Jeremiah 46
1 The word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.
2 Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated that army in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 Prepare the small shield and the large shield, and advance to battle!
4 Harness the horses and mount them, horsemen! Take your positions with your helmets on, sharpen your spears, put on your armor!
5 Why do I see them terrified, retreating? Their warriors are defeated; they flee in haste and do not look back. Terror is everywhere, declares the LORD.
6 Let not the swift flee, nor the warrior escape! In the north, by the bank of the Euphrates River, they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this rising like the Nile, whose waters surge like rivers?
8 Egypt is the one rising 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 its inhabitants.”
9 Charge, horses! Race wildly, chariots! Let the warriors march out: Cush and Put, who carry shields, and the Lydians, who carry and draw the bow.
10 That day belongs to the Lord GOD of Armies: it is a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his enemies. The sword will devour and be satisfied; it will drink its fill of their blood. For there will be a sacrifice to the Lord GOD of Armies in the northern land, by the Euphrates River.
11 Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter of Egypt! You have multiplied remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry fills the earth, for warrior stumbles against warrior, and both fall together.
13 The word that the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack the land of Egypt.
14 Announce it in Egypt; proclaim it in Migdol. Proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say, “Take your stand and prepare, for the sword devours all around you.”
15 Why have your mighty ones been swept away? They did not stand, because the LORD drove them down.
16 He made many stumble. One fell over another, and they said, “Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land where we were born, away from the sword that oppresses.”
17 There they cried out, “Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is only a noise; he let the appointed time pass by.”
18 As I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies: he will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Prepare your baggage for exile, inhabitant of Egypt, daughter of Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolation, burned down and left without anyone living there.
20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a biting fly is coming from the north; it is coming.
21 The mercenaries among them, too, are like fattened calves. They also turned back and fled together; they did not stand, for their day of disaster has come upon them, the time of their punishment.
22 Its voice goes like a fleeing serpent, for they march with an army; they come against it with axes, like woodcutters.
23 They have cut down her forest, declares the LORD, though it was impenetrable, for they are more numerous than locusts, beyond counting.
24 Daughter Egypt is put to shame; she is handed over to the people of the north.
25 The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to punish Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods and its kings: Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and to his servants. But afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old, declares the LORD.”
27 But you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid; do not be terrified, Israel. For I will save you from far away, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and be at peace, secure, with no one to frighten him.
28 You, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. I will make a complete end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will discipline you with justice; I will certainly not leave you unpunished.”
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