Jeremiah, 46

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

1. These are Yahweh's words addressed to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

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.

2. Concerning Egypt, this is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:

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

3. "Prepare shield and buckler, and march to battle!

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

4. Harness the horses. Into your saddles, horsemen! To your ranks, with your helmets on! Polish your spears! Put on your breastplates!

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.

5. But what do I see? With broken ranks they fall back; their warriors are routed. They flee headlong without looking back, as terrors explode on every side.

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

6. The swift cannot flee, nor the hero escape. In the north by the Euphrates, they stumble and fall.

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

7. Who is this surging forward like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters?

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.

8. Egypt surges like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters. She says, 'I will rise and flood the earth; I will sweep cities and their people away.'

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.

9. Charge, horses! Drive madly, charioteers! March on, warriors - men of Cush and Put, with your shields, men of Lydia, with your bows.

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.

10. This is the day of Yahweh God of hosts, a day of vengeance on his foes. The sword devours, drunk with blood; for Yahweh Sabaoth holds a sacrifice in the north country by the Euphrates.

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.

11. Go up to Gilead in search of balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You have taken medicines in vain, but for you there is no healing.

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.

12. The nations have heard of your shame, the earth is filled with your cries; warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together."

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

13. This is the message Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who was to attack Egypt:

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.

14. "Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say to them: Take your posts; prepare for the worst! The sword has devoured your neighbors.

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

15. Why has Apis fled? Your black bull god did not make a stand! Why? Because Yahweh thrust him down

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.

16. and caused him to stumble and fall. Then they said to each other: 'Get up, let us go back to our people, to the land of our birth, away from the devouring sword.'

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

17. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, will be called 'The noisy one who lets his chance slip by.'

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.

18. As surely as I live - says the King whose name is Yahweh Sabaoth - one will come who is like Tabor, like Carmel above the sea.

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

19. Pack your belongings ready for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste, without inhabitants and desolate.

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

20. Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north has come upon her.

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.

21. The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves; but they too have fled failing to stand their ground, for the day of their calamity has come, the time of their punishment.

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.

22. She makes a sound like a fleeing serpent as her enemies advance in force, coming against her with axes, like loggers cutting down trees.

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.

23. Dense though her forest be, they will raze it - says Yahweh. They are beyond number, more numerous than locusts.

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

24. The daughter of Egypt will be abased, handed over to the people of the north."

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:

25. Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, has said: "I will punish Amon of Thebes, and Egypt with her gods and kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

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.

26. I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his ministers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited again as in times past - it is Yahweh who says so.

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.

27. But fear not, my servant Jacob; be not dismayed, O Israel. I will deliver you from a distant land, your descendants from their place of exile. Jacob will again find rest, and no one will make him afraid.

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.

28. Fear not, Jacob my servant, for I am with you - Yahweh speaks - I will make an end of the nations among which I scattered you, but I will spare you. I will discipline you, though, with justice; I will not let you go unpunished.