Jeremiah 46
46
ORACLES CONCERNING THE NATIONS
1This is what the LORD told the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.
Prophecy against Egypt
2About Egypt! A message for the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king, which was defeated by Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish near the Euphrates River in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son:
3Grab your shields
and prepare for war!
4Saddle the horses;
mount the stallions!
Take your positions
with helmets on!
Polish your spears;
put on your armor!
5Why do I see them terrified,
retreating in haste?
Their soldiers are crushed,
running for cover,
and they don’t turn back.
Panic lurks at every turn,
declares the LORD.
6The swift can’t flee;
the mighty can’t escape.
Up north by the Euphrates River,
they stagger and fall.
7Who is this that rises like the Nile,
whose banks overflow?#46.7 Or like rivers whose waters roar
8It’s Egypt that rises like the Nile,
whose banks overflow,#46.8 Or like rivers whose waters roar
who declares, “I will arise
and cover the earth
and destroy cities and inhabitants.”
9Charge, you horses;
advance, you chariots!
Attack, you soldiers
with your shield in hand,
you people of Cush and Put#46.9 Traditionally Ethiopia and Libya
with your bow drawn,
you archers from Lud.
10But that day belongs to the
LORD God of heavenly forces;
it’s a day of reckoning,
settling scores with enemies.
The sword will devour
until it has had its fill of blood.
The LORD God of heavenly forces
is preparing a sacrifice in the north
by the Euphrates River.
11Go up to Gilead and seek balm,
virgin Daughter Egypt.
You search out remedies in vain,
for your disease is incurable.
12Nations hear of your shame;
the earth is filled with your sobs.
Soldier stumbles over soldier;
together they go down.
13This is the word that the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the military offensive of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar against the land of Egypt:
14Tell Egypt, warn Migdol,
alert Memphis and Tahpanhes!
Say: “Brace yourselves for what’s coming.
War is breaking out from every side!”
15Why have your mighty fallen?
Why haven’t they stood their ground?
Because the LORD has struck them down.
16He’s tripped them up;
they fall over each other and say,
“Let’s get out of here
and go home to our people,
where we were born,
far away from the oppressor’s sword.”#46.16 Heb uncertain
17There they call Pharaoh, Egypt’s king,
Loudmouth—Nothing But Hot Air!
18As I live, declares the king,
whose name is the LORD of heavenly forces,
one is coming
just as surely as Tabor is in the mountains
and Carmel is by the sea.#46.18 Heb uncertain
19Get what you need for deportation,
you inhabitants of Egypt.#46.19 Or inhabitant, Daughter Egypt
Memphis will be reduced to a wasteland,
a ruin with no one left.
20Egypt is a beautiful, yes, beautiful heifer,
but a horsefly from the north
is coming to bite her.#46.20 Heb uncertain
21Even her mercenaries
are like well-fed calves;
they too will retreat and run for cover;
they won’t survive.
The day of disaster has come to haunt them,
the time of their punishment.
22Like the sound of a snake hissing
as it slithers away
is Egypt#46.22 Heb lacks is Egypt. as armies approach in force;
they come against her with axes,
like woodcutters.
23They destroy her dense forest,
though it is vast,
because they outnumber locusts
and can’t be counted,
declares the LORD.
24Daughter Egypt will be humiliated,
handed over to people from the north.
25This is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m going to punish Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, as well as Pharaoh and all who rely on him. 26I will hand them over to those who seek to kill them, namely Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his servants. But afterward Egypt will dwell like it did a long time ago, declares the LORD.
27But don’t be afraid, my servant Judah;
don’t lose heart, Israel.
I will deliver you from a faraway place
and your children from the land of their exile.
My people Jacob will again be safe and sound,
with no one harassing them.
28So don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
declares the LORD.
I’m with you;
I will put an end to all the nations
where I have scattered you.
But I won’t put an end to you.
I won’t let you avoid punishment;
I will discipline you as you deserve.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 46
46
1Yahweh’s word which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2Of Egypt: concerning 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!
4Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen,
and stand up with your helmets.
Polish the spears,
put on the coats of mail.
5Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed and are turned backward.
Their mighty ones are beaten down,
have fled in haste,
and don’t look back.
Terror is on every side,”
says Yahweh.
6“Don’t let the swift flee away,
nor the mighty man escape.
In the north by the river Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.
7“Who is this who rises up like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?
8Egypt rises up like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’
9Go 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.
10For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies,
a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge himself of his adversaries.
The sword will devour and be satiated,
and will drink its fill of their blood;
for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt.
You use many medicines in vain.
There is no healing for you.
12The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry;
for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty,
they both fall together.”
13The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:
14“Declare in Egypt,
publish in Migdol,
and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes;
say, ‘Stand up, and prepare,
for the sword has devoured around you.’
15Why are your strong ones swept away?
They didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them.
16He made many to stumble.
Yes, they fell on one another.
They said, ‘Arise! Let’s go again to our own people,
and to the land of our birth,
from the oppressing sword.’
17They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise;
he has let the appointed time pass by.’
18“As I live,” says the King,
whose name is Yahweh of Armies,
“surely like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea,
so he will come.
19You daughter who dwells in Egypt,
furnish 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.
21Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall,
for they also are turned back.
They have fled away together.
They didn’t stand,
for the day of their calamity has come on them,
the time of their visitation.
22Its sound will go like the serpent,
for they will march with an army,
and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.
23They will cut down her forest,” says Yahweh,
“though it can’t be searched;
because they are more than the locusts,
and are innumerable.
24The daughter of Egypt will be disappointed;
she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”
25Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. 26I 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 Yahweh.
27“But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel;
for, behold, 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.
28Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh,
“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 measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
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