11-15. “‘God, the Master, says:“‘The sword of the king of Babylonis coming against you.I’ll use the swords of championsto lay your pride low,Use the most brutal of nationsto knock Egypt off her high horse,to puncture that hot-air pomposity.I’ll destroy all their livestockthat graze along the river.Neither human foot nor animal hoofwill muddy those waters anymore.I’ll clear their springs and streams,make their rivers flow clean and smooth.Decree of God, the Master.When I turn Egypt back to the wildand strip her clean of all her abundant produce,When I strike dead all who live there,then they’ll realize that I am God.’
16. “This is a funeral song. Chant it.Daughters of the nations, chant it.Chant it over Egypt for the death of its pomp.”Decree of God, the Master.
17-19. In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the first month, God’s Message came to me:“Son of man, lament over Egypt’s pompous ways.Send her on her way.Dispatch Egyptand her proud daughter nationsTo the underworld,down to the country of the dead and buried.Say, ‘You think you’re so high and mighty?Down! Take your place with the heathen in that unhallowed grave!’
20-21. “She’ll be dumped in with those killed in battle. The sword is bared. Drag her off in all her proud pomp! All the big men and their helpers down among the dead and buried will greet them: ‘Welcome to the grave of the heathen! Join the ranks of the victims of war!’
22-23. “Assyria is there and its congregation, the whole nation a cemetery. Their graves are in the deepest part of the underworld, a congregation of graves, all killed in battle, these people who terrorized the land of the living.
24-25. “Elam is there in all her pride, a cemetery—all killed in battle, dumped in her heathen grave with the dead and buried, these people who terrorized the land of the living. They carry their shame with them, along with the others in the grave. They turned Elam into a resort for the pompous dead, landscaped with heathen graves, slaughtered in battle. They once terrorized the land of the living. Now they carry their shame down with the others in deep earth. They’re in the section set aside for the slain in battle.
26-27. “Meshech-tubal is there in all her pride, a cemetery in uncircumcised ground, dumped in with those slaughtered in battle—just deserts for terrorizing the land of the living. Now they carry their shame down with the others in deep earth. They’re in the section set aside for the slain. They’re segregated from the heroes, the old-time giants who entered the grave in full battle dress, their swords placed under their heads and their shields covering their bones, those heroes who spread terror through the land of the living.
28. “And you, Egypt, will be dumped in a heathen grave, along with all the rest, in the section set aside for the slain.