13 This 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.”

25 The 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.”