Jeremiah 46:3–12

³“Prepare small shield and shield,

and approach for the battle!

⁴Harness the horses and mount the steeds!

And take your stand with helmets!

Polish the spears!

Put on the body armor!

⁵Why do I see them terrified?

They are turning back

and their warriors are beaten down.

And they have fled to a place of refuge

and they do not turn back.

Terror is from all around,” declares^a Yahweh.

⁶The swift cannot flee,

and the warrior cannot escape.

In the north by the bank of the Euphrates River,

they have stumbled and they have fallen.

⁷Who is this that rises like the Nile,

like the rivers whose waters surge?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,

even like the rivers whose waters surge.

And he says, “Let me rise,

let me cover the earth,

let me destroy cities,

and the inhabitants in them.”

⁹Go up, O horses,

and drive madly, O chariots,^b

and let the warriors go forth;

Cush and Put, who wield the small shield,

and Lud, who wield and bend the bow.

¹⁰For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts

a day of retribution,

to take revenge on his foes.

And the sword will devour and be satisfied,

and it will drink its fill of their blood,

for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts

in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

¹¹Go up to Gilead and take balm,

O virgin of the daughter of Egypt.

In vain^c you make use of many medicines;

there is no healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard your shame,

and your cry of lament fills the earth.

For warrior has stumbled against warrior,

together they have fallen, the two of them.