Instructions Against Egypt

6 minutes • 1071 words

¹ In year 12, month 12, day 1, the word of Enki came to me, saying:

Enki

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 you [art] as a whale in the seas: and you camest forth with your rivers, and troubledst the waters with your feet, and fouledst their rivers. 3} Thus saith Enki; I will therefore spread out my net over you with a company of many people; and they shall bring you up in my net.

4} Then will I leave you upon the land, I will cast you forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon you, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you.

5} And I will lay your flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height. 6} I will also water with your blood the land wherein you swimmest, [even] to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of you.

7} And when I shall put you out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8} All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and set darkness upon your land, saith the Lord GOD. 9} I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you hast not known. 10} Yea, I will make many people 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 saith Enki; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.

12} By the swords of the mighty will I cause your multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. 13} I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 14} Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith Enki.

15} When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I [am] Enki. 16} This [is] the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, [even] for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith Enki.

17 In year 12, month 15, the word of Enki came unto 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, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 19} Whom dost you pass in beauty? go down, and be you laid with the uncircumcised. 20} They shall fall in the midst of [them that are] slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. 21} The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22} Asshur [is] there and all her company: his graves [are] about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 23} Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about

her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 24} There [is] Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 25} They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves [are] round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of [them that be] slain. 26} There [is] Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves [are] round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. 27} And they shall not lie with the mighty [that are] fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 28} Yea, you shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with [them that are] slain with the sword. 29} There [is] Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by [them that were] slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. 30} There [be] the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with [them that be] slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that 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, saith Enki. 32} For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with [them that are] slain with the sword, [even] Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.