Day 305 of 365

¹It happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, 'You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet you are as a monster in the seas; and you broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.'

³"Thus says the Lord God: 'I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples; and they shall bring you up in my net.

⁴I will leave you on the land, I will cast you forth on the open field, and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you, and I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.

⁵I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height.

⁶I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim, even to the mountains; and the watercourses shall be full of you.

⁷When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.

⁸All the bright lights of the sky will I make dark over you, and set darkness on your land, says the Lord God.

⁹I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I shall bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.

¹⁰Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.'

¹¹"For thus says the Lord God: 'The sword of the king of Babylon shall come on you.

¹²By the swords of the mighty will I cause your multitude to fall; the terrible of the nations are they all: and they shall bring to nothing the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall be destroyed.

¹³I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of animals trouble them.

¹⁴Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil,' says the Lord God.

¹⁵'When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was full, when I shall strike all those who dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶This is the lamentation with which they shall lament; the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they lament therewith,' says the Lord God."

¹⁷It happened also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸"Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit.

¹⁹'Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised.'

²⁰They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword; draw her away and all her multitudes.

²¹The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those who help him: 'They are gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.'

²²"Asshur is there and all her company; her graves are all around her; all of them slain, fallen by the sword;

²³whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴"There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.

²⁵They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of those who are slain.

²⁶"There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude; their graves are around them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living.

²⁷They shall not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

²⁸"But you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shall lie with those who are slain by the sword.

²⁹"There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.

³⁰"There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who are gone down with the slain; in the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame; and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

³¹"Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword," says the Lord God.

³²"For I have put his terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude," says the Lord God.

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, 'When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

³if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

⁴then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn't take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn't take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

⁶But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people aren't warned, and the sword comes, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.'

⁷"So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

⁸When I tell the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.

⁹Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn't turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰"You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: 'Thus you speak, saying, "Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?"'

¹¹Tell them, 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?'

¹²"You, son of man, tell the children of your people, 'The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.'

¹³When I tell the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, therein shall he die.

¹⁴Again, when I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die'; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

¹⁵if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

¹⁶None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷"Yet the children of your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal': but as for them, their way is not equal.

¹⁸When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die therein.

¹⁹When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

²⁰Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal.' House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways."

²¹It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, "The city has been struck."

²²Now the hand of the Lord had been on me in the evening, before he who was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute.

²³The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁴"Son of man, they who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, 'Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.'

²⁵Therefore tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?

²⁶You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor's wife: and shall you possess the land?"'

²⁷"You shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

²⁸I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.

²⁹Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed."'

³⁰"As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, 'Please come and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord.'

³¹They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

³²Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

³³When this comes to pass, (behold, it comes), then shall they know that a prophet has been among them."

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep?

³You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep.

⁴You haven't strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them.

⁵They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.

⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought."'

⁷"'"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

⁸'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep';

⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

¹⁰Thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.'"

¹¹"'For thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture; and on the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture shall they feed on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down," says the Lord God.

¹⁶"I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice."

¹⁷"'As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.

¹⁸Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?

¹⁹As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet."

²⁰"'Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: "Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

²¹Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;

²²therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

²⁴I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them;" I, the Lord, have spoken it.

²⁵"'I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

²⁶I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing.

²⁷The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.

²⁸They shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the animals of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.

²⁹I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.

³⁰They shall know that I, the Lord, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people," says the Lord God.

³¹"You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God," says the Lord God.'"

¹Give ear to my words, Lord. Consider my meditation.

²Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God; for to you do I pray.

³Lord, in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.

⁴For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can't live with you.

⁵The arrogant shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.

⁶You will destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness I will come into your house. I will bow toward your holy temple in reverence of you.

⁸Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before my face.

⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongue they are deceitful.

¹⁰Hold them guilty, God. Let them fall by their own counsels; Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹But let all those who take refuge in you rejoice, Let them always shout for joy, because you defend them. Let them also who love your name be joyful in you.

¹²For you will bless the righteous. Lord, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.

¹Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.

³A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!

⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.

⁷Like the legs of the lame that hang loose: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

⁸As one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.

¹¹As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.

¹²Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!"

¹⁴As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion.

¹⁷Like one who grabs a dog's ears is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "Am I not joking?"

²⁰For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.

²¹As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.

²³Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.

²⁴A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.

²⁵When his speech is charming, do not believe him; for there are seven abominations in his heart.

²⁶His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.