⁸ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will bring ^(A)a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. ⁹ And the land of Egypt shall become ^(B)desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’ ¹⁰ Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, ^(C)and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, ^(D)from ^[a]Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. ^11 (E)Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. ^12 (F)I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will ^(G)scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.”

¹³ ‘Yet, thus says the Lord God: “At the ^(H)end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. ¹⁴ I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a ^(I)lowly kingdom.