Jeremiah 46:13–26

¹³This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon’s coming to attack Egypt:

¹⁴“Announce this message in Egypt, and preach it in Migdol.

Preach it also in the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes:

‘Get ready for war,

because the battle is all around you.’

¹⁵Egypt, why were your warriors killed?

They could not stand because the Lord pushed them down.

¹⁶They stumbled again and again

and fell over each other.

They said, ‘Get up. Let’s go back

to our own people and our homeland.

We must get away from our enemy’s sword!’

¹⁷In their homelands those soldiers called out,

‘The king of Egypt is only a lot of noise.

He missed his chance for glory!’ ”

¹⁸The King’s name is the Lord All-Powerful.

He says, “As surely as I live,

a powerful leader will come.

He will be like Mount Tabor among the mountains,

like Mount Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹People of Egypt, pack your things

to be taken away as captives,

because Memphis will be destroyed.

It will be a ruin, and no one will live there.

²⁰“Egypt is like a beautiful young cow,

but a horsefly is coming

from the north to attack her.

²¹The hired soldiers in Egypt’s army

are like fat calves,

because even they all turn and run away together;

they do not stand strong against the attack.

Their time of destruction is coming;

they will soon be punished.

²²Egypt is like a hissing snake that is trying to escape.

The enemy comes closer and closer.

They come against Egypt with axes

like men who cut down trees.

²³They will chop down Egypt’s army

as if it were a great forest,” says the Lord.

“There are more enemy soldiers than locusts;

there are too many to count.

²⁴The people of Egypt will be ashamed.

They will be handed over to the enemy from the north.”

²⁵The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Very soon I will punish Amon, the god of the city of Thebes. And I will punish Egypt, her kings, her gods, and the people who depend on the king. ²⁶I will hand those people over to their enemies, who want to kill them. I will give them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But in the future, Egypt will live in peace as it once did,” says the Lord.