﻿Jeremiah.
Chapter 46.
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations: 
Concerning Egypt, the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt that was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: 
“Prepare the small shield and the large shield, and advance to battle! 
Harness the horses! Mount, you horsemen! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish the spears! Put on your armor! 
Why do I see them dismayed and retreating? Their warriors are beaten down; they flee in haste and do not look back. Terror on every side! declares the LORD. 
Let the swift not flee; let the warrior not escape. In the north, beside the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen. 
Who is this rising like the Nile, whose waters surge like rivers? 
Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters surge like rivers. It says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth. I will destroy the city and those who live in it.’ 
Charge, horses! Rage, chariots! Let the warriors come out: Cush and Put, who carry the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow. 
That day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour and be satisfied, and drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the northern land beside the Euphrates River. 
Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter Egypt. In vain you multiply remedies; there is no healing for you. 
The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the earth, for warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together.” 
This is the word the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt: 
“Declare it in Egypt! Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Say, ‘Take your position and prepare, for the sword has devoured all around you.’ 
Why have your mighty ones been swept away? Not one stood, for the LORD drove him down. 
He made many stumble; one fell upon another. They said, ‘Rise, let us return to our own people and our native land, away from the oppressing sword.’ 
There they cried, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only noise! He has let the appointed time pass.’ 
As I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and Carmel by the sea, he will come. 
Pack your belongings for exile, daughter dwelling in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolation, laid waste without inhabitants. 
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming from the north—it is coming! 
Even the mercenaries in her midst are like fattened calves. They too have turned and fled together; they did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment. 
Her voice sounds like a serpent as it moves, for they advance in force and come against her with axes, like woodcutters. 
They will cut down her forest, declares the LORD, though it is impenetrable, for they are more numerous than locusts and cannot be counted. 
Daughter Egypt is put to shame, given into the hand of the people of the north.” 
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Look, I am bringing punishment on Amon of Thebes, on Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods and kings, on Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 
I will give them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his servants. Afterward she will be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD. 
But do not fear, Jacob my servant, and do not be dismayed, Israel. Look, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease, with no one to make him afraid. 
Do not fear, Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, for I am with you. I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will discipline you with justice and will by no means leave you unpunished.” 
