Jeremiah 46–51

Chapter 46

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. ²Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah. ³Make ready buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! ⁴Harness the horses, and mount ye horsemen, and stand forth with helmets; polish the spears, put on the coats of mail! ⁵Why do I see them dismayed, turned away back? And their mighty ones are beaten down, and take to flight, and look not back? Terror is on every side, saith Jehovah. ⁶Let not the swift flee away, neither let the mighty man escape! —Toward the north, hard by the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen. ⁷Who is this that riseth up as the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? ⁸It is Egypt that riseth up as the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers; and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. ⁹Go up, ye horses, and drive furiously, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Phut that handle the shield, and the Ludim that handle the bow and bend it. ¹⁰For this is the day of the Lord Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may be avenged of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be sated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord Jehovah of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country, by the river Euphrates. ¹¹Go up to Gilead, and fetch balm, O virgin-daughter of Egypt! In vain shalt thou multiply remedies: there is no healing for thee.

¹²The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the earth; for the mighty man stumbleth against the mighty, they are both fallen together. ¹³The word that Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, concerning the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt: ¹⁴Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph, and in Tahpanhes; say, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword devoureth round about thee. ¹⁵Why are thy valiants swept away? They stood not, for Jehovah did thrust them down. ¹⁶He made many to stumble, yea, one fell upon another; and they said, Arise, and let us return to our own people and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. ¹⁷There did they cry, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the time appointed go by. ¹⁸As I live, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely as Tabor among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. ¹⁹Thou, inhabitress, daughter of Egypt, furnish for thyself a captive’s baggage, for Noph shall be a desolation and shall be ruined, so that none shall dwell therein. ²⁰Egypt is a very fair heifer; the gad-fly cometh, it cometh from the north. ²¹Also her hired men in the midst of her are like fatted bullocks; for they also have turned back, they have fled away together, they did not stand; for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation. ²²Her voice shall go like a serpent’s; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. ²³They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, though it be impenetrable; for they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. ²⁴The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is delivered into the hand of the people of the north. ²⁵Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith, Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings; yea, Pharaoh and them that confide in him. ²⁶And I will give them into the hand of those that seek their life, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; but afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jehovah. ²⁷But thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, neither be dismayed, Israel: for behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. ²⁸Fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith Jehovah: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee with judgment, and I will not hold thee altogether guiltless.

Chapter 47

¹The word of Jehovah that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gazah. ²Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl, ³at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his steeds, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels: fathers shall not look back for their children, from feebleness of hands; ⁴because of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for Jehovah will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor. ⁵Baldness is come upon Gazah; Ashkelon is cut off, the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? ⁶Alas! sword of Jehovah, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Withdraw into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. ⁷How shouldest thou be quiet? —For Jehovah hath given it a charge: against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore, there hath he appointed it.

Chapter 48

¹Concerning Moab. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled; Kirjathaim is put to shame, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and dismayed. ²Moab’s praise is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be cut down; the sword shall pursue thee. ³A voice of crying from Horonaim; wasting and great destruction! ⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. ⁵For by the ascent of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the descent of Horonaim is heard the anguish of the cry of destruction. ⁶Flee, save your lives, and be like a shrub in the wilderness. ⁷For because thou hast confided in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken, and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together. ⁸And the waster shall come upon every city, that not a city shall escape; and the valley shall perish, and the plateau shall be destroyed: as Jehovah hath said. ⁹Give wings unto Moab, that she may flee and get away; and the cities thereof shall become a desolation, without inhabitant. ¹⁰Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood! ¹¹Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and hath settled on his lees; he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed. ¹²Therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that I will send unto him pourers that shall pour him off, and shall empty his vessels, and break in pieces his flagons. ¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴How do ye say, We are mighty, and men of valour for the war? ¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and his cities are gone up in smoke, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast. ¹⁷All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod! ¹⁸Come down from thy glory and sit in the drought, O inhabitress, daughter of Dibon; the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, thy strongholds hath he destroyed. ¹⁹Stand by the way, and watch, inhabitress of Aroer; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth; say, What is done? ²⁰Moab is put to shame; for he is broken down: howl and cry; tell it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. ²¹And judgment is come upon the country of the plateau; upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath; ²²and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim; ²³and upon Kirjathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon; ²⁴and upon Kerijoth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith Jehovah. ²⁶Make him drunken, for he magnified himself against Jehovah; and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. ²⁷For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves, that as oft as thou didst speak of him, thou didst shake the head? ²⁸Leave the cities, and dwell in the rocks, ye inhabitants of Moab, and be like the dove, that maketh her nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth. ²⁹We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, —he is very proud; —his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. ³⁰I know his wrath, saith Jehovah; his pratings are vain: they do not as they say. ³¹Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir-heres shall there be moaning. ³²O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with more than the weeping of Jaazer: thy shoots passed over the sea, they reached to the sea of Jaazer. The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. ³³And joy and gladness is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: they shall no more tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting. ³⁴Because of the cry from Heshbon, unto Elaleh, unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar unto Horonaim, unto Eglath-shelishijah: for even the waters of Nimrim shall become desolations. ³⁵And I will cause to cease in…