Jeremiah 46
46
Messages for the Nations
1The following messages were given to Jeremiah the prophet from the Lord concerning foreign nations.
Messages about Egypt
2This message concerning Egypt was given in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, on the occasion of the battle of Carchemish#46:2a This event occurred in 605 b.c., during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign (according to the calendar system in which the new year begins in the spring). when Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar#46:2b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 46:13, 26. of Babylon.
3“Prepare your shields,
and advance into battle!
4Harness the horses,
and mount the stallions.
Take your positions.
Put on your helmets.
Sharpen your spears,
and prepare your armor.
5But what do I see?
The Egyptian army flees in terror.
The bravest of its fighting men run
without a backward glance.
They are terrorized at every turn,”
says the Lord.
6“The swiftest runners cannot flee;
the mightiest warriors cannot escape.
By the Euphrates River to the north,
they stumble and fall.
7“Who is this, rising like the Nile at floodtime,
overflowing all the land?
8It is the Egyptian army,
overflowing all the land,
boasting that it will cover the earth like a flood,
destroying cities and their people.
9Charge, you horses and chariots;
attack, you mighty warriors of Egypt!
Come, all you allies from Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia#46:9 Hebrew from Cush, Put, and Lud.
who are skilled with the shield and bow!
10For this is the day of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
a day of vengeance on his enemies.
The sword will devour until it is satisfied,
yes, until it is drunk with your blood!
The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will receive a sacrifice today
in the north country beside the Euphrates River.
11“Go up to Gilead to get medicine,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
But your many treatments
will bring you no healing.
12The nations have heard of your shame.
The earth is filled with your cries of despair.
Your mightiest warriors will run into each other
and fall down together.”
13Then the Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar’s plans to attack Egypt.
14“Shout it out in Egypt!
Publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis,#46:14 Hebrew Noph; also in 46:19. and Tahpanhes!
Mobilize for battle,
for the sword will devour everyone around you.
15Why have your warriors fallen?
They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down.
16They stumble and fall over each other
and say among themselves,
‘Come, let’s go back to our people,
to the land of our birth.
Let’s get away from the sword of the enemy!’
17There they will say,
‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth
who missed his opportunity!’
18“As surely as I live,” says the King,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“one is coming against Egypt
who is as tall as Mount Tabor,
or as Mount Carmel by the sea!
19Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile,
you citizens of Egypt!
The city of Memphis will be destroyed,
without a single inhabitant.
20Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer,
but a horsefly from the north is on its way!
21Egypt’s mercenaries have become like fattened calves.
They, too, will turn and run,
for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt,
a time of great punishment.
22Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away.
The invading army marches in;
they come against her with axes like woodsmen.
23They will cut down her people like trees,” says the Lord,
“for they are more numerous than locusts.
24Egypt will be humiliated;
she will be handed over to people from the north.”
25The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes,#46:25 Hebrew of No. and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him. 26I will hand them over to those who want them killed—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the Lord, have spoken!
27“But do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;
do not be dismayed, Israel.
For I will bring you home again from distant lands,
and your children will return from their exile.
Israel#46:27 Hebrew Jacob. See note on 5:20. will return to a life of peace and quiet,
and no one will terrorize them.
28Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
for I am with you,” says the Lord.
“I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you,
but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you, but with justice;
I cannot let you go unpunished.”
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Jeremiah 46: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 46
46
1The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles,
2Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.
3Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.
4Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen. Stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.
5What then? I have seen them dismayed and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain. They fled apace and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord.
6Let not the swift flee away nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown and fallen down, towards the north, by the river Euphrates.
7Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers?
8Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers. And he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth. I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.
9Get ye up on horses and glory in chariots: and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians and the Libyans that hold the shield and the Lydians that take and shoot arrows.
10For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies. The sword shall devour and shall be filled and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates.
11Go up into Galaad and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines. There shall be no cure for thee.
12The nations have heard of thy disgrace and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together.
13The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:
14Declare ye to Egypt and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis and in Taphnis. Say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.
15Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? They stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them.
16He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another. And they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people and to the land our nativity, from the sword of the dove.
17Call ye the name of Pharao king Egypt: a tumult time hath brought.
18 As I live (saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts), as Thabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.
20Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.
21Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together. And they could not stand: for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation.
22Her voice shall sound like brass: for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.
23They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts and are without number.
24The daughter of Egypt is confounded and delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hath said: Behold, I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria and upon Pharao and upon Egypt and upon her gods and upon her kings and upon Pharao upon them that trust in him.
26And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.
27And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity. And Jacob shall return and be at rest and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.
28And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee. For I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume. But I will correct thee in judgment: neither will I spare thee, as if thou wert innocent.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.