Prophecies against foreign nations
Against Egypt
1These are Yahweh’s words addressed to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.
2Concerning Egypt, this is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3“Prepare shield and buckler,
and march to battle!
4Harness the horses.
Into your saddles, horsemen!
To your ranks, with your helmets on!
Polish your spears!
Put on your breastplates!
5But what do I see?
With broken ranks they fall back; their warriors are routed.
They flee headlong without looking back, as terrors explode on every side.
6The swift cannot flee, nor the hero escape.
In the north by the Euphrates, they stumble and fall.
7Who is this surging forward like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters?
8Egypt surges like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters.
She says, ‘I will rise and flood the earth;
I will sweep cities and their people away.’
9Charge, horses!
Drive madly, charioteers!
March on, warriors –
men of Cush and Put, with your shields, men of Lydia, with your bows.
10This is the day of Yahweh God of hosts, a day of vengeance on his foes.
The sword devours, drunk with blood; for Yahweh Sabaoth holds a sacrifice in the north country by the Euphrates.
11Go up to Gilead in search of balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You have taken medicines in vain, but for you there is no healing.
12The nations have heard of your shame, the earth is filled with your cries; warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together.”
Invasion of Egypt
13This is the message Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who was to attack Egypt:
14“Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say to them:
Take your posts; prepare for the worst! The sword has devoured your neighbors. 15Why has Apis fled?
Your black bull god did not make a stand! Why? Because Yahweh thrust him down 16and caused him to stumble and fall. Then they said to each other:
‘Get up, let us go back to our people, to the land of our birth,
away from the devouring sword.’
17Pharaoh, king of Egypt, will be called ‘The noisy one who lets his chance slip by.’
18As surely as I live – says the King whose name is Yahweh Sabaoth – one will come who is like Tabor, like Carmel above the sea.
19Pack your belongings ready for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste, without inhabitants and desolate.
20Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
but a gadfly from the north has come upon her.
21The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves; but they too have fled failing to stand their ground,
for the day of their calamity has come, the time of their punishment.
22She makes a sound like a fleeing serpent
as her enemies advance in force, coming against her with axes, like loggers cutting down trees.
23Dense though her forest be, they will raze it – says Yahweh. They are beyond number, more numerous than locusts.
24The daughter of Egypt will be abased, handed over to the people of the north.”
25Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, has said: “I will punish Amon of Thebes, and Egypt with her gods and kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his ministers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited again as in times past – it is Yahweh who says so.
27But fear not, my servant Jacob; be not dismayed, O Israel. I will deliver you from a distant land, your descendants from their place of exile. Jacob will again find rest, and no one will make him afraid. 28Fear not, Jacob my servant, for I am with you – Yahweh speaks – I will make an end of the nations among which I scattered you, but I will spare you. I will discipline you, though, with justice; I will not let you go unpunished.
