The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt that was at Carchemish by the Euphrates River and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“Prepare the buckler and shield and draw near to battle!
Harness the horses and mount up, O horsemen! And take your stand with your helmets on! Polish the spears, put on the coats of mail!
What do I see? They are terrified. They are turning back. And their mighty ones are defeated and have fled headlong without looking back. Terror is on every side, says Yahweh.
The swift cannot flee away, and the mighty man cannot escape. In the north, by the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen.
Who is this who rises up like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters toss themselves about?
Egypt rises up like the Nile and like the rivers whose waters toss themselves about, and he says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
Forward, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
For that day belongs to the Lord Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries. And the sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will offer a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Go up into Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter Egypt. In vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.
The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cries of distress, because the mighty warrior has stumbled against the mighty. Together they have fallen—both of them!”
The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon coming and striking the land of Egypt:
“Declare this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol, and proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes! Say, ‘Take your stations and prepare yourselves, for the sword devours all around you.’
Why has your bull been swept away? It did not stand, because Yahweh pushed it.
He made many stumble, yes, they fell one on another and they said, ‘Get up and let’s go back to our own people and to the land of our birth away from the oppressing sword.’
There they will cry out, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a noise; he has missed his opportunity.’
As I live, says the King whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come.
O daughter who dwells in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity, for Memphis will become a desolation and will be burned up without inhabitant.
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer, but destruction out of the north has come, it has come.
Also her hired men in the midst of her will be like calves of the stall because they also will turn back. They will flee away together, they will not stand, for the day of their calamity has then come on them, the time of their visitation.
Egypt will make a sound like a snake that is trying to get away, because they will march with an army and come against her with axes, like wood cutters.
They will cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it cannot be searched, because they are more numerous than the locusts, and are innumerable.
Daughter Egypt will be put to shame; she will be given into the hand of the people of the north.”
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings; that is, Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
And I will give them into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. But afterward it will be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Yahweh.
But do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, and do not be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid.
Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh, for I am with you, for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure and will in no way leave you unpunished.”