Jeremiah 46
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles,
In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah the prophet about foreign nations.
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.
This concerns Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt and the Egyptian army which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
3 Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.
Pick up both your small and large shields, and advance ready for battle!
4 Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.
Put the harnesses on the horses and get into your chariots; take your positions with your helmets on! Sharpen your spears; put on your armor!
5 What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord.
Why do I see their lines broken and retreating? Their soldiers are defeated. They run away so quickly they don't even look back because they're so terrified by what's happening around them, declares the Lord.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river Euphrates.
Even the fastest of them can't get away; the soldiers can't escape. There in the north beside the Euphrates they fall and die.
7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers?
Who is this that's coming, rising like the Nile, like swirling rivers whose waters flood?
8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.
Egypt is rising like the Nile; its waters swirl like flooding rivers, boasting, “I will rise and sweep over the earth; I will destroy towns and the people in them.”
9 Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.
Horses, charge in! Chariots, drive like crazy! Have the infantry advance: soldiers from Ethiopia and Put carrying their shields, archers from Lydia with their bows.
10 For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates.
But this is the day of the Lord God Almighty, a day of retribution when he takes vengeance on his enemies. The sword will destroy until it is satisfied, until it's had enough of their blood. The Lord God Almighty is having a sacrifice in the north country beside the Euphrates.
11 Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.
Go and find some healing ointment in Gilead, Virgin Daughter of Egypt! But whatever you use to help you will fail, because there's nothing that will heal you.
12 The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together.
The other nations have heard how you were humiliated in defeat. Everyone can hear your cries of pain. Soldiers fall over each other, and die together.
13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:
This is the message that the Lord gave to Jeremiah the prophet about the attack by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on Egypt:
14 Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.
Shout a warning in Egypt! Tell everyone in Migdol, and in Memphis and Tahpanhes: Get ready to defend yourselves, because war is destroying everything around you.
15 Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them.
Why did Apis your bull god run away? He couldn't stand his ground because the Lord has knocked him down.
16 He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land our nativity, from the sword of the dove.
Many soldiers trip and fall over one another and say, “Come on! Let's get back home to our people where we were born, otherwise we're going to be killed.”
17 Call ye the name of Pharao king Egypt, a tumult time hath brought.
When they get there they'll say about Pharaoh king of Egypt, “He just makes a lot of noise. He wasted his opportunity.”
18 As I live, (saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, ) as Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
As I live, declares the King who has the name “the Lord Almighty,” the king of Babylon will come. He is like Mount Tabor that stands out from the other mountains, like Mount Carmel high above the sea.
19 Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.
Pack your bags ready for exile, daughter living in Egypt! Memphis is going to be destroyed, an empty place where no one lives.
20 Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.
Egypt is a beautiful young cow, but a stinging insect from the north is coming to attack her.
21 Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation.
The soldiers that Egypt hired are like calves made fat for slaughter. They will also retreat. They won't stand and fight—they will all run away. Their day of destruction is coming; the time when they'll be punished.
22 Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.
The Egyptians will retreat with a rustle like a snake sliding away, because the enemy will attack them with axes, coming at them like wood-cutters chopping down trees.
23 They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.
They will cut them down like a thick forest, declares the Lord, because the invaders are like a swarm of locusts—there's so many of them that they can't be counted.
24 The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
The people of Egypt will be humiliated. They will be handed over to the people of the north.
25 The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, upon them that trust in him.
The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Watch, because I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and Pharaoh. I will punish the people of Egypt with their gods and kings, and everyone who trusts in Pharaoh.
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.
I'm going to hand them over to those who want to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after all this happens, people will live in Egypt as they used to, declares the Lord.
27 And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.
But you, descendants of Jacob my servant, you don't have to be fearful. Israelites, you don't need to be discouraged. I promise to rescue you from your distant places of exile, your descendants from the countries where they're being held captive. You will go home to a quiet and comfortable life, free from any threats.
28 And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.
You descendants of Jacob, don't be afraid! declares the Lord, for I will be with you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I've scattered you, I won't completely destroy you. However, I will discipline you as you deserve, and you can be sure I won't leave you unpunished.
