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Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt.(A)

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17 Our eyes failed, ever watching
    vainly for help;
we were watching eagerly
    for a nation that could not save.(A)

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“Please inquire of the Lord on our behalf, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the Lord will perform a wonderful deed for us, as he has often done, and Nebuchadrezzar[a] will withdraw.”(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 21.2 Heb he

18 But as to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,

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17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when ramps are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives.(A)

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King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.”(A)

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Alliance with Egypt Is Futile

31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
    and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
    and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
    or consult the Lord!(A)
Yet he is wise and can bring disaster;
    he does not depart from his words
but will rise against the house of the evildoers
    and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.(B)
The Egyptians are human and not God;
    their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
    the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall,
    and they will all perish together.(C)

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16 The Egyptians[a] shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel; they will recall their iniquity when they turned to them for aid. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 29.16 Heb It

Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
    that I am the Lord,
because you[a] were a staff of reed
    to the house of Israel;(A)
when they grasped you with the hand, you broke
    and tore all their shoulders,
and when they leaned on you, you broke
    and made all their legs give way.[b](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 29.6 Gk Syr Vg: Heb they
  2. 29.7 Syr: Heb stand

Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
    and make mere flesh their strength,
    whose hearts turn away from the Lord.(A)
They shall be like a shrub in the desert
    and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.(B)

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36 Why do you go about so much
    to change your way?
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
    as you were put to shame by Assyria.(A)

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The Futility of Reliance on Egypt

30 Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
who carry out a plan but not mine;
who make an alliance but against my will,
    adding sin to sin;(A)
who set out to go down to Egypt
    without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
    and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.(B)
Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
    and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.(C)
For though his officials are at Zoan
    and his envoys reach Hanes,(D)
everyone comes to shame
    through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
    only shame and disgrace.(E)

An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and distress,
    of lioness and roaring[a] lion,
    of viper and flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys
    and their treasures on the humps of camels
    to a people that cannot profit them.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 30.6 Cn: Heb from them

30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel
    can avail against the Lord.(A)

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