The Father Judges Pharaoh
Pharaoh is the great river monster claiming the Nile is his because he made it. Our Father hooks his jaws and drags him into the desert. Egypt was a splintering reed to Israel. After forty years desolate it returns as the lowliest of kingdoms.
29 1In the tenth year, tenth month, twelfth day, our Father's word came to me:
2Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and all Egypt.
3Speak and say: This is what the Sovereign Father says: "Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster sprawled among your canals, who says, 'My Nile is mine; I made it for myself.' 4But I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your channels cling to your scales; I will haul you up out of the midst of your channels, with all the fish of your channels clinging to your scales. 5I will fling you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your channels. You will fall on the open field; you will not be gathered or collected. To the wild animals and the birds of the sky I have given you as food. 6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the Father, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7When they grabbed hold of you, you splintered and tore into their shoulder; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made their legs give way."
8So the Sovereign Father says: Look, I am bringing a sword against you, and I will cut off from you human and animal.
9Egypt's land will become wasteland and ruin, and they will know I am the Father—because Pharaoh said, "The Nile is mine; I made it."
10"Therefore I am against you and against your channels, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter ruin and desolation, from Aswan to the border of Cush. 11No human foot will cross it, no animal foot will cross it; no one will live there forty years. 12I will make Egypt's land a wasteland among wasted lands, and her cities a wasteland among ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the lands."
13For the Sovereign Father says: "At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered. 14I will restore Egypt's fortunes and bring them back to the land of Pathros, their native land, and there they will be a lowly kingdom. 15It will be the lowliest of kingdoms, never again raising itself above the nations. I will make them so small they will no longer rule over the nations. 16Egypt will never again be the confidence of the house of Israel, but a reminder of their guilt whenever they turned to her. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Father."
17In the twenty-seventh year, first month, first day, the word of our Father came to me:
18Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon worked his army hard against Tyre. Every head rubbed bald, every shoulder rubbed raw, yet he and his army got no wages from Tyre for the work he did against it. 19So the Sovereign Father says: I am now giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, seize her spoil, plunder her plunder—his army's pay. 20As his pay for the work he did, I have given him the land of Egypt, because they did it for me, declares the Sovereign Father.
21On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the Father. a a v21 The sprouting horn is a sign of rising strength and rescue; it points ahead to the horn of salvation our Father raised up in Jesus, born of David's line.
