The Skeptics Annotated Bible (648 page)

(30.17)
“The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth 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.

(30.18)
“Her daughters shall go into captivity.”

19
Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD
.

(30.19) “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,

(30.20)
“And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month.”

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.

(30.21)
“I have broken the arm of Pharaoh.”

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.

(30.22) “Thus saith the Lord … I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms.”

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.

(30.24) “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.

(30.25)
“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.

(30.26)
“And they shall know that I am the LORD.”

31
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month
, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

(31.1) “And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month,”

2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.

6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

15 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth:
thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord
GOD.

(31.18)
“Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord.”

32
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month
, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

(32.1) “And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month.”

2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

(32.3-6) God will treat Pharaoh like a whale fished out of the sea. Every bird and beast in the world will feed upon him.