 1 The Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. 2 Against Egypt. Against the army of King Pharaohnecho of Egypt by the river Euphrates in Carchemish that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of King Josiah of Judah. 3 Set in order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4 Harness the horses, and horsemen get up. Yes, stand with helmets, polish the spears. Put on body armor. 5 Why have I seen? They are afraid, turned backward. And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled for refuge, and they do not look back. Terror is all around, says the Lord. 6 Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. They stumbled and fell toward the north, by the side of the river Euphrates. 7 Who is this rising up like the Nile, whose waters are moved like the rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters surge about like the rivers. And he says, I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its people. 9 Come up, horses. And rage chariots. And let the mighty men come forth. The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. 10 This is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance so that He may avenge Himself of His foes. The sword will devour and it will be filled and made drunk with their blood. For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go into Gilead and take balm O virgin daughter of Egypt. It is in vain that you use many medicines for you will not be cured. 12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they have both fallen together. 13 The Word spoken by the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, of the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt. 14 Declare it in Egypt, and cry it in Migdol, and make it heard in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say, Stand fast and get ready, the sword shall devour all around you. 15 Why is your mighty one swept away? They did not stand, because the Lord thrust him down. 16 He made many fall. Yes, one fell on another. They said, Arise and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword. 17 They cried out there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise. He has passed the appointed time. 18 As I live, says the King whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come. 19 O daughter dwelling in Egypt, get ready to go into captivity. For Noph shall be waste and a desert without inhabitant. 20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a stinger from the north surely comes. 21 Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall. For they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation. 22 Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters. 23 They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, though it cannot be searched. Because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings. Even Pharaoh and all who trust in him. 26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. Afterward, it will be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord. 27 Do not fear, my servant Jacob. Do not be afraid, Israel. For I will save you from far away and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and be at rest and at ease and no one will make him afraid. 28 Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord, 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 correct you in measure. Yet I will not leave you wholly unpunished.
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