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,

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?

⁸It’s Egypt that rises like the Nile,

whose banks overflow,

⁹Charge, you horses;

advance, you chariots!

Attack, you soldiers

with your shield in hand,

¹⁰But that day belongs to the

LORD God of heavenly forces;

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

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?

¹⁶He’s tripped them up;

they fall over each other and say,

“Let’s get out of here

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.

¹⁹Get what you need for deportation,

you inhabitants of 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

²¹Even her mercenaries

are like well-fed calves;

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

²³They destroy her dense forest,

though it is vast,

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

But I won’t put an end to you.

I won’t let you avoid punishment;

I will discipline you as you deserve.