Ezekiel 30–32; John 15

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Ezekiel 30–32

A Lament for Egypt

The word of the Lord came to me: vSon of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

wWail, Alas for the day!

wFor the day is near,

xthe day of the Lord is near;

it will be ya day of clouds,

a time of doom for1 the nations.

zA sword shall come upon Egypt,

aand anguish shall be in bCush,

when the slain fall in Egypt,

and cher wealth2 is carried away,

and dher foundations are torn down.

bCush, and ePut, and Lud, and fall Arabia, and Libya,3 and the people of the land that is in league,4 shall fall with them by the sword.

Thus says the Lord:

gThose who support Egypt shall fall,

and hher proud might shall come down;

ifrom Migdol to Syene

they shall fall within her by the sword,

declares the Lord God.

jAnd they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,

and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.

kThen they will know that I am the Lord,

when lI have set fire to Egypt,

and gall her helpers are broken.

On that day mmessengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting bpeople of Cush, and aanguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom;5 for, behold, it comes!

10 Thus says the Lord God:

nI will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,

by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

11  He and his people with him, othe most ruthless of nations,

shall be brought in to destroy the land,

zand they shall draw their swords against Egypt

and fill the land with the slain.

12  And pI will qdry up the Nile

and will sell the land into the hand of revildoers;

sI will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,

by the hand of tforeigners;

uI am the Lord; I have spoken.

13 Thus says the Lord God:

vI will destroy the idols

and put an end to the images in wMemphis;

xthere shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;

so yI will put fear in the land of Egypt.

14  I will make zPathros a desolation

and will set fire to aZoan

band will execute judgments on cThebes.

15  And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,

the stronghold of Egypt,

and cut off the multitude6 of Thebes.

16  And I will set fire to Egypt;

Pelusium shall be in great agony;

Thebes shall be breached,

and wMemphis shall face enemies7 by day.

17  The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,

and the women8 shall go into captivity.

18  At dTehaphnehes ethe day shall be dark,

when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,

and fher proud might shall come to an end in her;

she shall be covered by a cloud,

and her daughters shall go into captivity.

19  Thus gI will execute judgments on Egypt.

hThen they will know that I am the Lord.

Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon

20 iIn the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 jSon of man, kI have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, lit has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and mwill break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 nI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And oI will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put pmy sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him qlike a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. rThen they shall know that I am the Lord, swhen I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Pharaoh to Be Slain

tIn the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: uSon of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to vhis multitude:

wWhom are you like in your greatness?

Behold, xAssyria was a ycedar in zLebanon,

with beautiful branches and aforest shade,

band of towering height,

its top among the clouds.9

The waters nourished it;

the deep made it grow tall,

making cits rivers flow

around the place of its planting,

sending forth its streams

to all the trees of the field.

So dit towered high

above all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large

and its branches long

from eabundant water in its shoots.

fAll the birds of the heavens

made their nests in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field

gave birth to their young,

and under its shadow

lived all great nations.

It was gbeautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches;

efor its roots went down

to abundant waters.

hThe cedars iin the garden of God could not rival it,

nor the fir trees equal its boughs;

neither were the plane trees

like its branches;

no tree iin the garden of God

was its equal in beauty.

I made it beautiful

in the mass of its branches,

and all the trees of jEden envied it,

that were in the garden of God.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because kit10 towered high and set its top among the clouds,11 and lits heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 mForeigners, mthe most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. nOn the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all othe ravines of the land, and pall the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 qOn its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 rAll this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,12 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, sto the world tbelow, among the children of man,13 with those who go down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Lord God: On the day uthe cedar14 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 vI made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, uwhen I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. wAnd all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, xwere comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, yto those who are slain by the sword; yes, zthose who were its arm, awho lived under its shadow among the nations.

18 bWhom are you thus like in glory and in greatness wamong the trees of Eden? cYou shall be brought down with wthe trees of Eden to the world below. dYou shall lie among the uncircumcised, ywith those who are slain by the sword.

bThis is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.

A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt

eIn the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: fSon of man, graise a lamentation over hPharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:

You consider yourself ia lion of the nations,

but you are like ja dragon kin the seas;

lyou burst forth in your rivers,

trouble the waters with your feet,

and foul their rivers.

Thus says the Lord God:

mI will throw my net over you

with a host of nmany peoples,

and othey will haul you up in my dragnet.

And pI will cast you on the ground;

on the open field I will fling you,

and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,

and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

I will strew your flesh qupon the mountains

and fill the valleys with your carcass.15

I will drench the land even to the mountains

with your flowing blood,

and the ravines will be full of you.

rWhen I blot you out, sI will cover the heavens

and make their stars dark;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

and the moon shall not give its light.

All the bright lights of heaven

will I make dark over you,

and tput darkness on your land,

declares the Lord God.

I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 uI will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when vI brandish my sword before them. wThey shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.

11 For thus says the Lord God: xThe sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause yyour multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them zmost ruthless of nations.

aThey shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,

and all its multitude16 shall perish.

13  I will destroy all its beasts

from beside many waters;

band no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,

nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.

14  Then cI will make their waters clear,

and cause their rivers to run like oil,

declares the Lord God.

15  When I make the land of Egypt desolate,

and when the land dis desolate of all that fills it,

when I strike down all who dwell in it,

then ethey will know that I am the Lord.

16 fThis is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over gall her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord God.

17 hIn the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,17 on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 iSon of man, jwail over gthe multitude of Egypt, and ksend them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, lto the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:

19  mWhom do you surpass in beauty?

Go down and nbe laid to rest with the uncircumcised.

20 They shall fall amid those owho are slain by the sword. Egypt18 is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and pall her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs qshall speak of them, rwith their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: They have come down, they lie still, sthe uncircumcised, oslain by the sword.

22 tAssyria is there, and all her company, uits graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in vthe uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, wwho spread terror xin the land of the living.

24 yElam is zthere, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them aslain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into bthe world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and cthey bear their shame bwith those who go down to the pit. 25 dThey have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.

26 fMeshech-Tubal is ethere, and all her multitude, eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And gthey do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken hand lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

29 iEdom is jthere, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.

30 The princes kof the north are there, all of them, and all the lSidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, mfor all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and nbear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 When Pharaoh sees them, he owill be comforted for pall his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God. 32 qFor I spread terror rin the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among sthe uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.


John 15

I Am the True Vine

I am the rtrue vine, and my Father is sthe vinedresser. tEvery branch in me that does not bear fruit uhe takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, vthat it may bear more fruit. Already wyou are clean xbecause of the word that I have spoken to you. yAbide zin me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; ayou are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bbears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me che is thrown away like a branch and withers; dand the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If eyou abide in me, and my words abide in you, fask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. gBy this my Father is glorified, that you hbear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. iAs the Father has loved me, jso have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 kIf you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as lI have kept mmy Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, nthat my joy may be in you, and that oyour joy may be full.

12 pThis is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 qGreater love has no one than this, rthat someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are smy friends tif you do what I command you. 15 uNo longer do I call you servants,1 for the servant wdoes not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for xall that I have heard from my Father yI have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but zI chose you and appointed you that you should go and abear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that bwhatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, cso that you will love one another.

The Hatred of the World

18 dIf the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 eIf you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because fyou are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: gA servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, hthey will also persecute you. iIf they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But jall these things they will do to you kon account of my name, lbecause they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, mthey would not have been guilty of sin,2 but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 nWhoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 oIf I had not done among them the works that no one else did, mthey would not be guilty of sin, but now they have pseen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But qthe word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: rThey hated me without a cause.

26 But swhen the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, the will bear witness about me. 27 And uyou also will bear witness, vbecause you have been with me wfrom the beginning.