Jeremiah 46-47

English Standard Version

Judgment on Egypt

46 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(A)concerning the nations.

²About Egypt. ^(B)Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in ^(C)the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³^(D)“Prepare buckler and shield,
    and advance for battle!
⁴^(E)Harness the horses;
    mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
    ^(F)polish your spears,
    put on your armor!
⁵Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed
    and have turned backward.
Their ^(G)warriors are beaten down
    and have fled in haste;
^(H)they look not back—
    ^(I)terror on every side!
declares the Lord.

⁶“The swift cannot flee away,
nor the warrior escape;
^(J)in the north by the river Euphrates
^(K)they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷“Who is this, ^(L)rising like the Nile,
    like rivers ^(M)whose waters surge?
⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,
    like rivers ^(N)whose waters surge.
He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,
    I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
⁹^(O)Advance, O horses,
    and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
    men of Cush and ^(P)Put who handle the shield,
    ^(Q)men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
¹⁰^(R)That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
    ^(S)a day of vengeance,
    ^(T)to avenge himself on his foes.
^(U)The sword shall devour and be sated
    and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds ^(V)a sacrifice
    ^(W)in the north country ^(X)by the river Euphrates.
¹¹^(Y)Go up to Gilead, and take ^(Z)balm,
    O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
    ^(AA)there is no healing for you.
¹²The nations have heard of your shame,
    and the earth is full of your cry;
^(AB)for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
    they have both fallen together.”

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of ^(AC)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^(AD)Migdol;
    proclaim in ^(AE)Memphis and ^(AF)Tahpanhes;
say, ^(AG)‘Stand ready and be prepared,
    for ^(AH)the sword shall devour around you.’
¹⁵Why are your mighty ones face down?
    They do not stand^[a]
    because the Lord thrust them down.
¹⁶He made many stumble, ^(AI)and they fell,
    and they said one to another,
‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people
    and to the land of our birth,
    ^(AJ)because of the sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷Call the name of ^(AK)Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
    ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

¹⁸^(AL)“As I live, declares the King,
    ^(AM)whose name is the Lord of hosts,
like ^(AN)Tabor among the mountains
    and like ^(AO)Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
¹⁹^(AP)Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
    O ^(AQ)inhabitants of Egypt!
For ^(AR)Memphis shall become a waste,
    a ruin, ^(AS)without inhabitant.

²⁰“A beautiful ^(AT)heifer is Egypt,
    but a biting fly ^(AU)from the north has come upon her.
²¹Even her hired soldiers in her midst
    are like ^(AV)fattened calves;
yes, they have turned and fled together;
    they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
    ^(AW)the time of their punishment.

²²“She makes ^(AX)a sound like a serpent gliding away;
    for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes
    ^(AY)like those who fell trees.
²³^(AZ)They shall cut down her forest,
declares the Lord,
    though it is impenetrable,
because ^(BA)they are more numerous than locusts;
    they are without number.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
    she shall be delivered into the hand of ^(BB)a people from the north.”

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon ^(BC)Amon of ^(BD)Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt ^(BE)and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶^(BF)I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. ^(BG)Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited ^(BH)as in the days of old, declares the Lord.

²⁷^(BI)“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸^(BJ)Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the Lord,
    for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
    to which I have driven you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
^(BK)I will discipline you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(BL)concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down ^(BM)Gaza.

²“Thus says the Lord:
^(BN)Behold, waters are rising ^(BO)out of the north,
    ^(BP)and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow ^(BQ)the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
Men shall cry out,
    and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    ^(BR)at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers ^(BS)look not back to their children,
    so feeble are their hands,
⁴because of the day that is coming to destroy
    all ^(BT)the Philistines,
to cut off from ^(BU)Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    ^(BV)the remnant of the coastland of ^(BW)Caphtor.
⁵^(BX)Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    ^(BY)Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
    ^(BZ)how long will you gash yourselves?
⁶^(CA)Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!
⁷How can it^[b] be quiet
    ^(CB)when the Lord has given it a charge?
Against ^(CC)Ashkelon and against the seashore
    ^(CD)he has appointed it.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 46:15 Hebrew He does not stand
Jeremiah 47:7 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you

Hebrews 6

English Standard Version

6 Therefore ^(A)let us leave ^(B)the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance ^(C)from dead works and of faith toward God, ²and of ^(D)instruction about washings,^[a] ^(E)the laying on of hands, ^(F)the resurrection of the dead, and ^(G)eternal judgment. ³And this we will do ^(H)if God permits. ⁴For it is impossible, in the case of those ^(I)who have once been enlightened, who have tasted ^(J)the heavenly gift, and ^(K)have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵and ^(L)have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶and ^(M)then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since ^(N)they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. ⁷For ^(O)land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. ⁸But ^(P)if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, ^(Q)and its end is to be burned.

⁹Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. ¹⁰For ^(R)God is not unjust so as to overlook ^(S)your work and the love that you have shown for his name in ^(T)serving the saints, as you still do. ¹¹And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance ^(U)of hope until the end, ¹²so that you may not be sluggish, but ^(V)imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(W)he swore by himself, ¹⁴saying, ^(X)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵And thus Abraham,^[b] ^(Y)having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(Z)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(AA)the heirs of the promise ^(AB)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(AC)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(AD)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(AE)set before us. ¹⁹We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into ^(AF)the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰where Jesus has gone ^(AG)as a forerunner on our behalf, ^(AH)having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.