Ezekiel 30King James Version
The day of Egypt is near. Howl ye. The multitude of Egypt shall be taken away. I will break the staff of Egypt, the pride of her power shall come down.
A lament for Egypt on the day of the LORD: her allies will fall, her hired soldiers will turn and flee, all the cities of Egypt will go dark. God will break Pharaoh's arms and put a sword in Nebuchadnezzar's hands. The arm that was broken will not be healed. While Babylon's arms are strengthened, Egypt's will hang useless. The Egyptians will know that God is the LORD.
The military power that defined Egypt is systematically dismantled: both arms broken, no allies, no strength. The collapse is not partial but total.
25: "But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon." Military outcome as theological demonstration.
Around 587 to 585 BC, after Jerusalem's fall. The oracle describes a progressive weakening of Egypt's military capacity through Babylonian campaign. Nebuchadnezzar actually did invade Egypt in 568 BC, and the oracle's structure anticipates a decisive shift in regional power.
Egypt and her allies, all listed for judgment; Pharaoh with both arms progressively broken; Nebuchadnezzar who receives the sword; the LORD who executes the judgment; Ethiopian, Libyan, and Arabian allies who fall together.
The broken-arms image is unique in the prophets: Ezekiel describes a two-stage breaking, one arm in a prior oracle and both arms here. The physical helplessness of Pharaoh unable to lift a sword is vivid. It answers the exiles' question of whether Egypt, not Babylon, might still be the dominant power.
For when you are counting on a rescue that is not coming. The chapter is the most direct statement in Ezekiel that Egypt's military help is permanently gone. It is a hard message but also a clarifying one: you cannot build your future on broken arms.
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!
3For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
4And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
5Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
6Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
7And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
8And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
9In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.
10Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
11He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.
13Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.
15And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
16And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.
17The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.
18At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
19Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
20And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
22Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
25But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
26And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.