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Like Assyria, Pharaoh Too Will Be Cut Down
31 In the eleventh year,[a] in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me.
2 Son of man, say this to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his horde.
To whom can you be compared in your greatness?
3 Consider Assyria. It was a cedar in Lebanon. It had beautiful branches, which gave shade to the woodland. It was very tall, and its top reached to the clouds.[b] 4 The waters made it grow. The deep springs made it tall, sending out rivers which flowed around the spot where it was planted, and they sent smaller ditches out to all the other trees in the countryside.[c] 5 So the cedar was taller than all the other trees in the countryside. It produced many branches, and its boughs grew long, because of the plentiful water when it sent out shoots.[d] 6 All the birds in the sky nested in its boughs. All the wild animals in the countryside gave birth under its branches, and all the mighty nations lived in its shade. 7 It was beautiful in its grandeur and in the length of its branches, because its roots reached down to plentiful water. 8 Even the cedars in the garden of God did not overshadow it. The boughs of the fir trees were not equal to its boughs, and the chestnut tree could not rival its many branches. No tree in the garden of God could equal it in beauty. 9 I made it so beautiful by the abundance of its branches that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.
10 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Because you were so tall, because the cedar stretched its top up between the clouds, and its heart became haughty because of its height, 11 I will hand it over to a chief of nations, and he will deal harshly with it. I banished it as its wickedness deserved. 12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, cut it down and discarded it. Its branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys. Its boughs lay broken in all the streambeds of the land, and all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it. 13 All the birds in the sky lodged on its fallen trunk, and all the wild animals in the countryside came to its branches. 14 All this happened so that all the well-watered trees would never again reach such heights or stretch their tops up between the clouds. Nor will the tallest of them remain standing—even though they drink in water—because they have all been handed over to death, to be below the earth, along with all mankind, with those who have descended to the pit.
15 This is what the Lord God says. When Assyria went down to the grave,[e] I caused mourning everywhere. I covered the deep because of it. I restrained the rivers of the deep, and the plentiful waters were held back. I dressed Lebanon in black because of it, and all the trees in the countryside dried up because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I brought it down to the grave to be with those who have descended to the pit. Below the earth, all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all those that drink up water, consoled themselves, 17 even those who served as Assyria’s arm, those who lived in its shade among the nations, even those who went down to the grave with it, those run through by the sword.
18 To whom, then, can you be compared in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you shall be brought down below the earth, together with the trees of Eden. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, together with those run through by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde, declares the Lord God.
Pharaoh Too Will Descend to the Grave
32 In the twelfth year,[f] in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say this to him.
You consider yourself a young lion among the nations, but you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash around in your rivers. You churn up the water with your feet and make the rivers muddy.
3 This is what the Lord God says. I will cast my net over you by an array of mighty nations, and they will haul you up in my fishing net. 4 I will haul you up and leave you on dry land and throw you into an open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you. I will let all the wild animals of the earth feed on you till they are filled. 5 I will dump your flesh on the mountains and fill the ravines with your carcass. 6 I will drench the land with the overflow of your blood, up to the mountains, and the streambeds will be filled with your remains.[g]
7 When you are snuffed out, I will cover the sky and darken its stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. 8 I will black out all the bright lights in the sky because of you. I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Lord God. 9 I will disturb the hearts of mighty peoples when I bring word about your downfall[h] to the nations, to countries you do not know. 10 I will make many peoples appalled by you, and their kings’ hair will stand on end because of you, when I brandish my sword in front of them. They will tremble every minute, each for his own life, on the day when you fall.
11 For this is what the Lord God says. The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. 12 I will cut down your horde by the swords of his warriors, all of them from the most ruthless of nations. They will devastate the pride of Egypt, and its whole horde will be exterminated. 13 I will kill all its livestock beside many waters. No human foot will ever muddy the waters again, nor will the hoofs of cattle ever muddy them. 14 Then I will let their waters settle and become clear and will make their channels flow like oil, declares the Lord God. 15 When I cause the land of Egypt to be deserted, when the land is emptied of everything that filled it, when I have struck down all its inhabitants, then they will know that I am the Lord.
16 This is a lament, which they will wail. The daughters of the nations will wail it. Over Egypt and all its horde they will wail it, declares the Lord God.
17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me.
18 Son of man, mourn over the horde of Egypt and send her down below the earth with the daughters of majestic nations, to be with those who have descended to the pit. 19 Are you more favored than others? Go on down and lie down among the uncircumcised. 20 They will fall among those who were run through by the sword. A sword has been appointed. Egypt and all its hordes will be carried off. 21 The elite warriors will speak to him and to his allies from the midst of the grave. The uncircumcised, those run through by the sword, have come down and lie there.
22 Assyria is there with her whole crowd. Their graves are around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword. 23 Her graves are set in the deepest part of the pit, and her crowd is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, all those who once spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam[i] is there, with her whole horde around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, those who went down below the earth uncircumcised, those who once spread terror in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who have descended to the pit. 25 A bed is made for Elam among the slain, with its whole horde around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, run through by the sword. Because they once spread terror in the land of the living, they will bear their shame with those who have descended to the pit. They are placed among the slain.
26 Meshek Tubal[j] is there with its whole horde around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, run through by the sword because they had spread terror in the land of the living. 27 Do they not lie with other fallen, uncircumcised warriors,[k] who went down to the grave with their weapons of war, with their swords placed under their heads, with evidence of their guilt on their bones, because of the terror these warriors had once spread in the land of the living?
28 Pharaoh, you too will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and will lie with those run through by the sword.
29 Edom is there, with its kings and all its chiefs, who, despite their strength, are placed with those run through by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who have descended to the pit.
30 The princes of the north are there, all of them, and every Sidonian, who went down with the slain despite the terror they had caused. Their strength failed them. They lie uncircumcised with those run through by the sword, and they bear their shame along with those who have descended to the pit.
31 Pharaoh will see them all and will console himself concerning his whole horde. Pharaoh is run through by the sword with his whole army, declares the Lord God. 32 For I have set my terror in the land of the living, and he will be forced[l] to lie down among the uncircumcised, with those run through by the sword, that is, Pharaoh and his whole horde, declares the Lord God.
14 Pursue peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15 Take care so that no one falls short of God’s grace and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and so defile many. 16 Take care that no one becomes sexually immoral or worldly, like Esau, who gave away his right as firstborn for a single meal. 17 Certainly you know that afterward he was rejected when he wanted to inherit the blessing, for he found no chance to change his father’s mind, even though he sought it with tears.
You Have Come to Mount Zion
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched[a] and to burning fire, to darkness, to gloom, to a raging storm, 19 to the sound of a trumpet, and to a voice that spoke. Those who heard the voice asked that not one more word be added, 20 because they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”[b] 21 The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[c]
22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God; to the heavenly Jerusalem; to tens of thousands of angels in joyful assembly; 23 to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven; to God, who is the judge of all; to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect; 24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new testament;[d] and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse to listen to the one who is speaking. For if those people did not escape when they refused to listen to the one who spoke God’s message on earth, how much less likely is it that we will escape, if we turn away from the one who spoke God’s message to us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”[e]
27 The words “once more” clearly indicate the removal of the things that are being shaken, that is, the things that have been made, so that the things that cannot be shaken remain permanently. 28 Therefore, since we are going to receive an unshakeable kingdom, let us be thankful. This is how we serve God in an acceptable way, with reverence and awe. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Psalm 113
The Mighty Deliverer
Invitation to Praise
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let the name of the Lord be blessed, from now to eternity.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Basis for Praise
4 High above all the nations is the Lord.
His glory towers above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God?
He is seated on high.
6 He bends down to look at the heavens and at the earth.
7 He raises the poor from the dust.
He lifts the needy from the garbage pile
8 to seat them with nobles,
with the nobles of his people.
9 He is the one who settles the barren woman in her home
as a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 114
When Israel Came Out of Egypt
1 When Israel came out of Egypt
and the house of Jacob from a people with a strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel became his kingdom.
3 The sea saw and fled.
The Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 What happened, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble in the presence of the Lord, O earth.
Tremble in the presence of the God of Jacob.
8 He turned the rock into a pool of water.
He turned flint into springs of water.
18 A person who tends a fig tree eats its fruit,
and a person who takes care of his master will be honored.
19 As water reflects a person’s face,
so a person’s heart reflects the person.
20 Death and Destruction[a] are never satisfied,
and a person’s eyes are never satisfied.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.