The Day of Egypt
1 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’ 3 For the day is near, even Yahweh’s day is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. 4 A sword will come on Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt. They take away her multitude, and her foundations are broken down. 5 “‘“Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the mixed people, Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, will fall with them by the sword.” 6 “‘Yahweh says: “They also who uphold Egypt will fall. The pride of her power will come down. They will fall by the sword in it from the tower of Seveneh,” says the Lord Yahweh. 7 “They will be desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities will be among the cities that are wasted. 8 They will know that I am Yahweh when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. 9 “‘“In that day messengers will go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.” 10 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12 I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of foreigners. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.” 13 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis. There will be no more a prince from the land of Egypt. I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14 I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No. 15 I will pour my wrath on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt. I will cut off the multitude of No. 16 I will set a fire in Egypt Sin will be in great anguish. No will be broken up. Memphis will have adversaries in the daytime. 17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth will fall by the sword. They will go into captivity. 18 At Tehaphnehes also the day will withdraw itself, when I break the yokes of Egypt there. The pride of her power will cease in her. As for her, a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity. 19 Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it may become strong to hold the sword. 22 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before the king of Babylon with the groaning of a mortally wounded man. 25 I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall down. Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out on the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
A phrase the prophets reserved for the day of Yahweh is applied to Egypt, and the judgment is described as a surgeon describes a broken arm.
The chapter opens with a wail and a phrase with a long history: the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. That expression normally announces God's decisive intervention in the world. Here it is aimed at one empire and its allies, and the effect is to place a national catastrophe inside a much larger category. What happens to Egypt is a specimen of something.
The list of who falls with her is a list of dependents. Cush, Put, Lud, the mixed people, and the children of the land that is allied go down by the sword. Memphis and the other cities are named one after another, each with its own verb — cut off, broken, given to the fire, made desolate. The method is the same as the ship poem in chapter 27. A catalogue of everything a power consists of is read out, and then read out again as loss.
The image that gives the chapter its force is medical, and it depends on a fact any soldier knew. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it may become strong to hold the sword. An arm that is set and splinted heals. This one has been left, and it will not carry a weapon again. The reference is to a defeat already suffered, and the point is that no recovery was made from it.
What follows is stated with an almost surgical symmetry. Both arms will be broken, the strong one and the one already broken. And at the same time God says I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand. Two rulers, four arms, one hand holding the sword — and the sword is described as God's own, lent out. The chapter is unusually plain that the rise of one empire and the collapse of another are the same act.
settled What this mark means