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.
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.