Jeremias 26
1 In the beginning of the reign of king Sedekias, there came this word concerning Aelam.
When Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, first became king, this word came from the Lord, saying,
2 FOR EGYPT, AGAINST THE POWER OF PHARAO NECHAO KING OF EGYPT, who was by the river Euphrates in Charmis, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Joakim king of Juda.
This is what the Lord has said: Take your place in the open square of the Lord's house and say to all the towns of Judah, who come into the Lord's house for worship, everything I give you orders to say to them: keep back not a word;
3 Take up arms and spears, and draw near to battle;
It may be that they will give ear, and that every man will be turned from his evil way, so that my purpose of sending evil on them because of the evil of their doings may be changed.
4 and harness the horses: mount, you horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the spears, and put on your breastplates.
And you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: If you do not give ear to me and go in the way of my law which I have put before you,
5 Why do they fear, and turn back? even because their mighty men shall be slain: they have utterly fled, and being hemmed in they have not rallied, says the Lord.
And give ear to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you, getting up early and sending them, though you gave no attention;
6 Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape to the north: the [forces] at Euphrates are become feeble, and they have fallen.
Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this town a curse to all the nations of the earth.
7 Who is this [that] shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll [their] waves?
And in the hearing of the priests and the prophets and all the people, Jeremiah said these words in the house of the Lord.
8 The waters of Egypt shall come up like a river: and he said, I will go up, and will cover the earth, and will destroy the dwellers in it.
Now, when Jeremiah had come to the end of saying everything the Lord had given him orders to say to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people took him by force, saying, Death will certainly be your fate.
9 Mount you the horses, prepare the chariots; go forth, you warriors of the Ethiopians, and Libyans armed with shields; and mount, you Lydians, bend the bow.
Why have you said in the name of the Lord, This house will be like Shiloh, and this land a waste with no one living in it? And all the people had come together to Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 And that day [shall be] to the Lord our God a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his enemies: and the sword of the Lord shall devour, and be glutted, and be drunken with their blood: for the Lord [has] a sacrifice from the land of the north at the river Euphrates.
And the rulers of Judah, hearing of these things, came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord, and took their seats by the new door of the Lord's house.
11 Go up to Galaad, and take balm for the virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain have you multiplied your medicines; there is no help in you.
Then the priests and the prophets said to the rulers and to all the people, The right fate for this man is death; for he has said words against this town in your hearing.
12 The nations have heard your voice, and the land has been filled with your cry: for the warriors have fainted fighting one against another, [and] both are fallen together.
Then Jeremiah said to all the rulers and to all the people, The Lord has sent me as his prophet to say against this house and against this town all the words which have come to your ears.
13 THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD SPOKE by Jeremias, concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt.
So now, make a change for the better in your ways and your doings, and give ear to the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will let himself be turned from the decision he has made against you for evil.
14 Proclaim [it] at Magdol, and declare [it] at Memphis: say you, Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured your yew tree.
As for me, here I am in your hands: do with me whatever seems good and right in your opinion.
15 Therefore has Apis fled from you? your choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him.
Only be certain that, if you put me to death, you will make yourselves and your town and its people responsible for the blood of one who has done no wrong: for truly, the Lord has sent me to you to say all these words in your ears.
16 And your multitude has fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbor, Let us arise, and return into our country to our people, from the Grecian sword.
Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, It is not right for this man to be put to death: for he has said words to us in the name of the Lord our God.
17 Call you the name of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed.
Then some of the responsible men of the land got up and said to all the meeting of the people,
18 [As] I live, says the Lord God, he shall come as Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea.
Micah the Morashtite, who was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, said to all the people of Judah, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Zion will become like a ploughed field, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like the high places of the woodland.
19 O daughter of Egypt dwelling [at home], prepare you stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no inhabitants in it.
Did Hezekiah and all Judah put him to death? did he not in the fear of the Lord make prayer for the grace of the Lord, and the Lord let himself be turned from the decision he had made against them for evil? By this act we might do great evil against ourselves.
20 Egypt is a fair heifer, [but] destruction from the north is come upon her.
And there was another man who was a prophet of the Lord, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim; he said against this town and against this land all the words which Jeremiah had said:
21 Also her hired [soldiers] in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution.
And when his words came to the ears of Jehoiakim the king and all his men of war and his captains, the king would have put him to death; but Uriah, hearing of it, was full of fear and went in flight into Egypt:
22 Their voice is as [that] of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand; they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood.
And Jehoiakim the king sent Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt.
23 They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, for [their number] can’t at all be conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable.
And they took Uriah out of Egypt and came back with him to Jehoiakim the king; who put him to death with the sword, and had his dead body put into the resting-place of the bodies of the common people.
24 The daughter of Egypt is confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north.
But Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, gave Jeremiah his help, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to be put to death.
25 Behold, I [will] avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him.
27 But fear not you, my servant Jacob, neither be you alarmed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at ease, and sleep, and there shall be no one to trouble him.
28 Fear not you, my servant Jacob, says the Lord; for I am with you: she [that was] without fear and in luxury, has been delivered up: for I will make a full end of every nation among whom I have thrust you forth; but I will not cause you to fail: yet will I chastise you in the way of judgment, and will not hold you entirely guiltless.
