Jeremiah 46

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.”