Jeremiah 46

1The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:

2Concerning Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.

3Prepare buckler and shield, and advance to battle.

4Harness the horses; mount up, you horsemen; take your stand with helmets on. Polish the spears; put on the armor.

5Why have I seen this? They are terrified, turning back; their warriors are crushed, and they have fled hastily and have not turned back. Terror is on every side, declares Yahweh.

6Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape; in the north, by the bank of the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen.

7Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge?

8Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters surge like rivers. It says, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it.’

9Go up, O horses, and rage, O chariots; let the warriors go out—Cush and Put, who grasp the shield, and the Ludim, who grasp and bend the bow.

10That day belongs to the Lord GOD of Armies, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword will devour and be satisfied and drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord GOD of Armies has a sacrifice in the land of the north, by the Euphrates River.

11Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you have multiplied remedies; there is no healing for you.

12The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the earth; for warrior has stumbled against warrior; together both of them have fallen.

13The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

14Declare it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say, ‘Take your stand and prepare yourself, for the sword has devoured those around you.’

15Why has your mighty one been swept away? He did not stand, for Yahweh drove him away.

16He has multiplied the stumbling; indeed, each man falls against his companion, and they say, “Come, and let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.”

17There they cry, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.’

18As I live, declares the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely as Tabor among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so he will come.

19Prepare your baggage for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt, for Noph will become a desolation, laid waste, without inhabitant.

20Egypt is a beautiful heifer; destruction from the north has come, it has come.

21Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves; for even they have turned and fled together; they did not stand, for the day of their disaster has come upon them, the time of their punishment.

22Her sound goes like a serpent, for they go with an army and come against her with axes, like woodcutters.

23They have cut down her forest, declares Yahweh, though it cannot be searched out, because they are more numerous than locusts, and they are without number.

24The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is given into the hand of a people from the north.

25Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I am about to punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings, and Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.

26And I will give them into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. But afterward she will dwell as in days of old, declares Yahweh.

27But as for you, do not fear, my servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease, with no one to make him afraid.

28But you, do not fear, my servant Jacob, declares Yahweh, for I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. Yet I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.