THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

Jeremiah Chapter 46

1 ¶ The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet about the nations;

2 About Egypt, and the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, that was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

3 Get ready with your small and large shields, and advance into battle.

4 Harness the horses; and mount up, you horsemen, and stand ready with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the armor.

5 Why do I see them dismayed and in retreat? with their mighty ones beaten down, and fleeing in haste, without looking back: because terror is on every side, says the LORD.

6 Do not let the swift get away, or the mighty man escape; they will stumble, and fall in the north by the river Euphrates.

7 Who is this who rises like a flood, like streams and their surging waters?

8 Egypt rises up like a flood, and like the turbulent waters of its streams; I will rise, he said, and will cover the earth; I will destroy towns and the people in them.

9 Go up, you horses; and drive furiously, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, who handle the shield; and the Lydians, who handle and bend the bow.

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries: and the sword will devour, until it is satisfied and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of armies will make a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11 Go up to Gilead, and get balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: you have used many medicines in vain; for you will not be cured.

12 ¶ The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land: for one mighty man stumbled over another, and they have both fallen together.

13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, concerning how Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon would come and defeat the land of Egypt.

14 Proclaim it in Egypt, announce it in Migdol, and declare it in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say, Take positions, and prepare yourselves; because the sword devours all around you.

15 Why is your bull-god lying on the ground? he does not stand, because the LORD has pushed him down.

16 He made many stumble, yea, they fell over each other: and each said, Get up, and let us return to our own people, and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressors sword.

17 There they cried out, Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the opportune moment pass.

18 As I live, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, he will come as surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and Carmel by the sea.

19 O daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity: for Memphis will become a desolate waste without inhabitants.

20 Egypt is like a pretty heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north.

21 And the mercenary soldiers in her midst are like fat calves; for they have all turned back, and run away together: they did not stand, because the day of their doom had arrived, and the time of their punishment.

22 Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent; for her foes advance with an army, and come against her with axes, like lumberjacks.

23 They will cut down her forest, says the LORD, though it is dense; because they are more numerous than locusts, and cannot be counted.

24 The daughter of Egypt will be disgraced; she will be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.

25 The LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says; Know that I will punish Amon god of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and all those who trust in him:

26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward Egypt will be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the LORD.

27 But do not be afraid, O my servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel: for, know that I will bring you back from far away, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob will return, and have calm and quiet, and no one will make him afraid.

28 Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD: for I am with you; and I will completely destroy all the nations where I have driven you: but I will not completely destroy you, I will correct you in justice; but I will not let you go unpunished.