Messages Concerning Egypt
46 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. 2 Concerning Egypt: Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah.
3 “Prepare small shield and shield,
and approach for the battle!
4 Harness the horses and mount the steeds!
And take your stand with helmets!
Polish the spears!
Put on the body armor!
5 Why do I see them terrified?
They are turning back
and their warriors are beaten down.
And they have fled to a place of refuge
and they do not turn back.
Terror is from all around,” declares[a] Yahweh.
6 The swift cannot flee,
and the warrior cannot escape.
They have stumbled and they have fallen,
by the bank of the Euphrates River.
7 Who is this that rises like the Nile,
like the rivers whose waters surge?
8 Egypt rises like the Nile,
even like the rivers whose waters surge.
And he says, “Let me rise,
let me cover the earth,
let me destroy cities,
and the inhabitants in them.”
9 Go up, O horses,
and drive madly, O chariots,[b]
and let the warriors go forth;
Cush and Put, who wield the small shield,
and Lud, who wield and bend the bow.
10 For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts
a day of retribution,
to take revenge on his foes.
And the sword will devour and be satisfied,
and it will drink its fill of their blood,
for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts
in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
11 Go up to Gilead and take balm,
O virgin of the daughter of Egypt.
In vain[c] you make use of many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard your shame,
and your cry of lament fills the earth.
For warrior has stumbled against warrior,
together they have fallen, the two of them.
13 The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:
14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol,
and proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes,
say, ‘Take your stand and be prepared,
for the sword will devour those all around you.’
15 Why are your bulls defeated?
He did not stand because Yahweh thrust him down.
16 He multiplied the ones[d] stumbling.
Furthermore, each one fell to his neighbor,
and said, ‘Stand up, and let us return to our people
and to the land of our birth,
because of[e] the presence[f] of the sword of the oppressor.’
17 They will call there,
‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt is but a roar,
he missed the opportunity.’[g]
18 As I live,”[h] declares[i] the king,
Yahweh of hosts is his name,
“one will come like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Pack your baggage for exile,
O inhabitants[j] of the daughter of Egypt,
for Memphis will become as a horror,
and it will be destroyed, without[k] inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
but a gadfly from the north will come against her.
21 Even her mercenaries in her midst are like calves of fattening,
for they also have turned away,
they have fled together.
They stand not,
for the day of their calamity has come,
the time of their punishment.
22 Her sound is like a snake that glides away,
for they march in force.
And with axes they come to her
like those who chop trees.
23 They will cut down her forest,” declares[l] Yahweh,
“for it is impenetrable.[m]
Yes, they are more numerous than locusts,[n]
and they are without number.[o]
24 The daughter of Egypt will be ashamed,
she will be given into the hand of the people of the north.”
25 Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, said, “Look, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 And I will give them into the hand of the seekers of their lives,[p] and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his troops. But afterward[q] it will be inhabited, as in days of old,” declares[r] Yahweh.
27 “But as for you, my servant Jacob, you must not be afraid,
and Israel, you must not be dismayed,
for look, I am going to save you from far,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob will return,
and he will be quiet,
and he will be at ease,
and without one who makes him afraid.
28 You must not be afraid, my servant Jacob,” declares[s] Yahweh,
“for I am with you.
For I will make a complete destruction in all the nations where I scattered you,
but you I will not make a complete destruction,
though I will chastise you to the measure,
and I will certainly not leave you unpunished.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 46:5 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 46:9 Hebrew “chariot”
- Jeremiah 46:11 Literally “To the vanity”
- Jeremiah 46:16 Hebrew “one”
- Jeremiah 46:16 Literally “from”
- Jeremiah 46:16 Literally “face”
- Jeremiah 46:17 Literally “he has allowed to pass over the appointed time”
- Jeremiah 46:18 Literally “Life I”
- Jeremiah 46:18 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 46:19 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Jeremiah 46:19 Literally “from there is not”
- Jeremiah 46:23 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 46:23 Literally “it cannot be searched out”
- Jeremiah 46:23 Hebrew “locust”
- Jeremiah 46:23 Literally “there is not to them a number”
- Jeremiah 46:26 Hebrew “life”
- Jeremiah 46:26 Literally “after thus”
- Jeremiah 46:26 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 46:28 Literally “a declaration of”