Jeremiah 46–51

Chapter 46

Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold

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

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

³“^aLine up the shield and ¹buckler,

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 terrified,

They are ^adrawing back,

And their ^bmighty men are defeated

And have taken refuge in flight,

Without facing back;

^1cTerror is on every side!”

Declares the Lord.

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 surge about?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,

Even like the rivers whose waters surge about;

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

I will surely ^bdestroy the city and its inhabitants.”

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

That the mighty men may ²march forward:

Ethiopia and ^3bPut, that handle the shield,

And the ^4cLydians, that handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For ^athat day belongs to the Lord ¹God of hosts,

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

And the ^csword will devour and be satiated

And ²drink its fill of their blood;

For there will be a ^dslaughter for the Lord God 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 ^ashame,

And the earth is full of your ^bcry of distress;

For one ^cwarrior has stumbled over ¹another,

And both of them have fallen down together.

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

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt and proclaim in ^aMigdol,

Proclaim also in Memphis and ^bTahpanhes;

Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,

For the ^csword has devoured those around you.’

¹⁵“Why have your ^amighty ones become prostrate?

They do not stand because the Lord has ^bthrust them down.

¹⁶“They have repeatedly ^astumbled;

Indeed, they have fallen one against another.

Then they said, ‘Get up! And ^blet us go back

To our own people and our native land

Away from the ^1csword of the oppressor.’

¹⁷“¹They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but ^aa big noise;

He has let the appointed time pass by!’

¹⁸“As I live,” declares the ^aKing

Whose name is the Lord 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 ^bdaughter dwelling in Egypt,

For ^cMemphis will become a desolation;

It will even be burned down and ¹bereft of 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 too have turned back and have fled away together;

They did not stand their ground.

For the day of their calamity has come upon them,

The time of their ^cpunishment.

²²“Its sound moves along like a serpent;

For they move on ¹like an army

And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

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

“Surely it will no more be found,

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 ¹power of the ^apeople of the north.”

²⁵The Lord 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 over to the ¹power of those who are ^aseeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his ²officers. ^bAfterwards, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the Lord.

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

Nor be dismayed, O Israel!

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

And your descendants from the land of their captivity;

And Jacob will return and be ^cundisturbed

And secure, with no one making him tremble.

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

“For ^aI am with you.

For I will make a full end of all the nations

Where I have driven you,

Yet I will ^bnot make a full end of you;

But I will ^ccorrect you properly

And by no means leave you unpunished.”

Chapter 47

Prophecy against Philistia

¹That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the ^aPhilistines, before Pharaoh ¹conquered ^bGaza.

²Thus says the Lord:

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

And become an overflowing torrent,

And ^boverflow the land and all its fullness,

The city and those who live in 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 ²stallions,

The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling 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 the Lord 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 the Lord,

How long will you not be quiet?

Withdraw into your sheath;

Be at rest and stay still.

⁷“How can ¹it be quiet,

When the Lord has ^agiven it an order?

Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast—

There He has ^bassigned it.”

Chapter 48

Prophecy against Moab

¹Concerning ^aMoab. Thus says the Lord 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,

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴“Moab is broken,

Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

⁵“For by the ascent of ^aLuhith

They will ascend with continual weeping;

For at the descent of Horonaim

They have heard the ¹anguished cry of destruction.

⁶“^aFlee, save your lives,

That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷“For because of your ^atrust in your own achievements 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 be ruined

And the ^aplateau will be destroyed,

As the Lord 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 Lord’s work ^bnegligently,

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

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

He has also been ^bundisturbed, 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 the Lord, “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 confidence.

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 the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will ^asoon come,

And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

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

Even all of you who know his name;

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

A staff of splendor!’

¹⁸“^aCome down from your glory

And sit ¹on the parched ground,

O ^bdaughter dwelling in ^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, ^aJahzah and against ^bMephaath,

²²against Dibon, Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

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

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

²⁵“The ^ahorn of Moab has been cut off and his ^barm broken,” declares the Lord.

²⁶“^aMake him drunk, for he has ¹become ^barrogant toward the Lord; so Moab will ²wallow 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 ¹his self-exaltation.

³⁰“I know his ^afury,” declares the Lord,

“But it is futile;

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“More than the ^aweeping for ^bJazer

I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!

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