Evening Bible reading

November 25th

Ezekiel, 29
1: In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2: Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: 3: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4: But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5: And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. 6: And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7: When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. 8: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. 9: And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10: Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11: No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12: And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 13: Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: 14: And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15: It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16: And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 17: And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18: Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20: I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD. 21: In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel, 30
1: The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2: Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day 3: For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 4: And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5: Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. 6: Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 7: And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8: And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. 9: In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. 10: Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11: He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12: And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it. 13: Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14: And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. 15: And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. 16: And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. 17: The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity. 18: At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. 19: Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 20: And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21: Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23: And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24: And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25: But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. 26: And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

This time the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel regarding Egypt. The prophecy is specifically against the king and also his kingdom. God seems to hold the ultimate authority in the Kingdom the king to specific responsibility. The King has such a crucial role that often if he is a good king then the country will follow him but if he is bad king then the country will go to pot. This is why Paul says we should pray for Kings and those in authority. In Pharaohs case the Lord sets his face against him. It seems that the Lord is not just addressing the human king but the demon that is behind him. And God will judge Egypt according to how they deal with Israel. This is describing a time at the beginning of the Messianic kingdom in which no man will live in Egypt for forty years. Yet at the end of forty years the Lord will gather them again. It will be forever a small kingdom that will never rule the nations of the earth again. Again Ezekiel has another prophecy in which he foretells that Nebuchadrezzar will invade Tyrus and he will invade Egypt. Then Ezekiel has another prophecy telling him to howl because the Day of the Lord is near. Egypt, Libya, Lydia and Ethiopia will be destroyed in war. They will be destroyed by fire. Again another prophecy regarding Egypt. The Lord will break the arm of Pharaoh and none will bind it up so that it will be healed. The Egyptians will go and live among all the nations. In this way Egypt will learn that Jehovah is the God of heaven.

Steve