⁶ They made your oars from oaks of Bashan. The walls of your cabin are of cypress from the southern coast of Cyprus. ⁷ Your sails are made of Egypt’s finest linens; you stand beneath awnings bright with purple and scarlet dyes from eastern Cyprus.

⁸ “‘Your sailors come from Sidon and Arvad; your helmsmen are skilled men from Zemer. ⁹ Wise old craftsmen from Gebal do the calking. Ships come from every land with all their goods to barter for your trade.

¹⁰ “‘Your army includes men from far-off Paras, Lud, and Put.^[d] They serve you—it is a feather in your cap to have their shields hang upon your walls; it is the ultimate of honor. ¹¹ Men from Arvad and from Helech^[e] are the sentinels upon your walls; your towers are manned by men from Gamad. Their shields hang row on row upon the walls, perfecting your glory.

¹² “‘From Tarshish come all kinds of riches to your markets—silver, iron, tin, and lead. ¹³ Merchants from Javan, Tubal, and Meshech^[f] bring slaves and bronze dishes, ¹⁴ while from Togarmah come chariot horses, steeds, and mules.

¹⁵ “‘Merchants come to you from Rhodes, and many coastlands are your captive markets, giving payment in ebony and ivory. ¹⁶ Edom sends her traders to buy your many wares. They bring emeralds, purple dyes, embroidery, fine linen, and jewelry of coral and agate. ¹⁷ Judah and the cities in what was once the kingdom of Israel send merchants with wheat from Minnith and Pannag,^[g] and with honey, oil, and balm. ¹⁸ Damascus comes. She brings wines from Helbon and white Syrian wool to trade for all the rich variety of goods you make. ¹⁹ Vedan and Javan bring Arabian yarn,^[h] wrought iron, cassia, and calamus, ²⁰ while Dedan brings expensive saddlecloths for riding.

²¹ “‘The Arabians and Kedar’s wealthy merchant princes bring you lambs and rams and goats. ²² The merchants of Sheba and Raamah come with all kinds of spices, jewels, and gold. ²³ Haran, Canneh, Eden, Asshur, and Chilmad all send their wares. ²⁴ They bring choice fabrics to trade—blue cloth, embroidery, and many-colored carpets bound with cords and made secure. ²⁵ The ships of Tarshish are your ocean caravans; your island warehouse is filled to the brim!

²⁶ “‘But now your statesmen bring your ship of state into a hurricane! Your mighty vessel flounders in the heavy eastern gale,^[i] and you are wrecked in the heart of the seas! ²⁷ Everything is lost. Your riches and wares, your sailors and pilots, your shipwrights, merchants, and soldiers; and all the people sink into the sea on the day of your vast ruin.

²⁸ “‘The surrounding cities quake at the sound as your pilots scream with fright. ²⁹ All your sailors out at sea come to land and watch upon the mainland shore, ³⁰ weeping bitterly and casting dust upon their heads and wallowing in ashes. ³¹ They shave their heads in grief, put on sackcloth, and weep for you with bitterness of heart and deep mourning.

³² “‘And this is the song of their sorrow: “Where in all the world was there ever such a wondrous city as Tyre, destroyed in the midst of the sea? ³³ Your merchandise satisfied the desires of many nations. Kings at the ends of the earth rejoiced in the riches you sent them. ³⁴ Now you lie broken beneath the sea; all your merchandise and all your crew have perished with you. ³⁵ All who live along the coastlands watch, incredulous. Their kings are horribly afraid and look on with twisted faces. ³⁶ The merchants of the nations shake their heads, for your fate is dreadful; you have forever perished.”’”

28 Here is another message given to me from the Lord:

^2-3 “Son of dust, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord God says: You are so proud you think you are God, sitting on the throne of a god on your island home in the midst of the seas. But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast yourself to be like God. You are wiser than Daniel, for no secret is hidden from you. ⁴ You have used your wisdom and understanding to get great wealth—gold and silver and many treasures. ⁵ Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich and very proud.’”

⁶ Therefore the Lord God says: “Because you claim that you are as wise as God, ⁷ an enemy army, the terror of the nations, shall suddenly draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom and defile your splendor! ⁸ They will bring you to the pit of hell, and you shall die as those pierced with many wounds, there on your island in the heart of the seas. ⁹ Then will you boast as a god? At least to these invaders you will be no god, but merely man! ¹⁰ You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. For I have spoken it,” the Lord God says.

¹¹ Then this further message came to me from the Lord:

¹² “Son of dust, weep for the king of Tyre.^[j] Tell him, ‘The Lord God says: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; your clothing was bejeweled with every precious stone—ruby, topaz, diamond, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald—all in beautiful settings of finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. ¹⁴ I appointed you to be the anointed Guardian Angel. You had access to the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire.^[k]

¹⁵ “‘You were perfect in all you did from the day you were created until that time when wrong was found in you. ¹⁶ Your great wealth filled you with internal turmoil, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you out of the mountain of God like a common sinner. I destroyed you, O Guardian Angel, from the midst of the stones of fire.^{[l] 17} Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. Therefore, I have cast you down to the ground and exposed you helpless before the curious gaze of kings. ¹⁸ You defiled your holiness with lust for gain;^[m] therefore, I brought forth fire from your own actions and let it burn you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all those watching you. ¹⁹ All who know you are appalled at your fate; you are an example of horror; you are destroyed forever.’”

²⁰ Then another message came to me from the Lord:

²¹ “Son of dust, look toward the city of Sidon and prophesy against it. Say to it, ²² ‘The Lord God says: I am your enemy, O Sidon, and I will reveal my power over you. When I destroy you and show forth my holiness upon you, then all who see shall know I am the Lord. ²³ I will send an epidemic of disease and an army to destroy; the wounded shall be slain in your streets by troops on every side. Then you will know I am the Lord. ²⁴ No longer shall you and Israel’s other neighbor nations prick and tear at Israel like thorns and briars, though they formerly despised her and treated her with great contempt.

²⁵ “‘The people of Israel will once more live in their own land, the land I gave their father Jacob. For I will gather them back again from distant lands where I have scattered them, and I will show the nations of the world my holiness among my people. ²⁶ They will live safely in Israel and build their homes and plant their vineyards. When I punish all the bordering nations that treated them with such contempt, then they shall know I am the Lord their God.’”

29 Late in December of the tenth year (of the imprisonment of King Jehoiachin), this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, face toward Egypt and prophesy against Pharaoh her king and all her people. ³ Tell them that the Lord God says: ‘I am your enemy, Pharaoh, king of Egypt—mighty dragon lying in the middle of your rivers. For you have said, “The Nile is mine; I have made it for myself!” ⁴ I will put hooks into your jaws and drag you out onto the land with fish sticking to your scales. ⁵ And I will leave you and all the fish stranded in the desert to die, and you won’t be buried, for I have given you as food to the wild animals and birds.

⁶ “‘Because of the way your might collapsed when Israel called on you for aid instead of trusting me,^[n] all of you shall know I am the Lord. ⁷ Israel leaned on you but, like a cracked staff, you snapped beneath her hand and wrenched her shoulder out of joint and made her stagger with the pain. ⁸ Therefore the Lord God says: I will bring an army against you, O Egypt, and destroy both men and herds. ⁹ The land of Egypt shall become a desolate wasteland, and the Egyptians will know that I, the Lord, have done it.

¹⁰ “‘Because you said: “The Nile is mine! I made it!” therefore I am against you and your river, and I will utterly destroy the land of Egypt, from Migdol to Syene, as far south as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹ For forty years not a soul will pass that way, neither men nor animals. It will be completely uninhabited. ¹² I will make Egypt desolate, surrounded by desolate nations, and her cities will lie as wastelands for forty years. I will exile the Egyptians to other lands.

¹³ “‘But the Lord God says that at the end of the forty years he will bring the Egyptians home again from the nations to which they will be banished. ¹⁴ And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring her people back to the land of Pathros in southern Egypt where they were born, but she will be an unimportant, minor kingdom. ¹⁵ She will be the lowliest of all the nations; never again will she raise herself above the other nations; never again will Egypt be great enough for that.

¹⁶ “‘Israel will no longer expect any help from Egypt. Whenever she thinks of asking for it, then she will remember her sin in seeking it before. Then Israel will know that I alone am God.’”

¹⁷ In the twenty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,^[o] around the middle of March, this message came to me from the Lord:

¹⁸ “Son of dust, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought hard against Tyre. The soldiers’ heads were bald from carrying heavy basketfuls of earth; their shoulders were raw and blistered from burdens of stones for the siege. And Nebuchadnezzar received no compensation and could not pay the army for all this work.”^{[p] 19} Therefore, the Lord God says, “I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will carry off her wealth, plundering everything she has, for his army. ²⁰ Yes, I have given him the land of Egypt for his salary because he was working for me during those thirteen years at Tyre,” says the Lord. ²¹ “And the day will come when I will cause the ancient glory of Israel to revive, and then at last her words will be respected, and Egypt shall know I am the Lord.”

30 Another message from the Lord!

^2-3 “Son of dust, prophesy and say: The Lord God says, ‘Weep, for the terrible day is almost here; the day of the Lord; a day of clouds and gloom; a day of despair for the nations! ⁴ A sword shall fall on Egypt; the slain shall cover the ground. Her wealth is taken away, her foundations destroyed. The land of Cush has been ravished. ⁵ For Cush, Put, Lud, Arabia, and Libya, and all the countries leagued with them shall perish in that war.’”

⁶ For the Lord says: “All Egypt’s allies shall fall, and the pride of her power shall end. From Migdol to Syene they shall perish by the sword. ⁷ She shall be desolate, surrounded by desolate nations, and her cities shall be in ruins, surrounded by other ruined cities. ⁸ And they will know I am the Lord when I have set Egypt on fire and destroyed her allies. ⁹ At that time I will send swift messengers to bring panic to the Ethiopians; great terror shall befall them at that time of Egypt’s doom. This will all come true.”

¹⁰ For the Lord God says: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, will destroy the multitudes of Egypt. ¹¹ He and his armies—the terror of the nations—are sent to demolish the land. They shall war against Egypt and cover the ground with the slain. ¹² I will dry up the Nile and sell the whole land to wicked men. I will destroy Egypt and everything in it, using foreigners to do it. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

¹³ “And I will smash the idols of Egypt and the images at Memphis, and there will be no king in Egypt; anarchy shall reign!

¹⁴ “The cities of Pathros along the upper Nile,^[q] Zoan, and Thebes shall lie in ruins by my hand. ¹⁵ And I will pour out my fury upon Pelusium, the strongest fortress of Egypt, and I will stamp out the people of Thebes. ¹⁶ Yes, I will set fire to Egypt; Pelusium will be racked with pain. Thebes will be torn apart; Memphis will be in daily terror. ¹⁷ The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis shall die by the sword, and the women will be taken away as slaves. ¹⁸ When I come to break the power of Egypt, it will be a dark day for Tahpanhes too; a dark cloud will cover her, and her daughters will be taken away as captives. ¹⁹ And so I will greatly punish Egypt and they shall know I am the Lord.”

²⁰ A year later,^[r] around the middle of March of the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me:

²¹ “Son of dust, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh,^[s] king of Egypt, and it has not been set nor put into a cast to make it strong enough to hold a sword again. ²² For the Lord God says, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will break both his arms—the strong one and the one that was broken before, and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. ²³ And I will banish the Egyptians to many lands. ²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and place my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he shall groan before the king of Babylon as one who has been wounded unto death. ²⁵ I will strengthen the hands of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. Yes, when I place my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he swings it over the land of Egypt, Egypt shall know I am the Lord. ²⁶ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations; then they shall know I am the Lord.”

31 In mid-May of the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,^[t] this message came to me from the Lord:

^2-3 “Son of dust, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his people: ‘You are as Assyria was—a great and mighty nation—like a cedar of Lebanon, full of thick branches and forest shade, with its head high up among the clouds. ⁴ Its roots went deep into the moist earth. It grew luxuriantly and gave streamlets of water to all the trees around. ⁵ It towered above all the other trees. It prospered and grew long thick branches because of all the water at its roots. ⁶ The birds nested in its branches, and in its shade the flocks and herds gave birth to young. All the great nations of the world lived beneath its shadow. ⁷ It was strong and beautiful, for its roots went deep to water. ⁸ This tree was taller than any other in the garden of God; no cypress had branches equal to it; none had boughs to compare; none equaled it in beauty. ⁹ Because of the magnificence that I gave it, it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden.’

¹⁰ “But Egypt^[u] has become proud and arrogant,” the Lord God says. “Therefore because she has set herself so high above the others, reaching to the clouds, ¹¹ I will deliver her into the hands of a mighty nation, to destroy her as her wickedness deserves. I, myself, will cut her down. ¹² A foreign army (from Babylon)—the terror of the nations—will invade her land and cut her down and leave her fallen on the ground. Her branches will be scattered across the mountains and valleys and rivers of the land. All those who live beneath her shade will go away and leave her lying there. ¹³ The birds will pluck off her twigs, and the wild animals will lie among her branches; ¹⁴ let no other nation exult with pride for its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds, for all are doomed, and they will land in hell along with all the proud men of the world.”

¹⁵ The Lord God says: “When she fell, I made the oceans mourn for her and restrained their tides.^[v] I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of Lebanon to weep. ¹⁶ I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of her fall, for I threw her down to hell with all the others like her. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, are comforted to find her there with them in hell. ¹⁷ Her allies, too, are all destroyed and perish with her. They went down with her to the netherworld—those nations that had lived beneath her shade.

¹⁸ “O Egypt, you are great and glorious among the trees of Eden—the nations of the world. And you will be brought down to the pit of hell with all these other nations. You will be among the nations you despise, killed by the sword. This is the fate of Pharaoh and all his teeming masses,” says the Lord.

32 In mid-February of the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, mourn for Pharaoh, king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You think of yourself as a strong young lion among the nations, but you are merely a crocodile^[w] along the banks of the Nile, making bubbles and muddying the stream.’”

³ The Lord God says: “I will send a great army to catch you with my net. I will haul you out ⁴ and leave you stranded on the land to die. And all the birds of the heavens will light upon you, and the wild animals of the whole earth will devour you until they are glutted and full. ⁵ And I will cover the hills with your flesh and fill the valleys with your bones. ⁶ And I will drench the earth with your gushing blood, filling the ravines to the tops of the mountains. ⁷ I will blot you out, and I will veil the heavens and darken the stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give you her light. ⁸ Yes, darkness will be everywhere across your land—even the bright stars will be dark above you.

⁹ “And when I destroy you,^[x] grief will be in many hearts among the distant nations you have never seen. ¹⁰ Yes, terror shall strike in many lands, and their kings shall be terribly afraid because of all I do to you. They shall shudder with terror when I brandish my sword before them. They shall greatly tremble for their lives on the day of your fall.”

¹¹ For the Lord God says: “The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. ¹² I will destroy you with Babylon’s mighty army—the terror of the nations. It will smash the pride of Egypt and all her people; all will perish. ¹³ I will destroy all your flocks and herds that graze beside the streams, and neither man nor animal will disturb those waters anymore. ¹⁴ Therefore, the waters of Egypt will be as clear and flow as smoothly as olive oil,” the Lord God says. ¹⁵ “And when I destroy Egypt and wipe out everything she has, then she shall know that I, the Lord, have done it. ¹⁶ Yes, cry for the sorrows of Egypt. Let all the nations weep for her and for her people,” says the Lord.

¹⁷ Two weeks later,^[y] another message came to me from the Lord. He said:

¹⁸ “Son of dust, weep for the people of Egypt and for the other mighty nations. Send them down to the netherworld among the denizens of death. ¹⁹ What nation is as beautiful as you, O Egypt? Yet your doom is the pit; you will be laid beside the people you despise. ²⁰ The Egyptians will die with the multitudes slain by the sword, for the sword is drawn against the land of Egypt. She will be drawn down to judgment. ²¹ The mighty warriors in the netherworld will welcome her as she arrives with all her friends, to lie there beside the nations she despised, all victims of the sword.

²² “The princes of Assyria lie there surrounded by the graves of all her people, those the sword has slain. ²³ Their graves are in the depths of hell, surrounded by their allies. All these mighty men who once struck terror into the hearts of everyone are now dead at the hands of their foes.

²⁴ “Great kings of Elam lie there with their people. They scourged the nations while they lived, and now they lie undone in hell; their fate is the same as that of ordinary men. ²⁵ They have a resting place among the slain, surrounded by the graves of all their people. Yes, they terrorized the nations while they lived, but now they lie in shame in the pit, slain by the sword.

²⁶ “The princes of Meshech and Tubal are there, surrounded by the graves of all their armies—all of them idolaters—who once struck terror to the hearts of all; now they lie dead. ²⁷ They are buried in a common grave and not as the fallen lords who are buried in great honor with their weapons beside them, with their shields covering them and their swords beneath their heads.^[z] They were a terror to all while they lived. ²⁸ Now you will lie crushed and broken among the idolaters, among those who are slain by the sword.

²⁹ “Edom is there with her kings and her princes; mighty as they were, they too lie among the others whom the sword has slain, with the idolaters who have gone down to the pit. ³⁰ All the princes of the north are there and the Sidonians, all slain. Once a terror, now they lie in shame; they lie in ignominy with all the other slain who go down to the pit.

³¹ “When Pharaoh arrives, he will be comforted to find that he is not alone in having all his army slain,” says the Lord God. ³² “For I have caused my terror to fall upon all the living. And Pharaoh and his army shall lie among the idolaters who are slain by the sword.”

33 Once again a message came to me from the Lord. He said:

² “Son of dust, tell your people: ‘When I bring an army against a country, and the people of that land choose a watchman, ³ and when he sees the army coming and blows the alarm to warn them, ⁴ then anyone who hears the alarm but refuses to heed it—well, if he dies, the fault is his own. ⁵ For he heard the warning and wouldn’t listen; the fault is his. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm and warn the people, he is responsible for their deaths. They will die in their sins, but I will charge the watchman with their deaths.’

⁷ “So with you, son of dust. I have appointed you as a watchman for the people of Israel; therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will die!’ and you don’t tell him what I say, so that he does not repent—that wicked person will die in his sins, but I will hold you responsible for his death. ⁹ But if you warn him to repent and he doesn’t, he will die in his sins, and you will not be responsible.

¹⁰ “O people of Israel, you are saying: ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we pine away with guilt. How can we live?’ ¹¹ Tell them: ‘As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I desire that the wicked turn from his evil ways and live. Turn, turn from your wickedness, for why will you die, O Israel? ¹² For the good works of a righteous man will not save him if he turns to sin; and the sins of an evil man will not destroy him if he repents and turns from his sins.’

¹³ “I have said the good man will live. But if he sins, expecting his past goodness to save him, then none of his good deeds will be remembered. I will destroy him for his sins. ¹⁴ And when I tell the wicked he will die, and then he turns from his sins and does what is fair and right— ¹⁵ if he gives back the borrower’s pledge, returns what he has stolen, and walks along the paths of right, not doing evil—he shall surely live. He shall not die. ¹⁶ None of his past sins shall be brought up against him, for he has turned to the good and shall surely live.

¹⁷ “And yet your people are saying the Lord isn’t fair. The trouble is they aren’t fair. ¹⁸ For again I say, when the good man turns to evil, he shall die. ¹⁹ But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what’s fair and just, he shall live. ²⁰ Yet you are saying the Lord isn’t fair. But I will judge each of you in accordance with his deeds.”

²¹ In the eleventh year^[aa] of our exile, late in December, one of those who escaped from Jerusalem arrived to tell me, “The city has fallen!” ²² Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the previous evening, and he had healed me so that I could speak again by the time the man arrived.

²³ Then this message came to me:

²⁴ “Son of dust, the scattered remnants of Judah living among the ruined cities keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man and yet he got possession of the whole country! We are many, so we should certainly be able to get it back!’ ²⁵ But the Lord God says: ‘You are powerless, for you do evil! You eat meat with the blood, you worship idols, and murder. Do you suppose I’ll let you have the land? ²⁶ Murderers! Idolators! Adulterers! Should you possess the land?’

²⁷ “Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: As I live, surely those living in the ruins shall die by the sword. Those living in the open fields shall be eaten by wild animals, and those in the forts and caves shall die of disease. ²⁸ I will desolate the land and her pride, and her power shall come to an end. And the mountain villages of Israel shall be so ruined that no one will even travel through them. ²⁹ When I have ruined the land because of their sins, then they shall know I am the Lord.’

³⁰ “Son of dust, your people are whispering behind your back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors, saying, ‘Come on, let’s have some fun! Let’s go hear him tell us what the Lord is saying!’^{[ab] 31} So they come as though they are sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them to; they talk very sweetly about loving the Lord, but with their hearts they are loving their money. ³² You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings lovely songs with a beautiful voice or plays well on an instrument. They hear what you say but don’t pay any attention to it! ³³ But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.”

34 Then this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Say to them, ‘The Lord God says to you: Woe to the shepherds who feed themselves instead of their flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed the sheep? ³ You eat the best food and wear the finest clothes, but you let your flocks starve. ⁴ You haven’t taken care of the weak, nor tended the sick, nor bound up the broken bones, nor gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with force and cruelty. ⁵ So they were scattered, without a shepherd. They have become a prey to every animal that comes along. ⁶ My sheep wandered through the mountains and hills and over the face of the earth, and there was no one to search for them or care about them.

⁷ “‘Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ As I live, says the Lord God, you abandoned my flock, leaving them to be attacked and destroyed, and you were no real shepherds at all, for you didn’t search for them. You fed yourselves and let them starve; ^9-10 therefore, I am against the shepherds, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock—and take away their right to eat. I will save my flock from being taken for their food.’”

¹¹ For the Lord God says: “I will search and find my sheep. ¹² I will be like a shepherd looking for his flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places they were scattered in that dark and cloudy day. ¹³ And I will bring them back from among the people and nations where they were, back home to their own land of Israel, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel and by the rivers where the land is fertile and good. ¹⁴ Yes, I will give them good pasture on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in peace and feed in luscious mountain pastures. ^15-16 I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep and cause them to lie down in peace,” the Lord God says. “I will seek my lost ones, those who strayed away, and bring them safely home again. I will put splints and bandages upon their broken limbs and heal the sick. And I will destroy the powerful, fat shepherds; I will feed them, yes—feed them punishment!

¹⁷ “And as for you, O my flock—my people,” the Lord God says, “I will judge you and separate good from bad, sheep from goats.

¹⁸ “Is it a small thing to you, O evil shepherds, that you not only keep the best of the pastures for yourselves, but trample down the rest? That you take the best water for yourselves and muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ All that’s left for my flock is what you’ve trampled down; all they have to drink is water that you’ve fouled.”

²⁰ Therefore the Lord God says: “I will surely judge between these fat shepherds and their scrawny sheep. ²¹ For these shepherds push and butt and crowd my sick and hungry flock until they’re scattered far away. ²² So I myself will save my flock; no more will they be picked on and destroyed. And I will notice which is plump and which is thin, and why!

²³ “And I will set one Shepherd over all my people, even my Servant David. He shall feed them and be a Shepherd to them.

²⁴ “And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my Servant David shall be a Prince among my people. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

²⁵ “I will make a peace pact with them and drive away the dangerous animals from the land, so that my people can safely camp in the wildest places and sleep safely in the woods. ²⁶ I will make my people and their homes around my hill a blessing. And there shall be showers, showers of blessing, for I will not shut off the rains but send them in their seasons. ²⁷ Their fruit trees and fields will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken off their chains of slavery and delivered them from those who profiteered at their expense, they shall know I am the Lord. ²⁸ No more will other nations conquer them nor wild animals attack. They shall live in safety and no one shall make them afraid.

²⁹ “And I will raise up a notable Vine (the Messiah),^[ac] in Israel so that my people will never again go hungry nor be shamed by heathen conquest. ³⁰ In this way they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the people of Israel, are my people,” says the Lord God. ³¹ “You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my men and I am your God, so says the Lord.”

35 Again a message came from the Lord. He said:

² “Son of dust, face toward Mount Seir and prophesy against the people saying, ³ ‘The Lord God says: I am against you, and I will smash you with my fist and utterly destroy you. ^4-5 Because you hate my people Israel, I will demolish your cities and make you desolate, and then you shall know I am the Lord. You butchered my people when they were helpless, when I had punished them for all their sins. ⁶ As I live, the Lord God says, since you enjoy blood so much, I will give you a blood bath—your turn has come! ⁷ I will utterly wipe out the people of Mount Seir, killing off all those who try to escape and all those who return. ⁸ I will fill your mountains with the dead—your hills, your valleys, and your rivers will be filled with those the sword has killed. ⁹ Never again will you revive. You will be abandoned forever; your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you shall know I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “‘For you said, “Both Israel and Judah shall be mine. We will take possession of them. What do we care that God is there!” ¹¹ Therefore as I live, the Lord God says, I will pay back your angry deeds with mine—I will punish you for all your acts of envy and of hate. And I will honor my name in Israel by what I do to you. ¹² And you shall know that I have heard each evil word you spoke against the Lord, saying, “His people are helpless; they are food for us to eat!” ¹³ Saying that, you boasted great words against the Lord. And I have heard them all!

¹⁴ “‘The whole world will rejoice when I make you desolate. ¹⁵ You rejoiced at Israel’s fearful fate. Now I will rejoice at yours! You will be wiped out, O people of Mount Seir and all who live in Edom! And then you will know I am the Lord!’