[1] The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about the
nations. [2] Of Egypt: about the army of Pharaoh-neco, king of Egypt, which
was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, overcame in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king
of Judah. [3] Get out the breastplate and body-cover, and come together to
the fight. [4] Make the horses ready, and get up, you horsemen, and take
your places with your head-dresses; make the spears sharp and put on the
breastplates. [5] What have I seen? they are overcome with fear and turned
back; their men of war are broken and have gone in flight, not looking
back: fear is on every side, says the Lord. [6] Let not the quick-footed go
in flight, or the man of war get away; on the north, by the river
Euphrates, they are slipping and falling. [7] Who is this coming up like
the Nile, whose waters are lifting their heads like the rivers? [8] Egypt
is coming up like the Nile, and his waters are lifting their heads like the
rivers, and he says, I will go up, covering the earth; I will send
destruction on the town and its people. [9] Go up, you horses; go rushing
on, you carriages of war; go out, you men of war: Cush and Put, gripping
the body-cover, and the Ludim, with bent bows. [10] But that day is the day
of the Lord, the Lord of armies, a day of punishment when he will take
payment from his haters: and the sword will have all its desire, drinking
their blood in full measure: for there is an offering to the Lord, the Lord
of armies, in the north country by the river Euphrates. [11] Go up to
Gilead and take sweet oil, O virgin daughter of Egypt: there is no help in
all your medical arts; nothing will make you well. [12] Your shame has come
to the ears of the nations, and the earth is full of your cry: for the
strong man is falling against the strong, they have come down together.
[13] The word which the Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet, of how
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, would come and make war on the land of
Egypt. [14] Give the news in Migdol, make it public in Noph: say, Take up
your positions and make yourselves ready; for on every side of you the
sword has made destruction. [15] Why has Apis, your strong one, gone in
flight? he was not able to keep his place, because the Lord was forcing him
down with strength. [16] ... are stopped in their going, they are falling;
and they say one to another, Let us get up and go back to our people, to
the land of our birth, away from the cruel sword. [17] Give a name to
Pharaoh, king of Egypt: A noise who has let the time go by. [18] By my
life, says the King, whose name is the Lord of armies, truly, like Tabor
among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so will he come. [19] O
daughter living in Egypt, make ready the vessels of a prisoner: for Noph
will become a waste, it will be burned up and become unpeopled. [20] Egypt
is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north.
[21] And those who were her fighters for payment are like fat oxen; for
they are turned back, they have gone in flight together, they do not keep
their place: for the day of their fate has come on them, the time of their
punishment. [22] She makes a sound like the hiss of a snake when they come
on with strength; they go against her with axes, like wood-cutters. [23]
They will be cutting down her woods, for they may not be searched out;
because they are like locusts, more than may be numbered. [24] The daughter
of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be given up into the hands of the
people of the north. [25] The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said:
See, I will send punishment on Amon of No and on Pharaoh and on those who
put their faith in him; [26] And I will give them up into the hands of
those who will take their lives, and into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king
of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants: and later, it will be
peopled as in the past, says the Lord. [27] But have no fear, O Jacob, my
servant, and do not be troubled, O Israel: for see, I will make you come
back from far away, and your seed from the land where they are prisoners;
and Jacob will come back, and will be quiet and in peace, and no one will
give him cause for fear. [28] Have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the
Lord; for I am with you: for I will put an end to all the nations where I
have sent you, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with
wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite
without punishment.
