Va’era

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh.

Ezekiel 28.25-29.21

Chapter 28
²⁵ Thus said the Lord God: When I have gathered the House of Israel from the peoples among which they have been dispersed, and have shown Myself holy through them in the sight of the nations, they shall settle on their own soil, which I gave to My servant Jacob, ²⁶ and they shall dwell on it in security. They shall build houses and plant vineyards, and shall dwell on it in security, when I have meted out punishment to all those about them who despise them. And they shall know that I the Lord am their God.

Chapter 29
¹ In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the Lord came to me: ² O mortal, turn your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. ³ Speak these words:

Thus said the Lord God:
I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Mighty monster, sprawling in your channels,
Who said,
My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.
⁴ I will put hooks in your jaws,
And make the fish of your channels
Cling to your scales;
I will haul you up from your channels,
With all the fish of your channels
Clinging to your scales.
⁵ And I will fling you into the desert,
With all the fish of your channels.
You shall be left lying in the open,
Ungathered and unburied:
I have given you as food
To the beasts of the earth
And the birds of the sky.
⁶ Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
That I am the Lord.
Because you were a staff of reed
To the House of Israel:
⁷ When they grasped you with the hand, you would splinter,
And wound all their shoulders,
And when they leaned on you, you would break,
And make all their loins unsteady.

⁸ Assuredly, thus said the Lord God: Lo, I will bring a sword against you, and will cut off man and beast from you, ⁹ so that the land of Egypt shall fall into desolation and ruin. And they shall know that I am the Lord — because he boasted, “The Nile is mine, and I made it.” ¹⁰ Assuredly, I am going to deal with you and your channels, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to utter ruin and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Nubia. ¹¹ No foot of man shall traverse it, and no foot of beast shall traverse it; and it shall remain uninhabited for forty years. ¹² For forty years I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate of desolate lands, and its cities shall be the most desolate of ruined cities. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

¹³ Further, thus said the Lord God: After a period of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were dispersed. ¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of the Egyptians and bring them back to the land of their origin, the land of Pathros, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵ It shall be the lowliest of all the kingdoms, and shall not lord it over the nations again. I will reduce the Egyptians, so that they shall have no dominion over the nations. ¹⁶ Never again shall they be the trust of the House of Israel, recalling its guilt in having turned to them. And they shall know that I am the Lord God.

¹⁷ In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸ O mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has made his army expend vast labor on Tyre; every head is rubbed bald and every shoulder scraped. But he and his army have had no return for the labor he expended on Tyre. ¹⁹ Assuredly, thus said the Lord God: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. He shall carry off her wealth and take her spoil and seize her booty; and she shall be the recompense of his army. ²⁰ As the wage for which he labored, for what they did for Me, I give him the land of Egypt — declares the Lord God. ²¹ On that day I will endow the House of Israel with strength, and you shall be vindicated among them. And they shall know that I am the Lord.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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