Jeremiah 46

Judgment on Egypt

46The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against ^athe nations. ²Against ^bEgypt.

^cConcerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^ddefeated in the ^efourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³“Order ¹the ²buckler and shield,

And draw near to battle!

⁴Harness the horses,

And mount up, you horsemen!

Stand forth with your helmets,

Polish the spears,

^fPut on the armor!

⁵Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?

Their mighty ones are beaten down;

They have speedily fled,

And did not look back,

For ^gfear was all around,” says the Lord.

⁶“Do not let the swift flee away,

Nor the mighty man escape;

They will ^hstumble and fall

Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

⁷“Who is this coming up ⁱlike a flood,

Whose waters move like the rivers?

⁸Egypt rises up like a flood,

And its waters move like the rivers;

And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,

I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’

⁹Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!

And let the mighty men come forth:

³The Ethiopians and ⁴the Libyans who handle the shield,

And the Lydians ^jwho handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For this is ^kthe day of the Lord God of hosts,

A day of vengeance,

That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.

^lThe sword shall devour;

It shall be ⁵satiated and made drunk with their blood;

For the Lord God of hosts ^mhas a sacrifice

In the north country by the River Euphrates.

¹¹“Go ⁿup to Gilead and take balm,

^oO virgin, the daughter of Egypt;

In vain you will use many medicines;

^pYou shall not be cured.

¹²The nations have heard of your ^qshame,

And your cry has filled the land;

For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty;

They both have fallen together.”

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and ^rstrike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^sMigdol;

Proclaim in ⁶Noph and in ^tTahpanhes;

Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves,

For the sword devours all around you.’

¹⁵Why are your valiant men swept away?

They did not stand

Because the Lord drove them away.

¹⁶He made many fall;

Yes, ^uone fell upon another.

And they said, ‘Arise!

^vLet us go back to our own people

And to the land of our nativity

From the oppressing sword.’

¹⁷They cried there,

‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise.

He has passed by the appointed time!’

¹⁸“As I live,” says the King,

^wWhose name is the Lord of hosts,

“Surely as Tabor is among the mountains

And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.

¹⁹O ^xyou daughter dwelling in Egypt,

Prepare yourself ^yto go into captivity!

For ⁷Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.

²⁰“Egypt is a very pretty ^zheifer,

But destruction comes, it comes ^afrom the north.

²¹Also her mercenaries are in her midst like ⁸fat bulls,

For they also are turned back,

They have fled away together.

They did not stand,

For ^bthe day of their calamity had come upon them,

The time of their punishment.

^22cHer noise shall go like a serpent,

For they shall march with an army

And come against her with axes,

Like those who chop wood.

²³“They shall ^dcut down her forest,” says the Lord,

“Though it cannot be searched,

Because they are innumerable,

And more numerous than ^egrasshoppers.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed;

She shall be delivered into the hand

Of ^fthe people of the north.”

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on ⁹Amon of ^gNo, ¹and Pharaoh and Egypt, ^hwith their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who ⁱtrust in him. ^26jAnd I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. ^kAfterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the Lord.

God Will Preserve Israel

²⁷“But ^ldo not fear, O My servant Jacob,

And do not be dismayed, O Israel!

For behold, I will ^msave you from afar,

And your offspring from the land of their captivity;

Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease;

No one shall make him afraid.

²⁸Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord,

“For I am with you;

For I will make a complete end of all the nations

To which I have driven you,

But I will not make ⁿa complete end of you.

I will rightly ^ocorrect you,

For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”