321 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2"Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
"'You are like a lion among the nations;
you are like a monster in the seas
thrashing about in your streams,
churning the water with your feet
and muddying the streams.
3"'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"'With a great throng of people
I will cast my net over you,
and they will haul you up in my net.
4I will throw you on the land
and hurl you on the open field.
I will let all the birds of the air settle on you
and all the beasts of the earth
gorge themselves on you.
5I will spread your flesh on the mountains
and fill the valleys with your remains.
6I will drench the land
with your flowing blood
all the way to the mountains,
and the ravines will be filled with your flesh.
7When I snuff you out,
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.
8All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you;
I will bring darkness over your land,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
9I will trouble the hearts of many peoples
when I bring about your destruction
among the nations,
among lands you have not known.
10I will cause many peoples
to be appalled at you,
and their kings will shudder with horror
because of you when I brandish my sword
before them.
On the day of your downfall
each of them will tremble every moment
for his life.
11"'For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"'The sword of the king of Babylon
will come against you.
12I will cause your hordes to fall
by the swords of mighty men—
the most ruthless of all nations.
They will shatter the pride of Egypt,
and all her hordes will be overthrown.
13I will destroy all her cattle
from beside abundant waters
no longer to be stirred by the foot of man
or muddied by the hoofs of cattle.
14Then I will let her waters settle
and make her streams flow like oil,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
15When I make Egypt desolate
and strip the land of everything in it,
when I strike down all who live there,
then they will know that I am the Lord.'
16"This is the lament they will chant for her. The daughters of the nations will chant it; for Egypt and all her hordes they will chant it, declares the Sovereign Lord."
©ALBERITH
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