Ezekiel 29:9
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
Ezekiel 29:9 belongs to a prophecy of judgment against Egypt that declares the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host. It was spoken as God's warning to a nation when Egypt was in her power and glory, showing that nations and governments need not be ignorant of what is to come upon the earth. Egypt in this prophecy is a former oppressor of God's people and a symbol of black infidelity.
The judgment came because of pride, for Egypt claimed the river as its own possession and took credit for making it, saying the river is its own and it has made it. Pharaoh claimed the Nile as his own and said he had made it, claiming the Nile as his own creation and possession. The verse means the land of Egypt would become desolate and waste, with its rivers dried up.
Through that desolation and destruction they would know that He is the LORD, showing that the Lord is God and that Egypt's claim over the river could not make it secure. Egypt, once one of the greatest kingdoms or empires, would suffer loss of power and decline, be conquered and subjected to foreign rulers, and be brought low and abased among the kingdoms as the basest of the kingdoms, kept from rising again among the nations. Egypt was made desolate for forty years because of this claim over the Nile.
The predictions concerning Egypt were literally fulfilled, as seen in its later low condition and in its decline from a powerful kingdom. The prophecy is applied to England taking complete control of Egypt, with Turkey's nominal sovereignty over Egypt passing away.