November 30: Ezekiel 29–31; John 1:1–18; Psalm 120; Proverbs 28:23–24

Ezekiel 29–31 (Listen)

Prophecy Against Egypt

29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “Behold, I am against you,
    Pharaoh king of Egypt,
  the great dragon that lies
    in the midst of his streams,
  that says, ‘My Nile is my own;
    I made it for myself.’
4   I will put hooks in your jaws,
    and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;
  and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,
    with all the fish of your streams
    that stick to your scales.
5   And I will cast you out into the wilderness,
    you and all the fish of your streams;
  you shall fall on the open field,
    and not be brought together or gathered.
  To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens
    I give you as food.

6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD.

“Because you¹ have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.²8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

“Because you³ said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.

13 “For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth⁴ and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD.

21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

A Lament for Egypt

30 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
3     For the day is near,
    the day of the LORD is near;
  it will be a day of clouds,
    a time of doom for⁵ the nations.
4   A sword shall come upon Egypt,
    and anguish shall be in Cush,
  when the slain fall in Egypt,
    and her wealth⁶ is carried away,
    and her foundations are torn down.

5 Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,⁷ and the people of the land that is in league,⁸ shall fall with them by the sword.

6   “Thus says the LORD:
  Those who support Egypt shall fall,
    and her proud might shall come down;
  from Migdol to Syene
    they shall fall within her by the sword,
  declares the Lord GOD.
7   And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,
    and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.
8   Then they will know that I am the LORD,
    when I have set fire to Egypt,
    and all her helpers are broken.

9 “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom;⁹ for, behold, it comes!

10 “Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,
    by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11   He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,
    shall be brought in to destroy the land,
  and they shall draw their swords against Egypt
    and fill the land with the slain.
12   And I will dry up the Nile
    and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;
  I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,
    by the hand of foreigners;
  I am the LORD; I have spoken.

13 “Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “I will destroy the idols
    and put an end to the images in Memphis;
  there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;
    so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
14   I will make Pathros a desolation
    and will set fire to Zoan
    and will execute judgments on Thebes.
15   And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
    the stronghold of Egypt,
    and cut off the multitude¹⁰ of Thebes.
16   And I will set fire to Egypt;
    Pelusium shall be in great agony;
  Thebes shall be breached,
    and Memphis shall face enemies¹¹ by day.
17   The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,
    and the women¹² shall go into captivity.
18   At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,
    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,
  and her 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 I will execute judgments on Egypt.
    Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon

20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it 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 will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when 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

31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:

  “Whom are you like in your greatness?
3     Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
  with beautiful branches and forest shade,
    and of towering height,
    its top among the clouds.¹³
4   The waters nourished it;
    the deep made it grow tall,
  making its rivers flow
    around the place of its planting,
  sending forth its streams
    to all the trees of the field.
5   So it towered high
    above all the trees of the field;
  its boughs grew large
    and its branches long
    from abundant water in its shoots.
6   All 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.
7   It was beautiful in its greatness,
    in the length of its branches;
  for its roots went down
    to abundant waters.
8   The cedars in 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 in the garden of God
    was its equal in beauty.
9   I made it beautiful
    in the mass of its branches,
  and all the trees of Eden envied it,
    that were in the garden of God.

10 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it¹⁴ towered high and set its top among the clouds,¹⁵ and its 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 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,¹⁶ and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,¹⁷ with those who go down to the pit.

15 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day the cedar¹⁸ 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 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations.

18 “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.”

(ESV)

John 1:1–18 (Listen)

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,¹ and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,² and his own people³ did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son⁴ from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.⁵17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God,⁶ who is at the Father’s side,⁷ he has made him known.

(ESV)

Psalm 120 (Listen)

Deliver Me, O Lord

A Song of Ascents.

120   In my distress I called to the LORD,
    and he answered me.
2   Deliver me, O LORD,
    from lying lips,
    from a deceitful tongue.
3   What shall be given to you,
    and what more shall be done to you,
    you deceitful tongue?
4   A warrior’s sharp arrows,
    with glowing coals of the broom tree!
5   Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6   Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
7   I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war!

(ESV)

Proverbs 28:23–24 (Listen)

23   Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor
    than he who flatters with his tongue.
24   Whoever robs his father or his mother
    and says, “That is no transgression,”
    is a companion to a man who destroys.

(ESV)