8. Therefore thus says the Lord God:Look! I am bringing the sword against youto cut off from you people and animals.
9. The land of Egypt shall become a desolate waste;then they shall know that I am the Lord.Because you said, “The Nile belongs to me;I made it!”
10. Beware! I am against youand against your Nile.I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins,into a dry, desolate waste,From Migdol to Syene,up to the border of Ethiopia.
11. No foot shall pass through it,no human being or beast cross it;it will remain uninhabited for forty years.
12. I will make the land of Egypt the most desolateamong desolate lands;Its cities, the most desertedamong deserted cities for forty years;I will scatter the Egyptians among the nationsand disperse them throughout other lands.
13. But thus says the Lord God:At the end of forty yearsI will gather the Egyptiansfrom among the peopleswhere they are scattered;
14. I will restore Egypt’s fortunes,bringing them back to the land of Pathros,the land of their origin.But there it will be a lowly kingdom,
15. lower than any other kingdom,no longer able to set itself above the nations.I will make them few in number,so they cannot rule other nations.
16. No longer shall they be securityfor the house of Israel,But a reminder of its iniquityin turning away to follow them.Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.
17. In the twenty-seventh year on the first day of the first month, the word of the Lord came to me: