The Judgment on Egypt
1 This is the word of the LORD, which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations, 2 concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 “Prepare the buckler and shield
and draw near to battle!
4 Harness the horses and get up, you horsemen,
and stand up with your helmets.
Polish the spears,
put on the coats of armor.
5 What do I see?
They have lost courage and have retreated.
Their mighty ones have been defeated.
They have fled in haste,
without looking back.
Terror is on every side,” says the LORD.
6 “Do not let the swift flee,
nor the mighty escape.
In the north by the river Euphrates,
they have stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is this who rises up like the Nile,
whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
8 Egypt rises up like the Nile,
and his waters toss themselves like the rivers.
He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
9 Go up, you horses!
Rage, you chariots!
Let the mighty men go out:
Cush and Put, who handle the shield,
and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
10 For that day is of the LORD, the God of Hosts,
a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge himself on his adversaries.
The sword will devour and be satiated,
and will drink its fill of their blood,
for the LORD, the God of Hosts,
has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt.
You use all your medicines in vain.
There is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry,
for the mighty has stumbled against the mighty.
They both fall together.”
13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.
14 “Declare it in Egypt,
publish it in Migdol,
and publish it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes.
Say, ‘Stand up and prepare,
for the sword has devoured around you.’
15 Why are your strong ones swept away?
They did not stand because the LORD pushed them.
16 He caused many to stumble.
Yes, they fell on one another.
They said, ‘Arise! Let’s go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
from the oppressing sword.’
17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is just noise.
He has let the appointed time pass by.’
18 As I live,” says the King,
whose name is the LORD of Hosts,
“surely like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea,
so he will come.
19 You, daughter who dwells in Egypt,
prepare yourself to go into captivity,
for Memphis will become a desolation,
and will be burned up,
without inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a very beautiful heifer,
but destruction out of the north has come.
It has come.
21 Also her hired men in the midst of her
are like calves of the stall,
for they also are turned back.
They have fled together.
They did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
the time of their visitation.
22 Its sound will go like the serpent,
for they will march with an army
and come against her with axes, like wood cutters.
23 They will cut down her forest,” says the LORD,
“though it cannot be searched,
because they are more than the locusts,
and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be disappointed.
She will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”
25 The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says. “I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings, along with Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says the LORD.
27 “But you, do not be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Do not be dismayed, Israel,
for I will save you from afar
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
28 Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says the LORD,
“for I am with you,
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you,
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you in due measure
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”