Jeremiah 46-48
Complete Jewish Bible
46 This is the word of Adonai that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the nations. 2 Concerning Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh N’kho, king of Egypt, stationed by the Euphrates River in Kark’mish, which N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel attacked in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah:
3 “Prepare breastplate and shield! Advance to battle!
4 Harness the horses! Riders, mount!
[Troops,] fall in! Helmets in place!
Polish the spears! Coats of mail on!
5 “Why do I see them retreating in panic,
their heroes routed, fleeing headlong,
not looking back, terror all around?”
asks Adonai.
6 “The swift cannot flee, nor the heroes escape.
In the north, by the Euphrates River,
they have stumbled and fallen.”
7 Who is this, rising up like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge out in flood?
8 It is Egypt, rising up like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge out in flood,
saying, “I will surge out and cover the earth,
destroying the city along with its people.”
9 Charge, horses! Full speed ahead, chariots!
Let the warriors attack! —
Kush and Put, bearing their shields,
and the Ludim, strung bows in hand.
10 For on that day Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will have a day of vengeance
for avenging himself on his enemies.
The sword will destroy, have its fill,
be made drunk on their blood.
Yes, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
decrees slaughter in the land to the north
by the Euphrates River.
11 Go up to Gil‘ad for its healing resin,
virgin daughter of Egypt.
You try many medicines, all in vain;
for you there is no cure.
12 The nations have heard about your disgrace;
your shrieks fill the earth
as warrior trips over warrior,
both falling down together.
13 This word Adonai spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning how N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel would come and attack the land of Egypt:
14 “Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol,
announce in Nof and Tachpanches;
say: ‘Take your stand! Get ready!
For all around you the sword is destroying.
15 Why has your strong one been overthrown?
He failed to stand because Adonai pushed him down.
16 He caused many to trip;
yes, they fell all over each other.’”
Then they said, “Let’s get up,
let’s return to our own people,
back to the land where we were born,
away from the sword that destroys.”
17 They cried there, “Pharaoh king of Egypt makes noise,
but he lets the right time [for action] slip by.”
18 “As I live,” says the king,
whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot,
“when he comes, he will be [as mighty]
as Tavor among the mountains,
as Karmel next to the sea.
19 “Daughter living in Egypt,
prepare what you need for exile;
for Nof will become a ruin,
laid waste, without inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a beautiful female calf;
but a horsefly from the north has come to attack her.
21 Her mercenaries too, that she had with her,
were like well-fed calves in a stable;
but they too have withdrawn in retreat,
they all ran away without standing their ground.
For their day of disaster has come over them,
the time for them to be punished.
22 Egypt hisses like a snake,
as the enemy’s army marches ahead,
attacking her with their axes
like lumbermen chopping trees.
23 They cut down her forest,” says Adonai,
“for they cannot be numbered;
yes, there are more of them than locusts,
far too many to count.
24 The daughter of Egypt is put to shame,
handed over to the people from the north.”
25 Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “I will punish Amon from No, Pharaoh, and Egypt with her gods and kings — that is, Pharaoh and those who trust in him; 26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to his servants. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited, as in the past,” says Adonai.
27 “Yet don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant;
don’t be distressed, Isra’el.
For I will save you from faraway places,
and your offspring from the lands where they are held captive.
Ya‘akov will return and be at peace,
quiet, with no one to make him afraid.
28 Don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant,”
says Adonai, “for I am with you.
I will finish off all the nations
where I have scattered you.
However, you I will not finish off,
I will discipline you as you deserve,
but not completely destroy you.”
47 This word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the P’lishtim before Pharaoh attacked ‘Azah: 2 “Here is what Adonai says:
‘Water is rising out of the north;
it will become a flooding stream,
flooding the land and all that is in it,
the city and its inhabitants.
The people are crying out in alarm,
everyone in the land is weeping
3 at the thunderous pound of his stallions’ hoofs,
at his rattling chariots’ rumbling wheels.
Fathers fail to turn back for their children;
instead, their hands hang limp,
4 because the day has come
for destroying all the P’lishtim,
for cutting off from Tzor and Tzidon
the last of their allies;
for Adonai is destroying the P’lishtim,
the remnant from the island of Kaftor.
5 ‘Azah is shaved bald,
Ashkelon reduced to silence.
Those of you who remain in their valley,
how long will you go on gashing yourselves?’”
6 Oh, sword of Adonai,
how long till you can be quiet?
Put yourself back in your scabbard!
Stop! Be still!
7 But how can you be still?
For Adonai has given it orders
against Ashkelon, against the seacoast;
he has assigned it its task there.
48 Concerning Mo’av, this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says:
“Woe to N’vo, for it is ravaged;
Kiryatayim disgraced and captured.
Misgav is put to shame, distressed.
2 “In Mo’av, nothing is left to praise.
At Heshbon they plotted her downfall:
‘Come, we’ll cut her off as a nation.’
You too, Madmein, will be silenced;
the sword pursues behind you.
3 An agonized cry from Horonayim,
ruin, terrible devastation!
4 Mo’av has been shattered;
the cries of her young ones are heard,
5 as they ascend the slopes of Luchit,
weeping bitterly as they climb.
On the road down to Horonayim
shrieks of destruction ring out.”
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Be strong, like a tamarisk in the desert.
7 Because you trust in your deeds and your wealth,
you too will be captured.
Together with his priests and princes,
K’mosh will go into exile.
8 A destroyer will descend on every city,
no city will escape.
The valley too will perish,
the plain will be laid waste,
as Adonai as said.
9 Give Mo’av wings,
so it can fly and get away.
Its cities will become ruins,
with no one to live in them.
10 A curse on him who does the work
of Adonai carelessly!
A curse on him who withholds his sword
from blood!
11 Mo’av has lived at ease from his youth;
he is [wine] settled on its dregs,
not decanted from jar to jar —
he has not gone into exile.
Therefore it retains its own [bad] taste,
its aroma remains unchanged.
12 “So the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will send people to tilt him; they will tilt his jars, emptying them and shattering the wine-flasks to pieces. 13 Mo’av will be disappointed by K’mosh then, just as the house of Isra’el was disappointed by Beit-El, a god in whom they had put their trust.
14 “How can you say, ‘We are heroes,
warriors valiant in battle’?
15 They are ravaging Mo’av, attacking its cities;
its best young men go down to be slaughtered,”
says the king, whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot.
16 Mo’av’s ruin is coming soon,
its disaster speeds on swiftly.
17 Pity him, all of you who are near him,
all of you who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is shattered,
that splendid staff!”
18 Descend from your glory, and sit in thirst,
daughter living in Divon;
for Mo’av’s destroyer advances on you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and watch,
inhabitant of ‘Aro‘er;
ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping,
“What is going on?”
20 Mo’av is disgraced, indeed, destroyed.
Wail aloud! Shriek!
Proclaim it by the Arnon
that Mo’av has been laid waste.
21 Judgment has come on the Plain — on Holon, Yachtzah, Mefa‘at, 22 Divon, N’vo, Beit-Diblatayim, 23 Kiryatayim, Beit-Gamul, Beit-M‘on, 24 K’riot, Botzrah and all the cities in the land of Mo’av, far and near.
25 “Mo’av’s strength is cut down,
his arm is broken,” says Adonai.
26 Because Mo’av boasted against Adonai, make him so drunk that he wallows in his own vomit and becomes a laughingstock. 27 After all, Isra’el was a laughingstock for you. He didn’t associate with thieves; nevertheless, whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.
28 You who live in Mo’av,
leave the cities, and live on the rocks;
be like the dove who makes her nest
in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.
29 We have heard of the pride of Mo’av:
so very proud he is! —
presumptuous, proud, conceited;
so haughty his heart!
30 “I know what meager ground he has
for his arrogance,” says Adonai.
“His boasting has nothing behind it,
and it hasn’t accomplished a thing.”
31 Therefore I wail for Mo’av;
for all Mo’av I cry;
for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.
32 I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah,
more than I wept for Ya‘zer.
Your branches spread to the sea,
reaching as far as the sea of Ya‘zer.
On your summer fruits and on your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.
33 Gladness and joy have been removed
from productive fields and the land of Mo’av.
“I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats
and the shouts of those who tread the grapes —
those shouts of joy are stilled.”
34 The cries from Heshbon to El‘aleh
are heard as far away as Yachatz;
those from Tzo‘ar to Horonayim
are heard in ‘Eglat-Shlishiyah;
for even the waters of Nimrim
have become a desolate waste.
35 “Moreover,” says Adonai,
“in Mo’av I will put an end
to anyone sacrificing on a high place
or offering incense to his gods.”
36 This is why my heart is moaning
for Mo’av like funeral flutes,
why my heart moans for the men
of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes;
for the wealth they produced has vanished.
37 Every head has been shaved bald,
every beard has been clipped short,
gashes are on every hand,
sackcloth around every waist.
38 On all the housetops of Mo’av
and in its open places —
lamentation everywhere!
“For I have broken Mo’av like a pot
that nobody wants,” says Adonai.
39 Wail, “How shattered is Mo’av!
How shamefully in retreat!”
Thus will Mo’av become an object
of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.
40 For here is what Adonai says:
“Look! Down he swoops like a vulture,
spreading his wings against Mo’av —
41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Mo’av’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Mo’av will be destroyed as a people,
because he boasted against Adonai.
43 Terror, pit and trap are upon you,
people of Mo’av,” says Adonai.
44 “Whoever flees from the terror
will fall into the pit;
and he who climbs up out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For I will bring on her, on Mo’av,
the year for her punishment,” says Adonai.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives stop, exhausted.
For fire breaks out from Heshbon,
a flame from inside Sichon,
consuming the sides and tops of the heads
of Mo’av’s noisy boasters.
46 Woe to you, Mo’av!
K’mosh’s people are doomed!
For your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters led into captivity.
47 Yet I will end Mo’av’s exile
in the acharit-hayamim,” says Adonai.
This is the judgment on Mo’av.
Yirmeyah 46-48
Orthodox Jewish Bible
46 The Davar Hashem which came to Yirmeyah HaNavi against the Goyim;
2 Against Mitzrayim, against the army of Pharaoh Necho Melech Mitzrayim, which was by the river Euphrates in Carkemish (Carchemish), which Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel defeated in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim Ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah.
3 Order ye the mogen and tzinnah (large shield), and draw near to milchamah.
4 Harness the susim; and get up, ye parashim (horsemen), and stand forth with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the armor.
5 What do I see? They are filled with terror and retreat! And their gibborim are beaten down, and are fled speedily, and look not back; for fear was all around, saith Hashem.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the gibbor escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7 Who is this that riseth like the Nile, whose mayim surge like the rivers?
8 Mitzrayim riseth up like the Nile, and his mayim surge like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover eretz (earth); I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.
9 Come up, ye susim; and rage, ye chariots; and let the Gibborim come forth; Kush and Put, that handle the mogen; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the keshet.
10 For this is the Yom Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him on His adversaries; and the cherev shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their dahm; for Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os hath a zevach in eretz tzafon by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gil‘ad, and take balm, O Betulat Bat Mitzrayim; in vain shalt thou use many refu’ot (healing remedies, medicines); for thou shalt not be healed.
12 The Goyim have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled ha’aretz; for the gibbor hath stumbled against the gibbor, and they are fallen both together.
13 The Davar that Hashem spoke to Yirmeyah HaNavi, how Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel would come and strike Eretz Mitzrayim.
14 Declare ye in Mitzrayim, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes; say ye, Stand fast, prepare thee; for the cherev shall devour all around thee.
15 Why was it swept away? They stood not, because Hashem did drive them.
16 He made many to stumble, indeed, one fell upon another; and they said, Arise, and let us go back to ammenu (our own people), and to eretz moladteinu (land of our birth), from the oppressing cherev.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh Melech Mitzrayim is but a noise; he hath passed the mo’ed (time appointed).
18 As I live, saith HaMelech, Hashem Tzva’os Shmo, Surely as Tavor is among the harim, and as Carmel by the yam, so shall he [Nebuchadnezzar] come.
19 O thou Bat dwelling in Mitzrayim, prepare thyself to go into Golus; for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Mitzrayim is like a very fair eglah, but a gadfly comes; it comes out of the tzafon.
21 Also her mercenaries are in the midst of her like young calves of the stall; 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 pekuddat.
22 The noise thereof [the sound of Egypt fleeing] shall go like a nachash; for they [her enemies] shall march in force, and come against her with axes, as choppers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith Hashem, though it cannot be searched out; because they are more in number than the arbeh (locust), innumerable.
24 The Bat Mitzrayim shall be ashamed; she shall be delivered into the yad of the Am Tzafon (People of the North).
25 Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel, saith; Hineni, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Mitzrayim, with their elohim, and their melachim; even Pharaoh, and all the botechim (ones trusting) in him;
26 And I will deliver them into the yad of those that seek their nefesh, and into the yad of Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel, and into the yad of his avadim; and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the yemei kedem (days of old), saith Hashem.
27 But fear not thou, O Avdi Ya’akov, and be not dismayed, O Yisroel; for, hineni, I will save thee from afar off, and thy zera from the land of their captivity; and Ya’akov shall return, and be in rest and securely at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Ya’akov Avdi, saith Hashem; for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of kol HaGoyim where I have scattered thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee with mishpat (justice); yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
47 The Devar Hashem that came to Yirmeyah HaNavi against the Pelishtim (Philistines), before Pharaoh smote Azah (Gaza).
2 Thus saith Hashem: Hinei, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the Ir, and them that dwell therein; then the adam shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hooves of his mighty steeds, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the avot shall not look back to their banim for the limpness of their hands;
4 Because of the Yom HaBah for destroying all the Pelishtim (Philistines), and to cut off from Tzor and Tzidon every helper that remaineth; for Hashem will destroy the Pelishtim (Philistines), the remnant of the coast of Caphtor.
5 The shaved head has come upon Azah (Gaza); Ashkelon is silenced. Remnant of their valley, how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou cherev Hashem, how long will it be until thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing Hashem hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea coast? There hath He appointed it.
48 Against Moav thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel: Hoy (woe, doom) unto Nevo! For it is made havoc; Kiryatayim is shamed and captured; Misgav is shamed and dismayed.
2 There shall be no more tehillah (praise) of Moav; in Cheshbon they have plotted ra’ah against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be silenced, O Madmein; the cherev shall pursue thee.
3 A voice of crying shall be from Choronayim, havoc and shever gadol (great destruction).
4 Moav is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
5 For in the Ascent of Luchit continual weeping shall go up; for in the descent of Choronayim the anguished ones have heard a cry of shever (destruction).
6 Flee, save your nefesh, and be like Aroer in the midbar.
7 For because thou hast trusted in thy ma’asim (works) and in thy otzarot, thou shalt also be captured; and Chemosh shall go forth into Golus with his kohanim and his sarim together.
8 And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the emek (valley) also shall perish, and the plain shall be shmad (destroyed), as Hashem hath spoken.
9 Give wings unto Moav, that it may flee and get away; for the towns thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.
10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of Hashem remiyyah (deceitfully), and cursed be he that keepeth back his cherev from bloodshed.
11 Moav hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his wine dregs, and hath not been emptied from keli (vessel) to keli, neither hath he gone into Golus: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
12 But, hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that I will send unto him wine pourers, that shall pour him out, and shall empty his kelim (vessels), and smash their jars.
13 And Moav shall be ashamed of Chemosh, just as Bais Yisroel was ashamed of Beit-El, their confidence.
14 How say ye, We are gibborim and anshei chayil for the milchamah?
15 Moav is destroyed, and gone up out of her towns, and his chosen bochurim are gone down to the slaughter, saith HaMelech Hashem Tzva’os Shmo.
16 The calamity of Moav is near at hand, and his affliction hasteth fast.
17 All ye that are around him, bemoan him; and all ye that know shmo, say, How is the matteh oz (strong staff) broken, and the beautiful rod!
18 Thou Bat that dost inhabit Divon, come down from thy kavod, and sit on parched ground; for the plunderer of Moav shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the derech, and watch; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What has happened?
20 Moav is shamed; for it is broken down: wail and cry out; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moav is destroyed,
21 And mishpat is come upon the plain; upon Cholon, and upon Yahtzah, and upon Mepha’at,
22 And upon Divon, and upon Nevo, and upon Beit-Divlatayim,
23 And upon Kiryatayim, and upon Beit-Gamul, and upon Beit-Me’on,
24 And upon Keriot, and upon Botzrah, and upon all the towns of Eretz Moav, far or near.
25 The keren of Moav is cut off, and his zero’a is broken, saith Hashem.
26 Make ye him drunken; for he magnified himself against Hashem; Moav also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
27 For was not Yisroel a derision unto thee? Was he found among ganavim (thieves)? For since thou spoke of him, thou dost scornful head wagging.
28 O ye that dwell in Moav, leave the towns, and dwell in the rock, and be like the yonah that maketh her nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth.
29 We have heard the ga’on Moav, (he is exceeding proud), his highmindedness, and his conceit, and his ga’avah, and the haughtiness of his lev.
30 I know his insolence, saith Hashem; but it shall not be so; his boasts have made nothing right.
31 Therefore will I wail for Moav, and I will cry out for all Moav; I shall moan for the anashim of Kir- Cheres.
32 O gefen (vine) of Sivmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Yazer; thy branches are spread over the yam, they reach even to the yam Yazer; the plunderer is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.
33 And simchah and gladness is taken from the carmel, and from Eretz Moav, and I have caused yayin to fail from the winepresses; none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall not be [joyful] shouting.
34 From the cry of Cheshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Yahatz, have they uttered their voice, from Tzoar even unto Choronayim, as Eglat-Shlishiyah; for the mayim also of Nimrim shall be dried up.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moav, saith Hashem, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth ketoret to his elohim.
36 Therefore Mine lev shall wail for Moav like flutes, and Mine lev shall wail like flutes for the anashim of Kir-Cheres; because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
37 For every rosh shall be shaved, and every zakan (beard) cut: upon all the hands shall be slashes, and upon the loins sackcloth.
38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the gagot (roofs) of Moav, and in the streets thereof; for I have broken Moav like a keli (vessel) wherein is no chefets (pleasure) saith Hashem.
39 They shall wail, saying, How is it shattered! How hath Moav turned the back with shame! So shall Moav be a laughingstock and a horror to all them about him.
40 For thus saith Hashem; Hinei, one shall fly like the nesher, and shall spread his wings over Moav.
41 Keriot is captured, and the strongholds are taken, and the lev gibborim in Moav at that day shall be as the lev isha in her birth pangs.
42 And Moav shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against Hashem.
43 Pachad (fear), and the pakhat (pit), and the pach (snare), shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moav, saith Hashem.
44 He that fleeth from the pachad (terror) shall fall into the pakhat (pit); and he that getteth up out of the pakhat shall be caught in the pach (snare); for I will bring upon it, even upon Moav, the shnat (year of) their pekuddat (visitation), saith Hashem.
45 They that fled stood under the tzel (shadow) of Cheshbon without ko’ach; for an eish shall come forth out of Cheshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sichon, and shall devour the forehead of Moav, and the crown of the head of the bnei sha’on (sons of tumult).
46 Oy be unto thee, O Moav! The people of Chemosh perisheth; for thy banim are taken captives, and thy banot into captivity.
47 Yet will I bring again the captives of Moav in the acharit hayamim, saith Hashem. Hinei, the mishpat Moav (judgment of Moab).
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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