Ezekiel 30:1-19·~1 min

A Lament for Egypt

The word of the LORD commands lamentation over Egypt, because the day is near—the day of the LORD, a cloudy time of doom for the nations. A sword will come upon Egypt, anguish will seize Cush, and Egypt's slain and wealth will fall while its foundations are torn down. Allies and dependent peoples will collapse with her, and the pride of her power will come down. Fire will burn in Egypt, and messengers will go out to terrify complacent Cush when the day arrives.

A¹gain the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: ³For the day is near, ⁴A sword will come against Egypt, ⁵Cush, Put, and Lud, ⁶For this is what the LORD says: ⁷They will be desolate among desolate lands, ⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD ⁹On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom. For it is indeed coming.

The Lord GOD declares that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon will bring Egypt's hordes to an end. Ruthless nations will devastate the land, rivers will dry up, and the country will be sold into the hand of evil men. Idols will be destroyed, princes removed, and terror spread through Egypt's major cities and regions—Pathros, Zoan, Thebes, Sin, Noph, and Tahpanhes. Through these judgments Egypt will know that the LORD is at work against it.

¹⁰This is what the Lord GOD says: ¹¹He and his people with him, ¹²I will make the streams dry up ¹³This is what the Lord GOD says: ¹⁴I will lay waste Pathros, ¹⁵I will pour out My wrath on Pelusium, ¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt, ¹⁷The young men of On and Pi-beseth ¹⁸The day will be darkened in Tahpanhes ¹⁹So I will execute judgment on Egypt,

Section summaryThe LORD commands a wail over Egypt because the day of judgment is near, a day of clouds and doom not only for Egypt but for the nations bound up with her. Sword, anguish, and devastation will fall across the land and its allies. Egypt's pride will collapse, its cities will be desolated, its idols destroyed, and its rivers and power handed over to ruthless conquerors. The effect will be unmistakable: Egypt and all who trusted in her will learn the LORD's identity through ruin.

Role in the chapterThis section frames Egypt's collapse as a sweeping day-of-the-LORD judgment against an entire imperial system and its supporting network.