Ezekiel 29:13
““‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered.”
What does Ezekiel 29:13 mean?
After Babylon conquered Egypt, the nation's people were dispersed across different lands, and their future looked bleak. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that this exile won't be permanent, that there's an end date to their scattering. The "forty years" marks a complete season of judgment and consequence, but it's not forever. This message—that even powerful nations experience God's discipline, and that restoration comes after a defined period of suffering—would have reminded exiled Israelites that their own scattered condition also had boundaries and purpose.