¹The LORD ’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 the LORD .

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 , GOD 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 , GOD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD of Armies ,

“surely like Tabor amongst 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 burnt 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 the LORD ,

“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 .”

²⁵The LORD 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 the LORD .

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 the LORD ,

“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 .”