Jeremiah 46
1 These are messages that Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about [other] nations.
That which hath been the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations,
2 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],
For Egypt, concerning the force of Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt, that hath been by the river Phrat, in Carchemish, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath smitten, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
3 ‘Prepare your shields and march out to fight the battle!
'Set ye in array shield and buckler, And draw nigh to battle.
4 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!’
Gird the horses, and go up, ye horsemen, And station yourselves with helmets, Polish the javelins, put on the coats of mail.
5 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!
Wherefore have I seen them dismayed — They are turned backward, And their mighty ones are beaten down, And [to] a refuge they have fled, and not turned the face? Fear [is] round about — an affirmation of Jehovah.
6 [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.
The swift do not flee, nor do the mighty escape, Northward, by the side of the river Phrat, They have stumbled and fallen.
7 What group is this that will be covering the land like the water of the Nile [River] covers the land when it floods?
Who is this? as a flood he cometh up, As rivers do his waters shake themselves!
8 [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].
Egypt, as a flood cometh up, And as rivers the waters shake themselves. And he saith, I go up; I cover the land, I destroy the city and the inhabitants in it.
9 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!
Go up, ye horses; and boast yourselves, ye chariots, And go forth, ye mighty, Cush and Phut handling the shield, And Lud handling — treading the bow.
10 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.
And that day [is] to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts A day of vengeance, To be avenged of His adversaries, And the sword hath devoured, and been satisfied, And it hath been watered from their blood, For a sacrifice [is] to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, In the land of the north, by the river Phrat.
11 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.
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt, In vain thou hast multiplied medicines, Healing there is none for thee.
12 [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.”
Nations have heard of thy shame, And thy cry hath filled the land, For the mighty on the mighty did stumble, Together they have fallen — both of them!'
13 [Then] Yahweh gave me this message about King Nebuchadnezzar when he planned to attack Egypt [with his army]:
The word that Jehovah hath spoken unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming in of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, to smite the land of Egypt:
14 “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]
'Declare ye in Egypt, and sound in Migdol, Yea, sound in Noph, and in Tahpanhes say: Station thyself, yea, prepare for thee, For a sword hath devoured around thee,
15 Your god is a bull; Why does he fall down? He will not be able to stand up, because Yahweh will knock him down.
Wherefore hath thy bull been swept away? He hath not stood, because Jehovah thrust him away.
16 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!’
He hath multiplied the stumbling, Yea one hath fallen upon his neighbour, And they say: Rise, and we turn back to our people, And unto the land of our birth, Because of the oppressing sword.
17 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.’
They have cried there: Pharaoh king of Egypt [is] a desolation, Passed by hath the appointed time.
18 [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.
I live — an affirmation of the King, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name, Surely as Tabor [is] among mountains, And as Carmel by the sea — he cometh in,
19 [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.
Goods for removal make for thee, O inhabitant, daughter of Egypt, For Noph becometh a desolation, And hath been burnt up, without inhabitant.
20 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].
A heifer very fair [is] Egypt, Rending from the north doth come into her.
21 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.
Even her hired ones in her midst [are] as calves of the stall, For even they have turned, They have fled together, they have not stood, For the day of their calamity hath come on them, The time of their inspection.
22 [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.
Its voice as a serpent goeth on, For with a force they go, And with axes they have come in to her, As hewers of trees.
23 [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.
They have cut down her forest, An affirmation of Jehovah — for it is not searched, For they have been more than the grasshopper, And they have no numbering.
24 The people of Egypt will be humiliated; they will be conquered by people from the northeast.’
Ashamed hath been the daughter of Egypt, She hath been given into the hand of the people of the north.
25 [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.
Said hath Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am seeing after Amon of No, And after Pharaoh, and after Egypt, And after her gods, and after her kings, And after Pharaoh, and after those trusting in him,
26 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.’
And I have given them into the hand of those seeking their life, And into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of his servants, And afterwards it is inhabited, As [in] days of old — an affirmation of Jehovah.
27 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.
And thou, thou dost not fear, my servant Jacob, Nor [art] thou dismayed, O Israel, For lo, I am saving thee from afar, And thy seed from the land of their captivity, And Jacob hath turned back, And hath been at rest, and been at ease, And there is none disturbing.
28 [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.’”
Thou, thou dost not fear, My servant Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah — for with thee I [am], For I make an end of all the nations Whither I have driven thee, And of thee I do not make an end, And I have reproved thee in judgment, And do not entirely acquit thee!'
