Ezekiel 32-34

New King James Version

Lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt

32 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the ^(A)twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, ^(B)take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

^(C)‘You are like a young lion among the nations,
And ^(D)you are like a monster in the seas,
^(E)Bursting forth in your rivers,
Troubling the waters with your feet,
And ^(F)fouling their rivers.

³‘Thus says the Lord God:

“I will therefore ^(G)spread My net over you with a company of many people,
And they will draw you up in My net.
⁴Then ^(H)I will leave you on the land;
I will cast you out on the open fields,
^(I)And cause to ^[a]settle on you all the birds of the heavens.
And with you I will fill the beasts of the whole earth.
⁵I will lay your flesh ^(J)on the mountains,
And fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶“I will also water the land with the flow of your blood,
Even to the mountains;
And the riverbeds will be full of you.
⁷When I put out your light,
^(K)I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon shall not give her light.
⁸All the ^[b]bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you,
And bring darkness upon your land,”
Says the Lord God.

⁹‘I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known. ¹⁰Yes, I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and ^(L)they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.

¹¹^(M)‘For thus says the Lord God: “The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. ¹²By the swords of the mighty warriors, all of them ^(N)the most terrible of the nations, I will cause your multitude to fall.

^(O)“They shall plunder the pomp of Egypt,
And all its multitude shall be destroyed.
¹³Also I will destroy all its animals
From beside its great waters;
^(P)The foot of man shall muddy them no more,
Nor shall the hooves of animals muddy them.
¹⁴Then I will make their waters ^[c]clear,
And make their rivers run like oil,”
Says the Lord God.

¹⁵“When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
And the country is destitute of all that once filled it,
When I strike all who dwell in it,
^(Q)Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶“This is the ^(R)lamentation
With which they shall lament her;
The daughters of the nations shall lament her;
They shall lament for her, for Egypt,
And for all her multitude,”
Says the Lord God.’ ”

Egypt and Others Consigned to the Pit

¹⁷It came to pass also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, ^(S)that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

¹⁸“Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt,
And ^(T)cast them down to the depths of the earth,
Her and the daughters of the famous nations,
With those who go down to the Pit:
¹⁹‘Whom ^(U)do you surpass in beauty?
^(V)Go down, be placed with the uncircumcised.’

²⁰“They shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword;
She is delivered to the sword,
^(W)Drawing her and all her multitudes.
²¹^(X)The strong among the mighty
Shall speak to him out of the midst of hell
With those who help him:
‘They have ^(Y)gone down,
They lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

²²“Assyria^(Z) is there, and all her company,
With their graves all around her,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword.
²³^(AA)Her graves are set in the recesses of the Pit,
And her company is all around her grave,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
Who ^(AB)caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴“There is ^(AC)Elam and all her multitude,
All around her grave,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
Who have ^(AD)gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth,
^(AE)Who caused their terror in the land of the living;
Now they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
²⁵They have set her ^(AF)bed in the midst of the slain,
With all her multitude,
With her graves all around it,
All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword;
Though their terror was caused
In the land of the living,
Yet they bear their shame
With those who go down to the Pit;
It was put in the midst of the slain.

²⁶“There are ^(AG)Meshech and Tubal and all their multitudes,
With all their graves around it,
All of them ^(AH)uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
Though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
²⁷^(AI)They do not lie with the mighty
Who are fallen of the uncircumcised,
Who have gone down to hell with their weapons of war;
They have laid their swords under their heads,
But their iniquities will be on their bones,
Because of the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
²⁸Yes, you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised,
And lie with those slain by the sword.

²⁹“There is ^(AJ)Edom,
Her kings and all her princes,
Who despite their might
Are laid beside those slain by the sword;
They shall lie with the uncircumcised,
And with those who go down to the Pit.
³⁰^(AK)There are the princes of the north,
All of them, and all the ^(AL)Sidonians,
Who have gone down with the slain
In shame at the terror which they caused by their might;
They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword,
And bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.

³¹“Pharaoh will see them
And be ^(AM)comforted over all his multitude,
Pharaoh and all his army,
Slain by the sword,”
Says the Lord God.

³²“For I have caused My terror in the land of the living;
And he shall be placed in the midst of the uncircumcised
With those slain by the sword,
Pharaoh and all his multitude,”
Says the Lord God.

The Watchman and His Message

33 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, speak to ^(AN)the children of your people, and say to them: ^(AO)‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their ^(AP)watchman, ³when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does ^(AQ)not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, ^(AR)his blood shall be on his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will ^[d]save his life. ⁶But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, ^(AS)he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

⁷^(AT)“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. ⁸When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have ^[e]delivered your soul.

¹⁰“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we ^(AU)pine^[f] away in them, ^(AV)how can we then live?” ’ ¹¹Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ^(AW)‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked ^(AX)turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For ^(AY)why should you die, O house of Israel?’

The Fairness of God’s Judgment

¹²“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The ^(AZ)righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, ^(BA)he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ ¹³When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, ^(BB)but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. ¹⁴Again, ^(BC)when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does ^[g]what is lawful and ^[h]right, ¹⁵if the wicked ^(BD)restores the pledge, ^(BE)gives back what he has stolen, and walks in ^(BF)the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ¹⁶^(BG)None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷^(BH)“Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not ^[i]fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! ¹⁸^(BI)When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. ¹⁹But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. ²⁰Yet you say, ^(BJ)‘The way of the Lord is not ^[j]fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”

The Fall of Jerusalem

²¹And it came to pass in the twelfth year ^(BK)of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, ^(BL)that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, ^(BM)“The city has been ^[k]captured!”

²²Now ^(BN)the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had ^(BO)opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

The Cause of Judah’s Ruin

²³Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁴“Son of man, ^(BP)they who inhabit those ^(BQ)ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ^(BR)‘Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. ^(BS)But we are many; the land has been given to us as a ^(BT)possession.’

²⁵“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(BU)“You eat meat with blood, you ^(BV)lift up your eyes toward your idols, and ^(BW)shed blood. Should you then possess the ^(BX)land? ²⁶You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you ^(BY)defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land?” ’

²⁷“Say thus to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely ^(BZ)those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field ^(CA)I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and ^(CB)caves shall die of the pestilence. ²⁸^(CC)For I will make the land most desolate, ^[l]her ^(CD)arrogant strength shall cease, and ^(CE)the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. ²⁹Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.” ’

Hearing and Not Doing

³⁰“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they ^(CF)speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ ³¹So ^(CG)they come to you as people do, they ^(CH)sit before you as My people, and they ^(CI)hear your words, but they do not do them; ^(CJ)for with their mouth they show much love, but ^(CK)their hearts pursue their own gain. ³²Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do ^(CL)not do them. ³³^(CM)And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then ^(CN)they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Irresponsible Shepherds

34 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: ^(CO)“Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? ³^(CP)You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^(CQ)slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. ⁴^(CR)The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor ^(CS)sought what was lost; but with ^(CT)force and ^[m]cruelty you have ruled them. ⁵^(CU)So they were ^(CV)scattered because there was no shepherd; ^(CW)and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. ⁶My sheep ^(CX)wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”

⁷‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸“As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock ^(CY)became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, ^(CZ)but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— ⁹therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! ¹⁰Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am ^(DA)against the shepherds, and ^(DB)I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall ^(DC)feed themselves no more; for I will ^(DD)deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.”

God, the True Shepherd

¹¹‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹²As a ^(DE)shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on ^(DF)a cloudy and dark day. ¹³And ^(DG)I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, ^[n]in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴^(DH)I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. ^(DI)There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶^(DJ)“I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy ^(DK)the fat and the strong, and feed them ^(DL)in judgment.”

¹⁷‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: ^(DM)“Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. ¹⁸Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the ^[o]residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

²⁰‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: ^(DN)“Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, ²²therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³I will establish one ^(DO)shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—^(DP)My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴And ^(DQ)I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David ^(DR)a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

²⁵^(DS)“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and ^(DT)cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they ^(DU)will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶I will make them and the places all around ^(DV)My hill ^(DW)a blessing; and I will ^(DX)cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be ^(DY)showers of blessing. ²⁷Then ^(DZ)the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have ^(EA)broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who ^(EB)enslaved them. ²⁸And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but ^(EC)they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹I will raise up for them a ^(ED)garden^[p] of renown, and they shall ^(EE)no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, ^(EF)nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. ³⁰Thus they shall know that ^(EG)I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are ^(EH)My people,” says the Lord God.’