Jeremiah 46–51

CHAPTER 46

Word Against Egypt

¹That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet ^aconcerning the nations.

²To ^aEgypt, concerning the military force of ^bPharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at ^cCarchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down in the ^dfourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³“^aArrange the shield and large shield,

And draw near for the battle!

⁴“Harness the horses,

And ¹mount the steeds,

And take your stand with helmets on!

^aPolish the spears,

Put on the ^bscale-armor!

⁵“Why have I seen it?

They are shattered;

They are ^adrawing back,

And their ^bmighty men are crushed

And have fled to refuge,

Without facing back;

^1cTerror is on every side!”

Declares Yahweh.

⁶Let not the ^aswift man flee,

Nor the mighty man escape;

In the north beside the river Euphrates

They have ^bstumbled and fallen.

⁷Who is this that ^arises like the Nile,

Like the rivers whose waters toss about?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,

Even like the rivers whose waters toss about;

And He has said, “I will ^arise and cover that land;

I will surely ^bcause the city to perish, as well as its inhabitants.”

⁹Go up, you horses, and ^1adrive madly, you chariots,

That the mighty men may go forth:

²Ethiopia and ^3bPut, who seize the shield,

And the ^4cLydians, who seize and bend the bow.

¹⁰Indeed, ^athat day belongs to Lord Yahweh of hosts,

A day of ^bvengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His adversaries;

And the ^csword will devour and be satiated

And ¹drink its fill of their blood;

For there will be a ^dsacrifice to Lord Yahweh of hosts

In the land of the north by the river Euphrates.

¹¹Go ^aup to Gilead and obtain balm,

^bO virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain have you multiplied ¹remedies;

There is ^cno healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard of your ^adisgrace,

And the earth is full of your ^boutcry;

For one ^cwarrior has stumbled over ¹another,

And both of them have fallen down together.

¹³This is the ¹message which Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the ^acoming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to ^bstrike down the land of Egypt:

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt and cause it to be heard in ^aMigdol;

Cause it to be heard also in Memphis and ^bTahpanhes;

Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,

For the ^csword has devoured those around you.’

¹⁵“Why are your ^amighty ones thrown down?

They do not stand because Yahweh has ^bthrust them down.

¹⁶“They have repeatedly ^astumbled;

Indeed, they have fallen one against another.

Then they said, ‘Rise up! And ^blet us return

To our own people and land of our birth

Away from the ^1csword of the oppressor.’

¹⁷“¹They called out there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but ^aa rumbling;

He has let the appointed time pass by!’

¹⁸“As I live,” declares the ^aKing

Whose name is Yahweh of hosts,

“Surely one shall come who looms up like ^bTabor among the mountains,

Or like ^cCarmel by the sea.

¹⁹“Make your baggage ready for ^aexile,

O inhabitant of the ^bdaughter of Egypt,

For ^cMemphis will become a desolation;

It will even be turned into ruin and without inhabitants.

²⁰“Egypt is a pretty ^aheifer,

But a ¹horsefly is coming ^bfrom the north—it is coming!

²¹“Also her ^amercenaries in her midst

Are like ¹fattened ^bcalves,

For even they have turned back and have fled away together;

They did not stand their ground.

For the day of their disaster has come upon them,

The time of their ^cpunishment.

²²“Its sound moves along like a serpent;

For they move on ¹like a military force

And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

²³“They have cut down her ^aforest,” declares Yahweh;

“Surely it will no longer be searched out,

Even though ¹they are now more numerous than ^blocusts

And are without number.

²⁴“The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,

Given over to the hand of the ^apeople of the north.”

²⁵Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of ^aThebes, and ^bPharaoh, and Egypt along with her ^cgods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who ^dtrust in him.

²⁶“I shall give them into the hand of those who are ^aseeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. ^bAfterwards, however, it will be dwelt in like in the days of old,” declares Yahweh.

²⁷“But as for you, O Jacob My servant, ^ado not fear,

Nor be dismayed, O Israel!

For behold, I am going to ^bsave you from afar,

And your seed from the land of their captivity;

And Jacob will return and have ^cquiet

And be at ease, with no one making him tremble.

²⁸“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares Yahweh,

“For ^aI am with you.

For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations

Where I have banished you,

Yet I will ^bnot make a complete destruction of you;

But I will ^cdiscipline you with justice

And by no means leave you unpunished.”

CHAPTER 47

Word Against Philistia

¹That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the ^aPhilistines, before Pharaoh struck down ^bGaza.

²Thus says Yahweh:

“Behold, waters are going to rise from ^athe north

And become an overflowing torrent,

And ^boverflow the land as well as its fullness,

The city and those who inhabit it;

And the men will ^ccry out,

And every inhabitant of the land will wail.

³“Because of the noise of the ^1agalloping hoofs of his ²valiant steeds,

The quaking of his chariots, and the tumult of his wheels,

The fathers have not turned back for their children,

Because of the limpness of their hands,

⁴On account of the day that is coming

To ^adestroy all the Philistines,

To cut off from ^bTyre and Sidon

Every ally that is left;

For Yahweh is going to destroy the Philistines,

The remnant of the coastland of ^cCaphtor.

⁵“^aBaldness has come upon Gaza;

^bAshkelon has been ruined.

O remnant of their valley,

How long will you ^cgash yourself?

⁶“Ah, ^asword of Yahweh,

How long will you not be quiet?

Withdraw into your sheath;

¹Be at rest and stay still.

⁷“How can ¹it be quiet?

Yahweh has ^agiven it a command;

Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast—

There He has ^bassigned it.”

CHAPTER 48

Word Against Moab

¹Concerning ^aMoab. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,

“Woe to ^bNebo, for it has been destroyed;

^cKiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;

The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and ¹shattered.

²“There is praise for Moab no longer;

In ^aHeshbon they have devised calamity against her:

‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You too, ¹Madmen, will be silenced;

The sword will follow after you.

³“The sound of an outcry from ^aHoronaim,

‘¹Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴“Moab is broken;

Her little ones have made their cry of distress heard.

⁵“For by the ascent of ^aLuhith

They will ascend with continual weeping;

For at the descent of Horonaim

They have heard the distressed cry of destruction.

⁶“^aFlee, escape with your lives,

That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷“For because of your ^atrust in your own works and treasures,

Even you yourself will be captured;

And ^bChemosh will go off into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

⁸“A destroyer will come to every city,

So that no city will escape;

The valley also will perish,

And the ^aplateau will be destroyed,

As Yahweh has said.

⁹“Give ^1awings to Moab,

For she will ²flee away;

And her cities will become a ^bdesolation,

Without inhabitants in them.

¹⁰“^aCursed be the one who does the work of Yahweh ^bwith a slack hand,

And cursed be the one who restrains his ^csword from blood.

¹¹“Moab has been ^aat ease since his youth;

He has also had ^bquiet, like wine on ¹its dregs,

And he has not been ^cemptied from vessel to vessel,

Nor has he gone into exile.

Therefore ²he retains his flavor,

And his aroma has not changed.

¹²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter ¹his jars.

¹³“And Moab will be ^aashamed of ^bChemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of ^cBethel, their trust.

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are ^amighty warriors,

And men valiant for battle’?

¹⁵“Moab has been destroyed, and ¹men have gone up to ²his cities;

His choicest ^3ayoung men have also gone down to the slaughter,”

Declares the ^bKing, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.

¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will ^asoon come,

And his calamity has quickly hastened.

¹⁷“Mourn for him, all you who live around him,

Even all of you who know his name;

Say, ‘How has the strong ^1ascepter been broken,

A staff of beauty!’

¹⁸“^aCome down from your glory

And inhabit ¹the parched ground,

O inhabitant of the ^bdaughter of ^cDibon;

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,

He has ruined your strongholds.

¹⁹“Stand by the road and keep watch,

O inhabitant of ^aAroer;

^bAsk him who flees and her who escapes

And say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰“Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ¹shattered.

Wail and cry out;

Declare by the ^aArnon

That Moab has been destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, upon ^aJahzah, and against ^bMephaath,

²²and against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³and against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and ^aBeth-meon,

²⁴and against ^aKerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

²⁵“The ^ahorn of Moab has been cut in pieces and his ^barm broken,” declares Yahweh.

²⁶“^aMake him drunk, for he has ^bmagnified himself against Yahweh; so Moab will ¹wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.

²⁷“Now was not Israel a ^alaughingstock to you? Or was he ^1bcaught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you ^cshake your head in scorn.

²⁸“Leave the cities and dwell among the ^acrags,

O inhabitants of Moab,

And be like a ^bdove that nests

Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

²⁹“^aWe have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—

Of his haughtiness, his ^bpride, his arrogance, and the exaltedness of his heart.

³⁰“I know his ^afury,” declares Yahweh,

“But it is nothing;

His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

³¹“Therefore I will ^awail for Moab,

Even for all Moab will I cry out;

¹I will moan for the men of ^bKir-heres.

³²…