Jeremiah 46
1 The wordes of the Lord, which came to Ieremiah the Prophet against the Gentiles,
These are messages that Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about [other] nations.
2 As against Egypt, against ye armie of Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt, which was by the riuer Perath in Carchemish, which Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel smote in the fourth yere of Iehoiakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah.
After Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah, had been ruling Judah for almost four years, this message about Egypt was given [by Yahweh]. It was when the army of King Neco of Egypt was defeated by the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon along the Euphrates River. [This is what Yahweh said: “The officers of the army of Egypt are saying to their troops],
3 Make readie buckler and shielde, and goe forth to battell.
‘Prepare your shields and march out to fight the battle!
4 Make readie the horses, and let the horsemen get vp, and stande vp with your sallets, fourbish the speares, and put on the brigandines.
Put harnesses on your horses, and get on their backs. (Get into your positions/Line up) [for the battle]; put on your helmets. Sharpen your spears, and put on your armor!’
5 Wherefore haue I seene them afraid, and driuen backe? for their mighty men are smitten, and are fled away, and looke not backe: for feare was rounde about, sayeth the Lord.
But what [RHQ] do I see? I see that the soldiers of Egypt will be terrified and will be fleeing. [Even] the bravest of their soldiers will be running away, without [even] looking backward! [I, ] Yahweh, say that [their soldiers] will be terrified on all sides!
6 The swift shall not flee away, nor the strong man escape: they shall stumble, and fall towarde the North by the riuer Perath.
[Even] the fastest [runners] will try to run away, but [even the greatest of] their warriors will not escape. In the north, by the Euphrates [River], they will stumble and fall.
7 Who is this, that commeth vp, as a flood, whose waters are mooued like the riuers?
What group is this that will be covering the land like the water of the Nile [River] covers the land when it floods?
8 Egypt riseth vp like the flood, and his waters are mooued like the riuers, and he sayth, I wil goe vp, and will couer the earth: I wil destroy the citie with them that dwell therein.
[It is the army of] Egypt that will be covering the land like a surging/huge flood, and they will boast that they will cover the earth and will destroy cities and the people [who live in them].
9 Come vp, ye horses, and rage ye charets, and let the valiant men come foorth, the blacke Mores, and the Lybians that beare the shield, and the Lydians that handle and bend the bowe.
You [riders of] horses, charge/rush [into the battle]! You [drivers of] chariots, drive furiously! [All] you warriors from Ethiopia and Libya who carry your shields, you warriors from Lydia who shoot arrows, you come!
10 For this is the day of ye Lord God of hostes, and a day of vengeance, that he may auenge him of his enemies: for the sworde shall deuoure, and it shall be saciate, and made drunke with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the North countrey by the Riuer Perath.
But, [you need to know that] this is the day when [I], Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, will get revenge on my enemies. With my sword [PRS] I will kill [my enemies] until I am satisfied; my sword will [be like a monster that] [MET, PRS] drinks the blood [of the animals it kills] until it is no longer thirsty. [The enemy soldiers who will be killed] in the north beside the Euphrates River [will be like] [MET] a sacrifice to [me], the Commander of the armies of angels.
11 Goe vp vnto Gilead, and take balme, O virgine, the daughter of Egypt: in vaine shalt thou vse many medicines: for thou shalt haue no health.
You people [IDM] of Egypt, go up to the Gilead [region] to obtain medicine; but it will be useless to take all those medicines; you will not be healed.
12 The nations haue heard of thy shame, and thy crie hath filled the lande: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong and they are fallen both together.
[People in] the [other] nations will hear how you were humiliated. [People] all over the earth will hear you wailing. [Your mighty] warriors will stumble over each other and they will all fall down together.”
13 The woorde that the Lord spake to Ieremiah the Prophet, howe Nebuchad-nezzar king of Babel shoulde come and smite the lande of Egypt.
[Then] Yahweh gave me this message about King Nebuchadnezzar when he planned to attack Egypt [with his army]:
14 Publish in Egypt and declare in Migdol, and proclaime in Noph, and in Tahpanhes, and say, Stand still, and prepare thee: for the sworde shall deuoure rounde about thee.
“Shout [this message] throughout Egypt! Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpenes [cities]! ‘(Get into your positions/Line up) [for the battle]; Prepare to defend yourselves, because [everyone] around you will be killed.’ [PRS, MTY]
15 Why are thy valiant men put backe? they could not stand, because the Lord did driue them.
Your god is a bull; Why does he fall down? He will not be able to stand up, because Yahweh will knock him down.
16 Hee made many to fall, and one fell vpon another: and they saide, Arise, let vs goe againe to our owne people, and to the land of our natiuitie from the sworde of the violent.
The soldiers from other countries will stumble and fall over each other, and [then] they will say to each other, ‘Let’s get up and go back to our own people, to our own land. Let’s get away from the swords of our enemies!’
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh King of Egypt, and of a great multitude hath passed the time appointed.
There [in Egypt] they will say, ‘The king of Egypt talks loudly, but when our [army] had an opportunity [to defeat our enemies], they failed.’
18 As I liue, saith the King, whose Name is the Lord of hostes, surely as Tabor is in the mountaines, and as Carmel is in the sea: so shall it come.
[I, ] the King, who am called the Commander of the armies of angels, say this: ‘As [surely as] I live, someone’s army will be coming [to fight against the army of Egypt]. They will be [extremely powerful], [as though they were as tall] as Tabor Hill, or [as high] as Carmel [Mountain] close to the [Mediterranean] Sea.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, make thee geare to goe into captiuitie: for Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant.
[All] you people who live in Egypt, pack your possessions/clothes and prepare to be exiled. Memphis [city] will be destroyed; it will become a ruin, and no one will be living there.
20 Egypt is like a faire calfe, but destruction commeth: out of the North it commeth.
Egypt is [like] [SIM] a beautiful young cow, but [the army of a powerful king] from the northeast will come to attack it [like] a horsefly [MET] [bites a cow].
21 Also her hired men are in the middes of her like fat calues: they are also turned backe and fled away together: they could not stand, because the day of their destruction was come vpon them, and the time of their visitation.
The (mercenaries/soldiers [from other countries] who have been hired) will become like [SIM] fat calves; but they also will turn around and run away; they will not stand [there and fight], because it will be a day when there will be a [great] disaster in Egypt, a day when their people will be [greatly] punished.
22 The voyce thereof shall goe foorth like a serpent: for they shall march with an armie, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
[The soldiers of] Egypt will run away, as silently as a snake scurries/crawls away. [The army of] the enemy will advance; they will march along carrying their axes like [SIM] men who cut down trees.
23 They shall cut downe her forest, saith the Lord: for they cannot be counted, because they are moe then ye grashoppers, and are innumerable.
[I, ] Yahweh, say that they will kill the soldiers [of Egypt] as though [SIM] they were a forest of trees, because the enemy soldiers will be as numerous as [a swarm of] locusts.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded: she shall be deliuered into the handes of the people of the North.
The people of Egypt will be humiliated; they will be conquered by people from the northeast.’
25 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will visite the common people of No and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their Kings, euen Pharaoh, and al them that trust in him,
[I, ] the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom the Israelis [worship], say, ‘I will punish Amon, [the god whom the people] of Thebes [city] worship, and [all] the [other] gods in Egypt. [I will punish] the King of Egypt and [all] those who trust in him.
26 And I will deliuer them into the handes of those, that seeke their liues, and into the hand of Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel, and into the handes of his seruants, and afterwarde she shall dwell as in the olde time, saith the Lord.
I will cause them to be captured by those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and his army officers. But many years later, people will live in Egypt again. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.’
27 But feare not thou, O my seruant Iaakob, and be not thou afraid, O Israel: for behold, I will deliuer thee from a farre countrey, and thy seede from the land of their captiuitie, and Iaakob shall returne and be in rest, and prosperitie, and none shall make him afraid.
But you people of Israel who serve me, do not be at all dismayed [DOU] now, because some day I will bring you back from distant places; I will bring your descendants from the land to which they were exiled. [Then you] Israeli people will again live peacefully and safely, and there will not be any [nation] to cause you to be terrified.
28 Feare thou not, O Iaakob my seruant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee, and I will vtterly destroy all the nations, whither I haue driuen thee: but I will not vtterly destroy thee, but correct thee by iudgement, and not vtterly cut thee off.
[I, ] Yahweh, say to you people of Israel who serve me, ‘Do not be afraid, because I will be with you. I will completely destroy the nations among whom I have scattered you, but I will not completely get rid of you. I will punish you, but I will punish you only as severely as you deserve: It would be wrong if I did not punish you at all.’”
