Ezekiel 29:11
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
Ezekiel 29:11 belongs to the prophecies against Egypt concerning the certain fate of Pharaoh and his host. It was spoken by the Lord six hundred years before Christ while Egypt was struggling against Babylon for supremacy in world-empire. Egypt had once been one of the greatest kingdoms and a great empire. It had been a former oppressor of God's people and a symbol of black infidelity.
The verse means Egypt would be left desolate and uninhabited for forty years, with no foot of man passing through it, no foot of beast passing through it, and neither dwelling in it. This judgment came because Egypt claimed the Nile as its own creation. Egypt would be brought down to become the basest of the kingdoms, brought low and abased so as never again to lift itself above the nations, rise among them, or rule over them. Its foundations would be broken down, those upholding it would fall, and the pride of its power would be brought down. Its land would be desolate in the midst of desolate countries and its cities wasted in the midst of wasted cities, its idols destroyed and its images made to cease from Memphis with no more a prince from the land, with fire set in Zoan and judgments executed upon No.
These predictions of judgment on Egypt, including the forty-year desolation, were literally fulfilled. The conquest and diminished status of Egypt stand without further explanation or application of the specific forty-year period. The desolation of Egypt is connected with England taking complete control of Egypt and the disappearance of Turkey's nominal sovereignty there.