2. Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the king of Egypt and tell him I am saying:You act like a lionroaming the earth;but you are nothing more thana crocodile in a river,churning up muddy waterwith your feet.
3. King of Egypt, listen to me. I, the Lord God, will catch you in my net and let a crowd of foreigners drag you to shore.
4. I will throw you into an open field, where birds and animals will come to feed on your body.
5. I will spread your rotting flesh over the mountains and in the valleys,
6. and your blood will flow throughout the land and fill up the streams.
7. I will cover the whole sky and every star with thick clouds, so that the sun and moon will stop shining.
8. The heavens will become black, leaving your country in total darkness. I, the Lord, have spoken.
9. Foreign nations you have never heard of will be shocked when I tell them how I destroyed you.
10. They will be horrified, and when I flash my sword in victory on the day of your death, their kings will tremble in the fear of what could happen to them.
11. The king of Babylonia is coming to attack you, king of Egypt!
12. Your soldiers will be killed by the cruellest army in the world, and everything you take pride in will be crushed.
13. I will slaughter your cattle that graze by the river, and no people or livestock will be left to muddy its water.
14. The water will be clear, and streams will be calm. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
15. Egypt will become a barren wasteland, and no living thing will ever survive there. Then you and your people will know that I am the Lord.
16. This is your warning, and it will be used as a funeral song by foreign women to mourn the death of your people. I, the Lord God, have spoken.
17. On the fifteenth day of that same month, the Lord said: