A Lament for Pharaoh, King of Egypt

¹ ⌞And then⌟¹ in ⌞the twelfth⌟² year, in the ⌞twelfth⌟³ month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh ⌞came⌟⁴ to me, ⌞saying⌟,⁵

1. Literally “and it was/happened”
2. Literally “two of ten”
3. Literally “in two ten month”
4. Literally “was”
5. Literally “to say”

² “Son of man,¹ raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you must say to him, ‘With a fierce, strong lion among nations you compared yourself, and you are like the sea monster in the seas, and you thrash about in your rivers, and you make water turbid with your feet, and you make your rivers muddy.

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”

³ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Now I will spread my net over you in the assembly of many peoples, and I will bring you up in my dragnet.

⁴ And I will throw you on the ground; on the surface of the open field I will hurl you, and I will cause every bird of the heaven to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the animals¹ of all of the world from you.

1. Hebrew “animal”

⁵ And I will put your flesh on the mountains, and I will fill the valleys with your carcass.

⁶ And I will water the land with your discharge from your blood on the mountains, and valleys will be filled from¹ you.

1. Or “with”

⁷ And I will cover you at¹ extinguishing your heavens, and I will make dark their stars, and I will cover the sun with the cloud, and the moon will not give its light.

1. Or “by”

⁸ All¹ sources of light in the heavens, I will make them dark over you, and I will put² darkness on your land,’ ” ⌞declares⌟³ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Or “every”
2. Or “give”
3. Literally “declaration of”

⁹ “And I will disturb the hearts¹ of many peoples at my bringing about your captivity among the nations, to countries that you do not know.

1. Hebrew “heart”

¹⁰ And I will cause many peoples to be awestruck over you, and their kings will shudder over you in horror, at¹ my brandishing my sword before their faces, and they will tremble ⌞continually⌟,² each person for his life, on the day of your downfall.”

1. Or “when”
2. Literally “for moments/seconds”

¹¹ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The sword of the king of Babylon, it will come to you.

¹² By the swords of warriors I will cause to fall your hordes by the most ruthless of the nations, all of them, and they will devastate the majesty of Egypt, and all of its hordes will be destroyed.

¹³ And I will destroy all her domestic livestock ⌞beside⌟¹ many waters. The feet of humans² will not make them turbid again, and the hooves of domestic livestock will not make them turbid.

1. Literally “from on”
2. Hebrew “human”

¹⁴ Then I will make their waters settle, and their rivers as the olive oil I will let flow,” ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁵ “Then I make the land of Egypt a desolation, so that the land will be stripped from its fullness when I strike all of those dwelling in it, and they will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁶ ⌞This is⌟¹ a lament, and they will chant it as a lament; the daughters of the nations will chant it as a lament over Egypt, and over all of its hordes they will chant it as a lament,” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “she is”
2. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁷ ⌞And then⌟¹ in the ⌞twelfth⌟² year, ⌞on the fifteenth⌟³ day of the month, the word of Yahweh ⌞came⌟⁴ to me, ⌞saying⌟,⁵

1. Literally “and it happened/was”
2. Literally “two of ten”
3. Literally “in the five ten of”
4. Literally “was”
5. Literally “to say”

¹⁸ “Son of man,¹ mourn over the hordes of Egypt, and make her go down, and with her the daughters of mighty nations, ⌞down to the deep underworld⌟² with the people going down to the grave.³

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
2. Literally “to the world/earth deeps/depth”
3. Or “pit” or “netherworld”

¹⁹ ⌞You are more lovely than whom⌟?¹ Go down and be laid in rest with the uncircumcised.

1. Literally “from whom are you lovely”

²⁰ In the midst of the people slain by the sword it¹ is given they will fall to a sword; they carried her² off and all of her³ hordes.

1. Or “she”; that is, Egypt
2. Or “it”
3. Or “its”

²¹ The chiefs of the warriors will speak to him from the middle of Sheol; with his helpers they have gone down; the uncircumcised lie still, ⌞those slain by the sword⌟.¹

1. Literally “the slain of the sword”

²² Assyria is there and all of its assembly; all around it are its graves, all of them killed, those fallen by the sword,

²³ who¹ will be given its graves in the remote areas of the pit, and its assembly will be all around its grave, all of them killed, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

1. That is, Assyria

²⁴ Elam is there and all of its hordes, all around its grave, all of them dead who fell by the sword, those who went down uncircumcised to the depths of the underworld,¹ those who spread their terror to the land of the living, and now they bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave.²

1. Literally “land/earth/world”
2. Or “pit” or “sheol”

²⁵ In the midst of the slain they made a bed for her with all of her hordes all around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror was spread in the land of the living, and they now bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave;¹ in the midst of the slain it was placed.

1. Or “pit”

²⁶ Meshech and Tubal are there and all of its hordes, all around him its graves, all of them uncircumcised and killed by the sword, for they gave their terror in the land of the living.

²⁷ And they do not lie with warriors fallen from long ago, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war,¹ and they placed their sword under their heads, and their shields² were on their bones, for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living.

1. Literally “with the weapons of war their”
2. Reading “their shields” for “their guilt”

²⁸ And you¹ too in the midst of uncircumcised people will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword.

1. Evidently refers to Egypt

²⁹ There is Edom, its kings and all of its leaders who are laid along with their might with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with the people going down to the grave.¹

1. Or “pit”

³⁰ There are also the princes of the north, all of them, all of the Sidonians who have gone down, being ashamed to lie with the slain because¹ of their terror that they caused from their might, and they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and they bear their disgrace along with the people going down to the grave.²

1. Or “in spite of” (cf. NJPS, NIV)
2. Or “pit”

³¹ Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted over all of his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all of his army,” ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

³² “For¹ he spread² my terror in the land of the living, and so he will be laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword: Pharaoh and all of his hordes,”⌞declares⌟³ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Or “although”
2. Hebrew “I gave”
3. Literally “declaration of”