³ “Prepare small shield and shield,
    and approach for the battle!
⁴ Harness the horses and mount the steeds!
    And take your stand with helmets!
Polish the spears!
    Put on the body armor!
⁵ Why do I see them terrified?
    They are turning back
and their warriors are beaten down.
    And they have fled to a place of refuge
and they do not turn back.
    Terror is from all around,” declares^[a] Yahweh.
⁶ The swift cannot flee,
    and the warrior cannot escape.
They have stumbled and they have fallen,
    by the bank of the Euphrates River.
⁷ Who is this that rises like the Nile,
    like the rivers whose waters surge?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
    even like the rivers whose waters surge.
And he says, “Let me rise,
    let me cover the earth,
let me destroy cities,
    and the inhabitants in them.”
⁹ Go up, O horses,
    and drive madly, O chariots,^[b]
and let the warriors go forth;
    Cush and Put, who wield the small shield,
    and Lud, who wield and bend the bow.
¹⁰ For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts
    a day of retribution,
    to take revenge on his foes.
And the sword will devour and be satisfied,
    and it will drink its fill of their blood,
for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts
    in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead and take balm,
    O virgin of the daughter of Egypt.
In vain^[c] you make use of many medicines;
    there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard your shame,
    and your cry of lament fills the earth.
For warrior has stumbled against warrior,
    together they have fallen, the two of them.

¹⁴ “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol,
    and proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes,
say, ‘Take your stand and be prepared,
    for the sword will devour those all around you.’
¹⁵ Why are your bulls defeated?
    He did not stand because Yahweh thrust him down.
¹⁶ He multiplied the ones^[d] stumbling.
    Furthermore, each one fell to his neighbor,
and said, ‘Stand up, and let us return to our people
    and to the land of our birth,
    because of^[e] the presence^[f] of the sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷ They will call there,
‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt is but a roar,
    he missed the opportunity.’^[g]
18 As I live,”^[h] declares^[i] the king,
    Yahweh of hosts is his name,
“one will come like Tabor among the mountains
    and like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ Pack your baggage for exile,
    O inhabitants^[j] of the daughter of Egypt,
for Memphis will become as a horror,
    and it will be destroyed, without^[k] inhabitant.
²⁰ Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
    but a gadfly from the north will come against her.
²¹ Even her mercenaries in her midst are like calves of fattening,
    for they also have turned away,
    they have fled together.
They stand not,
    for the day of their calamity has come,
    the time of their punishment.
²² Her sound is like a snake that glides away,
    for they march in force.
And with axes they come to her
    like those who chop trees.
²³ They will cut down her forest,” declares^[l] Yahweh,
    “for it is impenetrable.^[m]
Yes, they are more numerous than locusts,^[n]
    and they are without number.^[o]
24 The daughter of Egypt will be ashamed,
    she will be given into the hand of the people of the north.”

²⁷ “But as for you, my servant Jacob, you must not be afraid,
    and Israel, you must not be dismayed,
for look, I am going to save you from far,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob will return,
    and he will be quiet,
and he will be at ease,
    and without one who makes him afraid.
²⁸ You must not be afraid, my servant Jacob,” declares^[s] Yahweh,
    “for I am with you.
For I will make a complete destruction in all the nations where I scattered you,
    but you I will not make a complete destruction,
though I will chastise you to the measure,
    and I will certainly not leave you unpunished.”