“And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. “Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered; “And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. “It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. “And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord God.” Analyzing this prophecy, we note the personal element that is introduced when God arrayed himself against Hophra and all of the land of Egypt. This people who, as we have seen, worshipped the Nile and counted it a deified object, had also acquiesced in the claims of Hophra who went so far as to state that he was the one who had made the river and caused it to continue to flow. Adopting this figure, the prophet speaking for God, says that Hophra shall be caught like the fish and cast into the fields by the side of the banks. The sixth verse states that all the population of Egypt is to be taught a bitter lesson. They shall know forever that God is Lord, in the punishment they shall reap for their defections against Israel. Verse eight contains the information that this punishment is to take the form of an invasion that shall leave the land desolate and waste. This punishment was to come upon the land and the people because of their idolatry and their sins against Israel. From verses ten to twelve, a bleak picture is drawn of utter desolation which shall prevail in their land for forty years. The prophecy then turns upon the pivot of the thirteenth verse to a time of a partial restoration. This restoration, however, is limited in the Divine Word to the effect that Egypt shall be the basest of the kingdoms of the earth. It shall never be permitted to exalt itself again in the council of the nations. It is to be eternally diminished and debased. The consequent history of Egypt has been a complete vindication and fulfillment of this prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and carried away the last remnant of that graceless people into captivity in Babylon. All those who had joined in the defection of Zedekiah, great and small, old and young, they slew with the sword. Then the angry Nebuchadnezzar swept on into Egypt and devastated that land, until, it is recorded, “not a living thing, man or beast,” was left in that once populous country.