Jeremiah, 46

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

1. The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

2. On Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was at Carchemish on the River Euphrates when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated it in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.

2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

3. Buckler and shield at the ready! Onward to battle!

3. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

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

4. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with [your] helmets; furbish the spears, [and] put on the brigandines.

5. Why do I see them retreating, panic-stricken? Their heroes, beaten back, are fleeing headlong, with not a look behind. Terror on every side, Yahweh declares!

5. Wherefore have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: [for] fear [was] round about, saith the LORD.

6. No flight for the swift, no escape for the strong! Up in the north on the River Euphrates, they have collapsed, have fallen.

6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

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

7. Who [is] this [that] cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

8. Why, Egypt rose like the Nile, his waters foaming like a torrent. 'I shall rise', he said, 'and drown the earth; sweep away town and its inhabitants!

8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and [his] waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, [and] will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.

9. Charge, horses! Forward, chariots! Let the warriors advance, men from Cush and Put with shield in hand, men from Lud who bend the bow!'

9. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle [and] bend the bow.

10. For this is the Day of Lord Yahweh Sabaoth, a day of vengeance when he takes revenge on his foes: the sword will devour until gorged, until drunk with their blood, for Lord Yahweh Sabaoth is holding a sacrificial feast in the land of the north, on the River Euphrates.

10. For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

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

11. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured.

12. The nations have heard of your shame, your wailing fills the world, for warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together.

12. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, [and] they are fallen both together.

13. The word that came from Yahweh to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced to attack Egypt.

13. The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come [and] smite the land of Egypt.

14. Publish it in Egypt, proclaim it in Migdol, proclaim it in Noph and Tahpanhes! Say, 'Stand your ground, be prepared, for the sword is devouring all round you!'

14. Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.

15. Why has Apis fled? Why has your Mighty One not stood firm? Why, Yahweh has overturned him,

15. Why are thy valiant [men] swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

16. he has caused many to fall! Falling over one another, they say, 'Up, and back to our own people, to the country where we were born, away from the devastating sword!'

16. He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

17. They have given Pharaoh king of Egypt the nickname, 'Much-noise-but-he-lets-the-chance-slip-by'!

17. They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

18. As I live, the King declares, whose name is Yahweh Sabaoth, he is coming, a very Tabor among mountains, a Carmel high above the sea!

18. [As] I live, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor [is] among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, [so] shall he come.

19. Get your bundle ready for exile, fair inhabitant of Egypt! Noph will be reduced to a desert, desolate, uninhabited.

19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

20. Egypt was a splendid heifer, but a gadfly from the north has settled on her.

20. Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

21. The mercenaries she had with her, these too were like fattened calves: but they too have taken to their heels, have all run away, not held their ground, for their day of disaster has overtaken them, their time for being punished.

21. Also her hired men [are] in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, [and] are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of their visitation.

22. Hear her hissing like a snake as they advance in force to fall on her with their axes, like woodcutters,

22. The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

23. they will fell her forest, Yahweh declares, however impenetrable it was for they are more numerous than locusts, there is no counting them.

23. They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and [are] innumerable.

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

24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

25. Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel, has said, 'Look, I shall punish Amon of No, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods, its kings, Pharaoh and those who put their trust in him.

25. The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and [all] them that trust in him:

26. I shall hand him over to those who are determined to kill him, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to his generals. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited again as in the past, Yahweh declares.

26. And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

27. But do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Israel, do not be alarmed: for look, I shall rescue you from afar and your descendants from the country where they are captive. Jacob will return and be at peace, secure, with no one to trouble him.

27. But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make [him] afraid.

28. Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Yahweh declares, for I am with you: I shall make an end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I shall not make an end of you, I shall discipline you only as you deserve, not leaving you quite unpunished.

28. Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.