1. IN THE twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile by the king of Babylon], in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, You have likened [yourself] to a young lion, leader of the nations, but you are like a [monster] dragon in the seas; you break forth in your rivers and trouble the waters with your feet, and you make foul their rivers [the sources of their prosperity].
3. Thus says the Lord God: I will therefore throw out My net over you with a host of many peoples, and they shall bring you up in My dragnet.
4. Then I will leave you [Egypt] upon the shore; I will cast you on the open field and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle upon you, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5. And I will scatter your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your high heap of corpses and their worms.
6. I will also water with your flowing blood the land, even to the mountains, and the hollows and water channels shall be full of you.
7. And when I have extinguished you, I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light.
8. All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you and set darkness upon your land, says the Lord God.
9. I will also trouble and vex the hearts of many peoples when I bring your breaking and trembling and destruction and carry you captive among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.
10. I will make many peoples amazed and appalled at you [Egypt], and their kings shall shudder and be horribly afraid because of you when I brandish My sword before them; they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your downfall.
11. For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.
12. I will cause your multitude, your tumult, and your store [of wealth, strength, and glory] to fall by the swords of the mighty–the most terrible among the nations are they all. And they shall bring to nothing the pomp and pride of Egypt, and all its multitude [with its activity and its wealth in every sphere] shall be destroyed.
13. I will destroy also all its beasts from beside many and great waters, and no foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14. Then will I make their waters sink down (subside, be quiet, and become clear); their rivers I will cause to run [slowly and smoothly] like oil, says the Lord God.