1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles.
2 To Egypt: against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. 5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down and are fled in haste, and do not look back: for fear was round about, said the LORD.
6 Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they stumbled and fell toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7 Who is this that comes up as a flood, whose waters move as rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters move like rivers; and he said, I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. 9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. 10 But this day shall be unto the Lord GOD of the hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for it shall be a slaughter unto the Lord GOD of the hosts in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for there is no cure for thee. 12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry has filled the land; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are both fallen together.
13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. 15 Why is thy fortress swept away? It could not stand because the LORD pushed it over. 16 He multiplied the fallen; yea, one fell upon another; and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our nativity, away from the overcoming sword. 17 They cried there: Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he allowed the appointed time to pass by.
18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of the hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. 19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall be a pasture and shall be made desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north. 21 Also her soldiers are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also turned back, and all fled away without stopping: because the day of their calamity was come upon them and the time of their visitation.
22 Her voice shall go forth like a serpent; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes as hewers of wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, for they cannot be counted because they are more than the locusts; they are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25 The LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel, said: Behold, I will visit the multitude of Alexandria, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all those that trust in him. 26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their soul and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his slaves; and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
27 But fear not thou, O my slave Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be in rest and be prospered, and no one shall make him afraid. 28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my slave, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the Gentiles where I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will chastise thee with judgment; and I will not completely cut thee off.