Study Desk

I will cause your people to be killed by the swords of powerful men who will have no pity, all of them strong rulers of the nations. They will destroy the pride of Egypt and kill all its people.

"When I destroy the land of Egypt and take from the land everything that was in it, and when I punish all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord.

This is the song of sorrow they will sing. The women of the nations will sing it. They will sing it over Egypt and all her people," says the Lord God.

From the place of the dead the powerful leaders will say of Egypt and her helpers, ‘They have come down. They lie with the sinful, with those killed by the sword.'

"Elam is there, with all of her people around her grave. All of them are dead, killed by the sword. They have gone to the lower parts of the earth having not gone through the religious act of the Jews. They filled the land of the living with fear, and carried their shame with those who went down to the place of the dead.

A bed is made for her among the dead with all her people. Their graves are around her. They are all sinful people, killed by the sword. They spread fear in the land of the living, and were put to shame with those who go down to the place of the dead and are among the dead.

"Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their people. Their graves are around them. All of them are sinful, killed by the sword, for they had spread fear in the land of the living.

"Edom is there, with its kings and all its leaders. Even with all their power they are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the sinful, with those who go down to the place of the dead.

"All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there. Even with the fear they caused by their power, they went down with the dead in shame. They lie as sinful people with those killed by the sword. They carried their shame with those who go down to the place of the dead.

"When Pharaoh and his army see them, they will be comforted for all his people who were killed by the sword," says the Lord God.

Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I destroy the land and make it a waste because of all the hated sins they have done."'

"As for you, son of man, your people are talking to each other about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses. They are saying, ‘Come and hear the word that has come from the Lord.'

They come and sit in front of you as My people, and listen to the words you say. But they do not do them. With their mouth they speak of love, but their hearts are full of sinful desire.

They think of you as nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays music well. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

When all this comes true, and it will, then they will know that a man of God has been among them."

They went everywhere because they had no shepherd. And they became food for every animal of the field.

"As I live," says the Lord God, "My flock has been killed and become food for wild animals because they had no shepherd. My shepherds did not look for My flock. They fed themselves, but have not fed My flock."

The Lord God says, "I am against the shepherds, and I will ask them for My sheep. I will stop them from feeding the sheep, so they will no longer be able to feed themselves. I will save my sheep from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them."

As a shepherd looks for his sheep when they are not together, so I will look for My sheep. And I will save them from all the places where they were spread out on a day of clouds and darkness.

I will feed them in a good field. The ground they eat upon will be on the mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in a good field and feed on good grass on the mountains of Israel.