¹ The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

² Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar 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 mount, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the coats of mail.

⁵ Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and look not back: for fear was on all sides, saith the LORD.¹²

1. beaten...: Heb. broken in pieces
2. fled...: Heb. fled a flight

⁶ Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

⁷ Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

⁸ Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, 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 Cushites and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.¹²

1. the Ethiopians: Heb. Cush
2. the Libyans: Heb. Put

¹⁰ For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satisfied and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice 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 thou shalt not be cured.¹

1. thou shalt...: Heb. no cure shall be unto thee

¹² The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they have fallen both together.

¹³ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ Declare ye in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol, and proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour around thee.

¹⁵ Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

¹⁶ He made many to fall, 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, from the oppressing sword.¹

1. made...: Heb. multiplied the faller

¹⁷ They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

¹⁸ As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of 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 Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.¹

1. furnish...: Heb. make thee instruments of captivity

²⁰ Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

²¹ Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bulls; for they also have turned back, and have fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, and the time of their punishment.¹

1. fatted...: Heb. bullocks of the stall

²² Its voice shall go 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, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and 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 hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:¹

1. multitude: or, nourisher: Heb. Amon

²⁶ And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

²⁷ But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

²⁸ Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.¹

1. not leave...: or, not utterly cut thee off