First off, the utter waste thing may not have happend yet. That may be coming later according to the Bible. What has happend is, Nebachadnezzar did conquer Egypt. Such things as not being inhabbited, etc are different prophecies, which are proclaimed on different days.
Welcome back to the thread Manchester ..
as a matter of fact it seems you never bothered yourself to read Ezekiel 29&30 in context ,which shows without any reasonable doubt that and in explicit language ,that this desolation of Egypt would be done by Nebuchadnezzar and the Such things as not being inhabbited, etc would be the result of his attack on it, read the following in context to know the simplicity of your error regarding the claim(2 prophecies about Egypt in ezekiel)... and plz pay attention to the underlined.
Ezekiel 29
1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying,
2"Son of man, set your face against
Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
3"Speak and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,
"Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers,
That has said, 'My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.'
4"I will put hooks in your jaws
And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales.
And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers,
And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales.
5"I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers;
You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or gathered
I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
6"Then
all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the LORD,
Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel.
7"When they took hold of you with the hand,
You broke and tore all their hands;
And when they leaned on you,
You broke and made all their loins quake."
8'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold,
I will bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast.
9"
The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste Then they will know that I am the LORD Because you said, 'The Nile is mine, and I have made it,'
10therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers,
and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia.
11"A man's foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.
12"So I
will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands."
13'For thus says the Lord GOD, "At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered.
14"I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.
15"It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations And I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.
16"And it will never again be the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD."'"
17Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying,
18"Son of man,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it."
19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
"Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army.
20"I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me," declares the Lord GOD.
21"On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
Ezekiel 30
1The word of the LORD came again to me saying,
2"Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,
Wail, 'Alas for the day!'
3"For the day is near,
Even the day of the LORD is near;
It will be a day of clouds,
A time of doom for the nations.
4"
A sword will come upon Egypt,
And anguish will be in Ethiopia;
When the slain fall in Egypt,
They take away her wealth,
And her foundations are torn down.
5"Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya and the people of the land that is in league will fall with them by the sword."
6'Thus says the LORD,
"Indeed, those who support Egypt will fall
And the pride of her power will come down;
From Migdol to Syene
They will fall within her by the sword,"
Declares the Lord GOD.
7"
They will be desolate
In the midst of the desolated lands;
And her cities will be
In the midst of the devastated cities.
8"
And they will know that I am the LORD,
When I set a fire in Egypt
And all her helpers are broken.
9"On that day messengers will go forth from Me in ships to frighten secure Ethiopia; and anguish will be on them as on the day of Egypt; for behold, it comes!"
10'Thus says the Lord GOD,
"
I will also make the hordes of Egypt cease
By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11"He and his people with him,
The most ruthless of the nations,
Will be brought in to destroy the land;
And they will draw their swords against EgyptAnd fill the land with the slain. 12"Moreover, I will make the Nile canals dry
And sell the land into the hands of evil men.
And I will make the land desolateAnd all that is in it,
By the hand of strangers; I the LORD have spoken."
13'Thus says the Lord GOD,
"I will also destroy the idols
And make the images cease from Memphis. And there will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;
And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
14"I will make Pathros desolate,
Set a fire in Zoan
And execute judgments on Thebes.
15"I will pour out My wrath on Sin,
The stronghold of Egypt;
I will also cut off the hordes of Thebes.
16"I will set a fire in Egypt;
Sin will writhe in anguish,
Thebes will be breached
And Memphis will have distresses daily.
17"The young men of On and of Pi-beseth
Will fall by the sword,
And the women will go into captivity.
18"In Tehaphnehes the day will be dark
When I break there the yoke bars of Egypt.
Then the pride of her power will cease in her;
A cloud will cover her,
And her daughters will go into captivity.
19"Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt,
And
they will know that I am the LORD."'"
peace for all
