Jeremiah 46–51

PROPHECIES AGAINST THE NATIONS

46This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations:^b

PROPHECIES AGAINST EGYPT

²About Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king,^c which was defeated at Carchemish^d on the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim son of Josiah:^e

³Deploy small shields^f and large;

approach for battle!

⁴Harness the horses;

mount the steeds;^B

take your positions with helmets on!

Polish the lances;

put on armor!^g

⁵Why have I seen this?

They are terrified,

they are retreating,

their warriors are crushed,

they flee headlong,

they never look back,

terror is on every side!^h

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁶The swift cannot flee,

and the warrior cannot escape!ⁱ

In the north by the bank of the Euphrates River,

they stumble and fall.^j

⁷Who is this, rising like the Nile,^k

with waters that churn like rivers?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,^l

and its waters churn like rivers.

He boasts, “I will go up, I will cover the earth;

I will destroy cities with their residents.”

⁹Rise up, you cavalry!

Race furiously, you chariots!

Let the warriors march out—

Cush and Put,^m

who are able to handle shields,

and the men of Lud,ⁿ

who are able to handle and string the bow.^o

¹⁰That day belongs to the Lord, the God of Armies,

a day of vengeance to avenge himself

against his adversaries.

The sword will devour and be satisfied;

it will drink its fill of their blood,

because it will be a sacrifice^p to the Lord, the God of Armies,

in the northern land by the Euphrates River.^q

¹¹Go up to Gilead and get balm,^r

Virgin Daughter Egypt!

You have multiplied remedies in vain;

there is no healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard of your dishonor,^s

and your cries fill the earth,

because warrior stumbles against warrior

and together both of them have fallen.

¹³This is the word the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:^t

¹⁴Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol!^u

Proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes!

Say, “Take positions! Prepare yourself,

for the sword devours all around you.”^v

¹⁵Why have your strong ones been swept away?

Each has not stood,

for the Lord has thrust him down.

¹⁶He continues to stumble.^w

Indeed, each falls over the other.

They say, “Get up! Let’s return to our people

and to our native land,

away from the oppressor’s sword.”^x

¹⁷There they will cry out,

“Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise;

he let the opportune moment pass.”

¹⁸As I live—

this is the King’s declaration;

the Lord of Armies is his name^y —

the king of Babylon^A will come like Tabor among the mountains

and like Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹Get your bags ready for exile,

inhabitant of Daughter Egypt!^a

For Memphis will become a desolation,

uninhabited ruins.

²⁰Egypt is a beautiful young cow,^b

but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.^Bc

²¹Even her mercenaries among her

are like stall-fed calves.

They too will turn back;

together they will flee;

they will not take their stand,

for the day of their calamity is coming on them,

the time of their punishment.^d

²²Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake,^C

for the enemy will come with an army;

with axes they will come against her

like those who cut trees.^e

²³They will cut down her forest—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

though it is dense,

for they are more numerous than locusts;

they cannot be counted.^f

²⁴Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,

handed over to a northern people.^g

²⁵The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “I am about to punish Amon, god of Thebes,^h along with Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, and her kings—Pharaoh and those trusting in him. ²⁶I will hand them over to those who intend to take their livesⁱ —to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. But after this,^j Egypt^A will be inhabited again as in ancient times.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

REASSURANCE FOR ISRAEL

²⁷But you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid,^k

and do not be discouraged, Israel,

for without fail I will save you from far away,

and your descendants from the land of their captivity!

Jacob will return and have calm and quiet

with no one to frighten him.

²⁸And you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

for I will be with you.^l

I will bring destruction on all the nations

where I have banished you,

but I will not bring destruction on you.

I will discipline you with justice,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.^m

PROPHECIES AGAINST THE PHILISTINES

47This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistinesⁿ before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.^{o 2}This is what the Lord says:

Look, water is rising from the north^p

and becoming an overflowing wadi.

It will overflow the land and everything in it,^q

the cities and their inhabitants.

The people will cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

³At the sound of the stomping hooves of his stallions,^r

the rumbling of his chariots,

and the clatter of their wheels,^s

fathers will not turn back for their sons.

They will be utterly helpless^B

⁴on account of the day that is coming

to destroy all the Philistines,

to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every remaining ally.^t

Indeed, the Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,

the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.^Cu

⁵Baldness^v is coming to Gaza;

Ashkelon will become silent.^w

Remnant of their valley,

how long will you gash yourself?

⁶Oh, sword of the Lord!^x

How long will you be restless?

Go back to your sheath;

be still; be silent!

⁷How can it^A rest

when the Lord has given it a command?^y

He has assigned it^z

against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea.

PROPHECIES AGAINST MOAB

48About Moab,^a this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:

Woe to Nebo,^b because it is about to be destroyed;

Kiriathaim will be put to shame;^c it will be taken captive.

The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!

²There is no longer praise for Moab;

they plan harm against her in Heshbon:^d

Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood.

Also, Madmen, you will be silenced;

the sword will follow^e you.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim,^f

“Devastation and a crushing blow!”^g

⁴Moab will be shattered;

her little ones will cry out.

⁵For on the Ascent to Luhith

they will be weeping continually,^B

and on the descent to Horonaim

will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:^h

⁶Flee! Save your lives!ⁱ

Be like a juniper bush^j in the wilderness.

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures,

you will be captured also.

Chemosh^k will go into exile

with his priests and officials.^l

⁸The destroyer^m will move against every town;

not one town will escape.

The valley will perish,

and the plain will be annihilated,ⁿ

as the Lord has said.

⁹Make Moab a salt marsh,^Do

for she will run away;^E

her towns will become a desolation,

without inhabitant.^p

¹⁰The one who does

the Lord’s business deceitfully^F is cursed,^q

and the one who withholds

his sword from bloodshed is cursed.

¹¹Moab has been left quiet since his youth,

settled like wine on its dregs.^r

He hasn’t been poured from one container to another

or gone into exile.

So his taste has remained the same,

and his aroma hasn’t changed.

¹²Therefore look, the days are coming^s —

this is the Lord’s declaration—

when I will send pourers to him, who will pour him out.

They will empty his containers

and smash his jars.

¹³Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh,

just as the house of Israel was put to shame

because of Bethel^t that they trusted in.

¹⁴How can you say, “We are warriors—

valiant men for battle”?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and its towns

has come up,^A

and the best of its young men

have gone down to slaughter.

This is the King’s declaration;

the Lord of Armies is his name.^u

¹⁶Moab’s calamity is near at hand;

his disaster is rushing swiftly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,

everyone who knows his name.

Say, “How the mighty scepter^v is shattered,

the glorious staff!”

¹⁸Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,

resident of the daughter of Dibon,^w

for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;

he has destroyed your fortresses.

¹⁹Stand by the highway and watch,

resident of Aroer!^x

Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping,^y

“What happened?”

²⁰Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed.

Wail and cry out!^z

Declare by the Arnon

that Moab is destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has come to the land of the plateau^a —to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, ²²Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim, ²³Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,^{b 24}Kerioth,^c Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near. ²⁵Moab’s horn is chopped off;^d his arm is shattered.”^e

This is the Lord’s declaration.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord.^f Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock. ²⁷Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you?^g Was he ever found among thieves?^h For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.”ⁱ

²⁸Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs,

residents of Moab!

Be like a dove

that nests inside the mouth of a cave.^j

²⁹We have heard of Moab’s pride,

great pride, indeed—

his insolence, arrogance, pride,

and haughty heart.

³⁰I know his outburst.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

It is empty.

His boast is empty.

³¹Therefore, I will wail over Moab.

I will cry out for Moab, all of it;

he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

³²I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,

with more than the weeping for Jazer.

Your tendrils have extended to the sea;

they have reached to the sea and to Jazer.^A

The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

³³Gladness and celebration are taken from the fertile field

and from the land of Moab.

I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;

no one will tread with shouts of joy.

The shouting is not a shout of joy.^k

³⁴“There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they make their voices heard as far as Jahaz^l —from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah—because even the Waters of Nimrim have become desolate. ³⁵…