Pharaoh: a Lion Or a Dragon?

32 On the first day of the twelfth month (March) in the twelfth year {of exile},* the word of the Lord came to me. He said, ²“Son of man,* sing this sad song about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Say to him: “‘You thought you were like a powerful young lion walking proud among the nations. But really, you are like a dragon* in the lakes. You push your way through the streams. You make the water muddy with your feet. You stir up the rivers of Egypt.’” ³The Lord my Master says these things: “I have gathered many people together. Now I will throw my net over you. Then those people will pull you in. ⁴Then I will drop you on the dry ground. I will throw you down in the field. I will let all the birds come and eat you. I will let wild animals from every place come and eat you until they are full. ⁵I will scatter your body on the mountains. I will fill the valleys with your dead body. ⁶I will pour your blood on the mountains, and it will soak down into the ground. The rivers will be full of you. ⁷I will make you disappear. I will cover the sky and make the stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not shine. ⁸I will make all the shining lights in the sky become dark over you. I will make your whole country dark.” The Lord my Master said those things. ⁹“I will make many people sad and upset when I bring an enemy to destroy you. Nations you don’t even know will be upset. ¹⁰I will make many people shocked about you. Their kings will be terribly afraid about you, when I swing my sword before them. The kings will shake with fear every moment on the day you fall. Each king will be afraid for his own life.” ¹¹Why? Because the Lord my Master says these things: “The sword of the king of Babylon will come to fight against you. ¹²I will use those soldiers to kill your people in battle. Those soldiers come from the most terrible of the nations. They will destroy the things Egypt is proud of. The people of Egypt will be destroyed. ¹³There are many animals by the rivers in Egypt. I will also destroy all those animals! People won’t make the waters muddy with their feet any more. The hoofs of cows won’t make the water muddy any more. ¹⁴So I will make the water in Egypt calm. I will cause their rivers to run slowly—they will be slick like oil.” The Lord my Master said those things. ¹⁵“I will make the land of Egypt empty. That land will lose everything. I will punish all the people living in Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord and Master! ¹⁶“This is a sad song that people will sing for Egypt. The daughters (cities) in other nations will sing this sad song about Egypt. They will sing it as a sad song about Egypt and all its people.” The Lord my Master said those things!

Egypt to Be Destroyed

¹⁷On the fifteenth day of that month, in the twelfth year {of exile},* the word of the Lord came to me. He said, ¹⁸“Son of man,* cry for the people of Egypt. Lead Egypt and those daughters from powerful nations to the grave. Lead them to the world below where they will be with the other people that went down into that deep hole. ¹⁹“Egypt, you are no better than anyone else! Go down to the place of death. Go lie down with those foreigners.* ²⁰“Egypt will go to be with all the other men that were killed in battle. The enemy has pulled her and all her people away. ²¹“Strong and powerful men were killed in battle. Those foreigners went down to the place of death. And from that place, those men that were killed will speak to Egypt and his helpers. ^22–23“Assyria* and all its army are there in the place of death. Their graves are deep down in that deep hole. All those Assyrian soldiers were killed in battle. Their graves are all around his grave. When they were alive, they made people afraid. But now all of them {are quiet}—they were all killed in battle. ²⁴“Elam is there and all its army is around her grave. All of them were killed in battle. Those foreigners went deep down into the ground. When they were alive, they made people afraid. But they carried their shame with them down to that deep hole. ²⁵They have made a bed for Elam and all its soldiers that were killed in battle. Elam’s army is all around its grave. All those foreigners were killed in battle. When they were alive, they scared people. But they carried their shame with them down into that deep hole. They were put with all the other people that were killed. ²⁶“Meshech, Tubal, and all their armies are there. Their graves are around it. All of those foreigners were killed in battle. When they were alive, they made people afraid. ²⁷But now they are lying down by the powerful men that died long, long ago! They were buried with their weapons of war. Their swords will be laid under their heads. But their sins are on their bones. Why? Because when they were alive, they scared people. ²⁸“Egypt, you too will be destroyed. And you will lie down by those foreigners. You will lie with those other soldiers that were killed in battle. ²⁹“Edom is there also. His kings and other leaders are there with him. They were powerful soldiers too. But now they lie with the other men that were killed in battle. They are lying there with those foreigners. They are there with the other people that went down into that deep hole. ³⁰“The rulers from the north are there, all of them! And there are all the soldiers from Sidon. Their strength scared people. But they are embarrassed. Those foreigners lie there with the other men that were killed in battle. They carried their shame with them down into that deep hole. ³¹“Pharaoh will see the people that went down to the place of death. He and all his people with him will be comforted. Yes, Pharaoh and all his army will be killed in battle.” The Lord my Master said these things. ³²“When Pharaoh was alive, I made people afraid of him. But now, he will lie down with those foreigners. Pharaoh and his army will lie down with the other soldiers that were killed in battle.” The Lord my Master said those things.

twelfth year of exile This was early spring, 585 B.C. Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. dragon This might be a crocodile or a giant sea creature. The giant sea creature represented the power of the sea, and the Nile River made Egypt a powerful nation. twelfth year of exile This was early spring, 585 B.C. foreigners Literally, “uncircumcised.” This showed that those people did not share in the Agreement that God made with Israel. Assyria This was a powerful nation northeast of Israel.

God Chooses Ezekiel To Be a Watchman

33 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, ²“Son of man,* speak to your people. Say to them, ‘I might bring enemy soldiers to fight against this country. When that happens people choose a man to be the watchman. ³If this guard sees the enemy soldiers coming, then he blows the trumpet and warns the people. ⁴If people hear the warning but ignore it, then the enemy will capture them and take them away as prisoners. That person will be responsible for his own death. ⁵He heard the trumpet, but he ignored the warning. So he is to blame for his death. If he had paid attention to the warning, then he could have saved his own life. ⁶“‘But maybe that guard sees the enemy soldiers coming, but does not blow the trumpet. That guard did not warn the people. The enemy will capture them and take them away as prisoners. That person will be taken away because he sinned. But the guard will also be responsible for that man’s death.’ ⁷“Now, Son of man,* I am choosing you to be a watchman for the family of Israel. If you hear a message from my mouth, you must warn the people for me. ⁸I might say to you, ‘This evil person will die.’ Then you must go warn that person for me. If you don’t warn that evil person and tell him to change his life, then that evil person will die because he sinned. But I will make you responsible for his death. ⁹But if you do warn the evil person to change his life and stop sinning, and if he refuses to stop sinning, then he will die because he sinned. But you have saved your life.

God Does Not Want to Destroy People

¹⁰“So, Son of man,* speak to the family of Israel for me. Those people might say, ‘We have sinned and broken the law. Our sins are too heavy to bear. We rot away because of those sins. What can we do to live?’ ¹¹“You must say to them, ‘The Lord my Master says: On my life, I promise, I don’t enjoy seeing people die—not even evil people! I don’t want them to die. I want those evil people to come back to me. I want them to change their lives so they can really live! So come back to me! Stop doing bad things! Why must you die, family of Israel?’ ¹²“And Son of man,* say to your people: ‘The good things a person did in the past won’t save him if he becomes bad and begins to sin. And the bad things a person did in the past won’t destroy him if he turns from his evil. So remember, the good things a person did in the past won’t save him if he begins to sin.’ ¹³“Maybe I will tell a good person that he will live. But maybe that good person will begin to think that the good things he did in the past will save him. So he might begin to do bad things. But I won’t remember the good things he did in the past! No, he will die because of the bad things he begins to do. ¹⁴“Or maybe I will tell a bad person that he will die. But he might change his life. He might stop sinning and begin to live right. He might become good and fair. ¹⁵He might give back the things he took when he loaned money. He might pay for the things he stole. He might begin to follow the laws that give life. He stops doing bad things. Then that person will surely live. He won’t die. ¹⁶I won’t remember the bad things he did in the past. Why? Because now he lives right and is fair. So he will live! ¹⁷“But your people say, ‘That’s not fair! {The Lord} my Master can’t be like that!’ “But they are the people that are not fair! They are the people who must change! ¹⁸If a good person stops doing good things and begins to sin, then he will die because of his sins. ¹⁹And if an evil person stops doing bad things and begins to live right and be fair, then he will live! ²⁰But you people still say that I am not fair. But I am telling you the truth. Family of Israel, each person will be judged for the things he does!”

Jerusalem Has Been Taken

²¹On the fifth day of the tenth month (January) in the twelfth year {of exile},* a person came to me from Jerusalem. He had escaped from the battle there. He said, “The city (Jerusalem) has been taken!” ²²Now the power of the Lord my Master had come on me the evening before that person came to me. {God made me not able to speak.} At the time that person came to me, the Lord had opened my mouth and let me speak again. ²³Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, ²⁴“Son of man,* there are Israelite people living in the ruined cities in Israel. Those people are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, and God gave him all this land. Now, we are many people, so surely this land belongs to us! It is our land!’ ²⁵“You must tell them that the Lord and Master says these things, ‘You eat meat with the blood still in it. You look to your idols* for help. You murder people. So why should I give you this land? ²⁶You depend on your own sword. Each of you does terrible things. Each of you does sexual sins with his neighbor’s wife. So you cannot have the land!’ ²⁷“‘You must tell them that the Lord and Master says these things, “On my life I promise, those people living in those ruined cities will be killed with a sword! If anyone is out in the country, I will let animals kill him and eat him. If people are hiding in the fortresses* and the caves, they will die from disease. ²⁸I will make the land empty and a waste. That country will lose all the things it was proud of. The mountains of Israel will become empty. No one will pass through that place. ²⁹Those people have done many terrible things. So I will make that land an empty wasteland. Then these people will know that I am the Lord.” ³⁰“‘And now, about you, Son of man.* Your people lean against the walls and stand in their doorways talking about you. They tell each other, “Come on, let’s go hear what the Lord says.” ³¹So they come to you like they are my people. They sit in front of you like they are my people. They hear your words. But they won’t do the things you say. They only want to do what feels good. They only want to cheat people and make more money. ³²“‘You are nothing to these people but a singer singing love songs. You have a good voice. You play your instrument well. They hear your words, but they won’t do the things you say. ³³But the things you sing about really will happen. And then the people will know that there really was a prophet living among them!’”

Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person,” or “a human being.” But here this is a title for the man, Ezekiel. twelfth year of exile This was the winter of 586 B.C. idols Statues of false gods that people worshiped. fortress(es) A building or city with tall, strong walls for protection.