Jeremiah 46

¹ The words of Yahweh which were addressed to the prophet Jeremiah against the nations.

² On Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which took up position near the river Euphrates by Carchemish,[*a] when it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.

³ Have buckler ready, and shield: onward to battle!

⁴ Harness the horses: into the saddle, horsemen! To your ranks! On with your helmets! Sharpen your spears, put on your breastplates!…

⁵ What do I see? They are panic-stricken, in full retreat! Their heroes, beaten back, are fleeing headlong with not a look behind. Terror from every side! – it is Yahweh who speaks.

⁶ The fastest cannot escape, nor the bravest save himself: there in the north, there by the river Euphrates, they have collapsed, have fallen.

⁷ Who was it rose like the Nile, its waters foaming like a torrent?

⁸ Why, Egypt rose like the Nile, its waters foaming like a torrent. ‘I will rise,’ he said ‘and drown the earth; sweep towns and their inhabitants away!

⁹ Charge, horses! Crash on, chariots! Advance, warriors, you men from Cush and Put with shield in hand, you men from Lud who bend the bow!'[*b]

¹⁰ Now, this is the day of the Lord Yahweh, a day of vengeance for his revenge on his enemies: his sword will eat them up and have its fill, will grow drunk with their blood. Yes, the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth has a sacrifice to make in the north country, by the river Euphrates.

¹¹ Go up to Gilead in search of balm, virgin daughter of Egypt! You multiply remedies in vain, nothing can cure you.

¹² The nations have heard of your shame, the dirge raised for you fills the earth: for warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen.

¹³ The word that Yahweh addressed to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon set out to attack the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ Publish it in Migdol, proclaim it in Noph. Say, ‘To your posts! At the ready!’ for the sword is devouring round you.

¹⁵ What! Has Apis[*c] fled? Has your Strong One not stood firm? Yes, Yahweh has knocked him

¹⁶ flat! He tottered, and now he has fallen down! Then they said to each other, ‘Up! Let us go back to our own people, to the country where we were born, far from the destroying sword!’

¹⁷ Give this name to Pharaoh: ‘Much-noise-but-he-lets-the-chance-slip-by’!

¹⁸ As I live – it is the King who speaks whose name is Yahweh Sabaoth – someone will come, a Tabor among mountains, a Carmel high above the sea.

¹⁹ Get your bundle ready for exile, daughter of Egypt, so safe in your home! Noph will be reduced to a desert, desolate, uninhabited.

²⁰ Egypt was a splendid heifer, but a gad-fly from the North has settled on her.

²¹ The mercenaries she had with her, these too were as sleek as fattened calves: but they too have taken to their heels, they all run at once and cannot hold their ground. For on them comes the day of their disaster, their time of reckoning.

²² Listen: a sound like a serpent hissing! Yes, they are coming in force to fall on her with their axes, like woodcutters,

²³ they will fell her forest – it is Yahweh who speaks. Yes, they are past counting, outnumbering the locusts, innumerable.

²⁴ The daughter of Egypt is put to shame, handed over to a people from the North.

²⁵ Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, has said: Now I mean to punish Amon of No,[*d] with Pharaoh and those who put their trust in him.

²⁶ I will hand him over to those who are determined to kill him, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, over to his servants. But in later days, Egypt will be inhabited again as in the past – it is Yahweh who speaks.

²⁷ But do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Israel, do not be alarmed: look, I will rescue you from distant countries and your descendants from the country where they are captive. Jacob will have quiet again and live at ease, with no one to trouble him.

²⁸ Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob – it is Yahweh who speaks – for I am with you: I will make an end of all the nations where I have scattered you; I will not make an end of you, only discipline you in moderation, so as not to let you go entirely unpunished.