1   This came to the prophet Jeremiah as the word of the Lord concerning the nations.

2   Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt at Carchemish on the river Euphrates, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.

   3   Hold shield and buckler ready
    and advance to battle;
4   harness the horses, let the riders mount;
form up, your helmets on, your lances burnished;
    on with your coats of mail!
     5   But now, what sight is this?
They are broken and routed,
    their warriors beaten down;
they have turned to flight and do not look behind them.
    Terror let loose!
    This is the very word of the Lord.


6   Can the swift escape, can the warrior save himself?
  In the north, by the river Euphrates,
    they stumble and fall.


   7   Who is this rising like the Nile,
  like its streams turbulent in flood?
   8   Egypt is rising like the Nile,
  like its streams turbulent in flood.

He ^note says:

  I will rise and cover the earth,
  I will destroy both city and people.


9   Charge, horsemen! On, you flashing chariots, on!
    Forward, the warriors,
  Cushites and men of Put carrying shields,
  Lydians grasping their bent bows!
10   This is the day of the Lord, the God of Hosts,
  a day of vengeance, vengeance on his enemies;
  the sword shall devour and be sated,
    drunk with their blood.

Prophecies against the nations
For the God of Hosts, the Lord, holds sacrifice
    in a northern land, by the river Euphrates.
11   Go up into Gilead and fetch balm,
    O virgin people of Egypt.
  You have tried many remedies, all in vain;
    no skin shall grow over your wounds.
   12   The nations have heard your cry, ^note
  and the earth echoes with your screams;
    warrior stumbles against warrior
    and both fall together.

13   The word which the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon was coming to harry the land of Egypt:

14   Announce it in Egypt, proclaim it in Migdol,
  proclaim it in Noph and Tahpanhes.
  Say, Stand to! Be ready!
  for a sword devours all around you.
15   Why does Apis flee, why does your bull-god not ^note stand fast?
    The Lord has thrust him out.
   16   The rabble of Egypt stumbles and falls,
    man against man;
  each says, ‘Quick, back to our people,
to the land of our birth, far from the cruel sword!’
17   Give Pharaoh of Egypt the title King Bombast,
    the man who missed his moment.
   18   By my life, says the King
  whose name is the Lord of Hosts,
  one shall come mighty as Tabor among the hills,
    as Carmel by the sea.
   19   Make ready your baggage for exile,
    you native people of Egypt;
  for Noph shall become a waste,
    ruined and unpeopled.


   20   Egypt was a lovely heifer,
but a gadfly from the north descended on her. ^note
21   The mercenaries in her land were like stall-fed calves;
but they too turned and fled,
  not one of them stood his ground.
  The hour of their downfall has come upon them,
    their day of reckoning.

Prophecies against the nations
22   Hark, she is hissing ^note like a snake,
  for the enemy has come in all his force.
They fall upon her with axes
  like woodcutters at their work.
23   They cut down her forest, says the Lord,
  and it flaunts itself no more;
for they are many as locusts and past counting.
24   The Egyptians are put to shame, enslaved to a northern race.
25   The Lord of Hosts the God of Israel has spoken:
  I will punish Amon god of No, ^note
Egypt with her gods and her princes,
Pharaoh and all who trust in him.
26   I will deliver them to those bent on their destruction,
to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and his troops;
yet in after time the land shall be peopled as of old.
    This is the very word of the Lord.


27   But you, Jacob my servant, have no fear,
  despair not, O Israel;
for I will bring you back safe from afar
  and your offspring from the land where they are captives;
and Jacob shall be at rest once more,
    prosperous and unafraid.
28   O Jacob my servant, have no fear,
says the Lord; for I am with you.
  I will make an end of all the nations
    amongst whom I have banished you;
  but I will not make an end of you;
    though I punish you as you deserve,
    I will not sweep you clean away.

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