A Prophecy against Ammon

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

³Tell the Ammonites to hear the word of the Lord GOD, for this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you exclaimed, “Aha!” when My sanctuary was profaned, when the land of Israel was laid waste, and when the house of Judah went into exile,

⁴therefore I will indeed give you as a possession to the people of the East. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

⁵I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and Ammona resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

⁶For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you clapped your hands and stomped your feet and rejoiced over the land of Israel with a heart full of contempt,

⁷therefore I will indeed stretch out My hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’

A Prophecy against Moab

⁸This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seirsaid, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,”

⁹therefore I will indeed expose the flank of Moab beginning with its frontier cities—Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim—the glory of the land.

¹⁰I will give it along with the Ammonites as a possession to the people of the East, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations.

¹¹So I will execute judgments on Moab, and they will know that I am the LORD.’

A Prophecy against Edom

¹²This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,

¹³therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

¹⁴I will take My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then they will know My vengeance, declares the Lord GOD.’

A Prophecy against the Philistines

¹⁵This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, taking vengeance with malice of soul to destroy Judah with ancient hostility,

¹⁶therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant along the coast.

¹⁷I will execute great vengeance against them with furious reproof. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them.’”

A Lament for Egypt

¹Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says:Wail, ‘Alasfor that day!’

³For the day is near,the Day of the LORD is near.It will be a day of clouds,a time of doom for the nations.

⁴A sword will come against Egypt,and there will be anguish in Cushwhen the slain fall in Egypt,its wealth is taken away,and its foundations are torn down.

⁵Cush, Put, and Lud,and all the various peoples,as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land,will fall with Egypt by the sword.

⁶For this is what the LORD says:The allies of Egypt will fall,and her proud strength will collapse.From Migdol to Syenethey will fall by the sword within her,declares the Lord GOD.

⁷They will be desolate among desolate lands,and their cities will lie among ruined cities.

⁸Then they will know that I am the LORDwhen I set fire to Egyptand all her helpers are shattered.

⁹On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom.For it is indeed coming.

¹⁰This is what the Lord GOD says:I will put an end to the hordes of Egyptby the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹¹He and his people with him,the most ruthless of the nations,will be brought in to destroy the land.They will draw their swords against Egyptand fill the land with the slain.

¹²I will make the streams dry upand sell the land to the wicked.By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolationupon the land and everything in it.I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹³This is what the Lord GOD says:I will destroy the idolsand put an end to the images in Memphis.There will no longer be a prince in Egypt,and I will instill fear in that land.

¹⁴I will lay waste Pathros,set fire to Zoan,and execute judgment on Thebes.

¹⁵I will pour out My wrath on Pelusium,the stronghold of Egypt,and cut off the crowds of Thebes.

¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt,Pelusium will writhe in anguish,Thebes will be split open,and Memphis will face daily distress.

¹⁷The young men of On and Pi-besethwill fall by the sword,and those cities will go into captivity.

¹⁸The day will be darkened in Tahpanheswhen I break the yoke of Egyptand her proud strength comes to an end.A cloud will cover her,and her daughters will go into captivity.

¹⁹So I will execute judgment on Egypt,and they will know that I am the LORD.”

Pharaoh’s Power Broken

²⁰In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²¹“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword.

²²Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken, and will make the sword fall from his hand.

²³I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.

²⁴I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, who will groan before him like a mortally wounded man.

²⁵I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall limp.Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king, and he wields it against the land of Egypt.

²⁶I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Ezekiel the Watchman for Israel

¹Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,

³and he sees the sword coming against that land and blows the ram’s horn to warn the people.

⁴Then if anyone hears the sound of the horn but fails to heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

⁵Since he heard the sound of the horn but failed to heed the warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.

⁶But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the horn to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes away a life, then that one will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’

⁷As for you, O son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word from My mouth and give them the warning from Me.

⁸If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood.

⁹But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

The Message of the Watchman

¹⁰Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’

¹¹Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

¹²Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’

¹³If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed.

¹⁴But if I tell the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right—

¹⁵if he restores a pledge, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without practicing iniquity—then he will surely live; he will not die.

¹⁶None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.

¹⁷Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.

¹⁸If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.

¹⁹But if a wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of this.

²⁰Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”

Word of Jerusalem’s Fall

²¹In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”

²²Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.

²³Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²⁴“Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’

²⁵Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land?

²⁶You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’

²⁷Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be devoured by wild animals, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.

²⁸I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through.

²⁹Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they have committed.’

³⁰As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD!’

³¹So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.

³²Indeed, you are to them like a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, who skillfully plays an instrument. They hear your words but do not put them into practice.

³³So when it comes to pass—and surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

God’s Faithful Messiah

¹The LORD said to my Lord:“Sit at My right handuntil I make Your enemiesa footstool for Your feet.”

²The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion:“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

³Your people shall be willingon Your day of battle.Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

⁴The LORD has swornand will not change His mind:“You are a priest foreverin the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵The Lord is at Your right hand;He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

⁶He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead;He will crush the leaders far and wide.

⁷He will drink from the brook by the road;therefore He will lift up His head.