Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold
1That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3“Set up the I.e., small shieldbuckler and shield,
And advance to the battle!
4Harness the horses,
And Or go up, you horsemenmount the steeds,
Take your stand with helmets on!
Polish the spears,
Put on the coats of armor!
5Why have I seen it?
They are terrified,
They are retreating,
And their warriors are defeated
And have taken refuge in flight,
Without facing back.
Heb Magor-missabib i.e., Terror is on every side
Terror is on every side!”
Declares the Lord.
6Let not the swift man flee,
Nor the warrior escape.
In the north beside the river Euphrates
They have stumbled and fallen.
7Who is this that rises like the Nile,
Like the rivers whose waters surge?
8Egypt rises like the Nile,
And like the rivers whose waters surge;
And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land;
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.”
9Go up, you horses, and Lit act like madmendrive wildly, you chariots,
So that the warriors may Lit go forthmarch forward:
Or Ethiopia
Cush and I.e., Libya (or Somaliland)Put, who handle the shield,
And the Heb LudimLydians, who handle and bend the bow.
A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;
And the sword will devour and be satisfied,
And Lit be saturated withdrink its fill of their blood;
For there will be a slaughter for the Lord Heb YHWH, usually rendered LordGod of armies,
In the land of the north at the river Euphrates.
11Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,
Virgin daughter of Egypt!
You have used many Lit healingsremedies in vain;
There is no healing for you.
12The nations have heard of your shame,
And the earth is full of your cry of distress;
For one warrior has stumbled over Lit warrioranother,
And both of them have fallen down together.
13
This is the Lit wordmessage which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
14“Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol,
Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,
For the sword has devoured those around you.’
15Why have your powerful ones been cut down?
They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them away.
16They have repeatedly stumbled;
Indeed, they have fallen, one against another.
Then they said, ‘Get up, and let’s go back
To our own people and our native land,
Away from the Lit oppressing swordsword of the oppressor!’
17
Some ancient versions Call the name of Pharaoh a big noise
They shouted there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is nothing but a big noise;
He has let the appointed time pass by!’
18As I live,” declares the King,
Whose name is the Lord of armies,
“One certainly shall come who is like Tabor among the mountains,
Or like Carmel by the sea.
19Make your baggage ready for exile,
Daughter living in Egypt,
For Memphis will become a desolation;
It will be destroyed and Lit withoutdeprived of inhabitants.
20Egypt is a pretty heifer,
But a Or possibly mosquitohorsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!
21Also her mercenaries in her midst
Are like fattened calves,
For they too have turned away and have fled together;
They did not stand their ground.
For the day of their disaster has come upon them,
The time of their punishment.
22Its sound moves along like a serpent;
For they move on Or in forcelike an army
And come to her as woodcutters with axes.
23They have cut down her forest,” declares the Lord;
“Certainly it will no longer be found,
Even though I.e., trees of the forest, the Egyptiansthey are more numerous than locusts
And are without number.
24The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
Turned over to the Lit handpower of the people of the north.”
25The Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, indeed, Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
26I shall hand them over to those who are seeking their lives, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to his Lit servantsofficers. Afterward, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the Lord.
27“But as for you, Jacob My servant, do not fear,
Nor be dismayed, Israel!
For, see, I am going to save you from far away,
And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob will return and be undisturbed
And secure, with no one making him afraid.
28Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord,
“For I am with you.
For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations
Where I have driven you,
Yet I will not make a complete destruction of you;
But I will correct you properly
And by no means leave you unpunished.”
New American Standard Bible
Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.
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