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When Israel leaned on you,
    you splintered and broke
    and stabbed her in the armpit.
When she put her weight on you,
    you collapsed, and her legs gave way.

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When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered(A) and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 29:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint and Vulgate); Hebrew and you caused their backs to stand

15 “Nevertheless, this man of Israel’s royal family rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to request a great army and many horses. Can Israel break her sworn treaties like that and get away with it? 16 No! For as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, the king of Israel will die in Babylon, the land of the king who put him in power and whose treaty he disregarded and broke. 17 Pharaoh and all his mighty army will fail to help Israel when the king of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem again and destroys many lives.

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15 But the king rebelled(A) against him by sending his envoys to Egypt(B) to get horses and a large army.(C) Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?(D)

16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die(E) in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke.(F) 17 Pharaoh(G) with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps(H) are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives.(I)

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On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

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Look, I know you are depending(A) on Egypt,(B) that splintered reed(C) of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.

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Wisdom from the Lord

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
    who rely on human strength
    and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
    with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salty land.

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This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,(A)
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.(B)
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places(C) of the desert,
    in a salt(D) land where no one lives.

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At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra[a] of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian[b] army heard about it, they withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.

Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The king of Judah sent you to ask me what is going to happen. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you. Then the Babylonians[c] will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.’

“This is what the Lord says: Do not fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t! 10 Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!”

Jeremiah Is Imprisoned

11 When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s approaching army,

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Footnotes

  1. 37:5a Hebrew army of Pharaoh; see 44:30.
  2. 37:5b Or Chaldean; also in 37:10, 11.
  3. 37:8 Or Chaldeans; also in 37:9, 13.

Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt,(A) and when the Babylonians[a] who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew(B) from Jerusalem.(C)

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire(D) of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched(E) out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt.(F) Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture(G) it and burn(H) it down.’

“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive(I) yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! 10 Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian[b] army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn(J) this city down.”

11 After the Babylonian army had withdrawn(K) from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14
  2. Jeremiah 37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 11

19 Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble
    is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

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19 Like a broken tooth or a lame foot
    is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.

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Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
    there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
    and all their plans die with them.

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Do not put your trust in princes,(A)
    in human beings,(B) who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;(C)
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.(D)

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It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in people.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.

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It is better to take refuge in the Lord(A)
    than to trust in humans.(B)
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.(C)

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