11 No man or animal will walk through it. No one will live in Egypt for 40 years.
12 I will make the land of Egypt the emptiest country of all. And her cities will be the emptiest of all ruined cities for 40 years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. And I will spread them among the countries.
13 “‘This is what the Lord God says: After 40 years I will gather Egypt from the nations where they have been scattered.
14 I will bring back the Egyptian captives. I will make the Egyptians return to southern Egypt. They will return to the land that they came from. They will become a weak kingdom there.
15 It will be the weakest kingdom. It will never again rule other nations. I will make it so weak it will never again rule over the nations.
16 The Israelites will never again depend on Egypt. Egypt’s punishment will remind the Israelites of their sin. They turned to Egypt for help and not to God. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.’”
17 It was the twenty-seventh year of our captivity, in the first month. It was on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: