Jeremiah 26
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word from Yahweh saying:
In the beginning of the reign of king Sedekias, there came this word concerning Aelam.
2 Thus, saith Yahweh, —Stand thou in the court of the house of Yahweh, and speak unto all the cities of Judah who are entering in to bow down in the house of Yahweh, all the words which I have commanded thee to speak unto them, —do not thou keep back a word:
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.
3 Peradventure they will hear, and return every man from his wicked way, —and I shall repent as to the calamity which I am devising to execute upon them because of the wickedness of their doings:
Take up arms and spears, and draw near to battle;
4 Therefore shalt thou say unto them Thus, saith Yahweh, —If ye will not hearken unto me, To walk in my law which I have set before you;
and harness the horses: mount, you horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the spears, and put on your breastplates.
5 To hearken unto the words of my servants the prophets, whom I am sending unto you, even, betimes, sending, though ye have not hearkened,
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.
6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh, —And, this city, will I make a contempt to all the nations of the earth.
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.
7 So the priests and the prophets, and all the people, heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.
Who is this [that] shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll [their] waves?
8 And it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets, and all the people laid hold of him, saying—Thou shalt, surely die!
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.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, Like Shiloh, shall this house become, And this city, shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people, were gathered together unto Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh,
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.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then came they up out of the house of the king, unto the house of Yahweh, —and took their seats in the opening of the new gate of Yahweh.
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.
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and unto all the people, saying, —Worthy of death, is this man, because he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your own ears,
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.
12 Then spake Jeremiah, unto all the princes and unto all the people, saying, —Yahweh, sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, all the words that ye have heard.
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.
13 Now, therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken unto the voice of Yahweh your God, —that Yahweh may repent him, as to the calamity which he hath spoken concerning you.
THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD SPOKE by Jeremias, concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt.
14 But, I, behold me in your hand, —do with me as may be good and right in your eyes;
Proclaim [it] at Magdol, and declare [it] at Memphis: say you, Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured your yew tree.
15 Only, ye must, know, that If, ye, do put me, to death, verily innocent blood, are ye laying upon yourselves, and against this city, and against her inhabitants, —for of a truth, did Yahweh send me unto you, to speak in your ears, all these words.
Therefore has Apis fled from you? your choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him.
16 Then said the princes, and all the people, unto the priests and unto the prophets, —There is nothing in this man worthy of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, hath he spoken unto us.
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.
17 Then rose up men from among the elders of the land, and spake unto all the convocation of the people saying:
Call you the name of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed.
18 Micah the Morashtite, was prophesying, in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, —and he spake unto all the people of Judah, saying, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts—Zion, as a field, shall be plowed, And, Jerusalem, into heaps of ruins, shall be turned, And, the mountain of the house, [be] like mounds in a jungle,
[As] I live, says the Lord God, he shall come as Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put, him to death? Did he not revere Yahweh, and appease the face of Yahweh? And did not Yahweh repent him, as to the calamity which he had spoken against them? We, therefore are doing a great wickedness against our own lives!
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.
20 There was however, a man, prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Urijah, son of Shemaiah, of Keriath-jearim, —who prophesied against this city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremiah.
Egypt is a fair heifer, [but] destruction from the north is come upon her.
21 And when King Jehoiakim, and all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death, —but Urijah heard, and feared and fled and entered Egypt.
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.
22 Then did King Jehoiakim send men to Egypt, —even Elnathan son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt
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.
23 and they brought forth Urijah out of Egypt, and took him in unto King Jehoiakim, who smote him with the sword, —and cast out his dead body among the graves of the sons of the people.
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.
24 Howbeit the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan, turned out to be with Jeremiah, —so as not to give him up into the hand of the people, to put him to death.
The daughter of Egypt is confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north.
Behold, I [will] avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him.
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.
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.
