Ezekiel 30:20-26
The Lord breaks the arms of Pharaoh, strengthens the arms of Babylon, and makes Egypt know that the sword, the battle, the empire, and the outcome belong to Him.
20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword.
22 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24 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 the king of Babylon with the groaning of a mortally wounded man.
25 I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh will fall down. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out on the land of Egypt.
26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
The LORD breaks the arms of Pharaoh, strengthens the arms of Babylon, and makes Egypt know that the sword, the battle, the empire, and the outcome belong to Him.
To announce that the LORD has already broken Pharaoh's military arm and will break both his strong and broken arms so that Egypt's sword falls from his grasp, while the king of Babylon receives strengthened arms and the LORD's sword against Egypt.
The oracle is dated within Ezekiel's exilic ministry and addresses Pharaoh king of Egypt during the foreign-nations judgment block. Egypt is portrayed as a proud regional power whose military capacity is failing under the LORD's judgment. Ezekiel's exilic audience needed to understand that Egypt was not a secure alternative refuge and that Babylon's rise did not mean the LORD had lost control of history.