Jeremiah 46
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Prophecy About Egypt
46 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
2 Concerning Egypt:
Concerning the strong army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3 Arrange your shields, both large and small,
and march out for battle!
4 Harness the horses!
Mount up, you horsemen!
Take up your stations with your helmets on.
Polish your spears.
Put on your armor!
5 But what do I see?
They are terrified.
They are turning back.
Their warriors are beaten.
They are fleeing without looking back.
There is terror on every side! declares the Lord.
6 There is no chance for the swift to flee.
There is no escape for the strong.
In the north, near the River Euphrates,
they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers with surging waters?
8 It is Egypt that rises like the Nile,
like rivers with surging waters.
Egypt said, “I will rise.
I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities
and those who live in them.”
9 Horses, charge!
Charioteers, drive like madmen!
Forward, you warriors,
you men of Cush and Put who carry the shield,
you men of Lud who grasp and bend the bow![a]
10 That day is the day of the Lord, the God of Armies.
It is a day of vengeance,
when he will take vengeance on his foes.
11 Go up to Gilead and get balm,
virgin daughter of Egypt!
You have tried many medicines with no results.
There is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame,
and your cry fills the earth.
Warrior stumbles against warrior,
and the two of them fall together.
Nebuchadnezzar Will Attack Egypt
13 This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt.
14 Declare this in Egypt. Proclaim it in Migdol.
Proclaim it in Memphis[b] and Tahpanhes.
Say, “Take your positions and get ready.
The sword is going to devour those around you.”
15 Why are your mighty ones laid low?[c]
They cannot stand, for the Lord has pushed them down.
16 He made many stumble.
They fall against each other.
They say, “Get up! Let’s go back to our people
and to the land of our birth,
away from the sword of our oppressor.”
17 There they will cry out,
“Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise.
He has missed his opportunity.”
18 As surely as I live, declares the King,
whose name is the Lord of Armies,
someone is coming who is like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea.[d]
19 Get your bags ready to go into exile,
you daughter who dwells in Egypt,
for Memphis will become a desolation
and lie in ruins without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a lovely heifer,
but a horsefly has come against her out of the north.
21 The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves.
They will turn and flee together.
They will not stand,
for the day of disaster has come upon them,
the time for their punishment.
22 Egypt will hiss like a snake,
because the enemy will advance as an army.
It will come against her with axes,
like men who cut down trees.
23 They will cut down her forest, declares the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
even though they are more numerous than locusts,
even though they are too many to count.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame,
handed over to the people from the north.
25 The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Watch, I will punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, with Egypt, her gods, and her kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers.
But afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in former days, declares the Lord.
27 But do not be afraid, my servant Jacob.
Do not be terrified, Israel,
because I will save you from a faraway place,
and I will rescue your descendants from the land where
they are captives.
Jacob will return.
He will enjoy quiet and be at ease,
and no one will make him afraid.
28 Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, declares the Lord,
for I am with you.
I will completely destroy all the nations
among which I have scattered you,
but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you with justice,
and I will not regard you as entirely innocent.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 46:9 Men from these nations served as mercenaries in the Egyptian army. Cush is in Sudan. Put is in Libya. Lud is either Lydia in present-day Turkey or another region in Libya.
- Jeremiah 46:14 Hebrew Noph. English commonly uses the Greek forms of the names of Egyptian cities. Also in verse 19.
- Jeremiah 46:15 The translation follows the Hebrew. The Greek reads why has Apis fled? Apis was an Egyptian sacred bull.
- Jeremiah 46:18 Tabor and Carmel are two notable mountains in Israel.
Jeremiah 46
EasyEnglish Bible
The Lord's messages about Egypt[a]
46 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah messages about the nations.
2 This is the message about Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his army fought against the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt. Babylon's army won the battle against Egypt's army at Carchemish on the Euphrates river. That happened in the fourth year that Josiah's son Jehoiakim ruled Judah as king.
3 ‘Get ready to march to the battle!
Pick up your shields and your weapons.
4 Prepare your horses and sit on them.
Put on your helmets and be ready to fight.
Make your spears sharp.
Put on your armour!’
5 The Lord says,
‘But I see this:
The soldiers are afraid and they are running away!
They cannot win the fight.
Terror is everywhere around them.[b]
They do not turn to look behind them.
They run away as fast as they can.
6 But none of them can run fast enough.
Even the strongest soldiers cannot escape.
In the north, beside the River Euphrates,
they fall down to the ground.
7 A nation is rising up, like the great waters of the Nile river.
Who is this nation?
8 Egypt is rising like the waters of the Nile.
Its streams of water quickly pour out over the earth.
Egypt says, “I will rise up and I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities.
I will kill the people who live in them.”
9 So ride your horses quickly into the battle!
Drive your chariots as fast as they will go!
Tell your soldiers to march forward into the battle.
Send your soldiers of Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields.
Send your soldiers of Lydia who have bows and arrows.
10 But it is the Lord God Almighty who will win!
It is the day when he will punish his enemies.
His sword will completely destroy them,
like a hungry person who cannot stop eating!
His sword will cause a lot of blood to pour out.
The Lord God Almighty will accept his enemies as a sacrifice.
That is what will happen in the northern land beside the Euphrates river.
11 Dear people of Egypt,
go to Gilead and find medicine to make you well.
But that will not help you.
There is no medicine that will make you better.
12 The other nations will see that you are ashamed.
All over the earth, people will hear you as you weep.
As your soldiers run from the battle,
they will fall over each other.
They will fall to the ground together.’
King Nebuchadnezzar will attack Egypt
13 The Lord gave this message to the prophet Jeremiah about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He said that Nebuchadnezzar would come to attack Egypt.
14 ‘Shout this message everywhere in Egypt.
Let people hear it in Migdol, Memphis and in Tahpanhes.
“Get ready to fight against your enemies!
They are already killing the people all around you.”
15 Your brave soldiers will fall.
They will lie flat on the ground.
They cannot stand and fight because the Lord will knock them down.
16 They will continue to fall over each other.
They will say to each other, “Get up!
We must return to our homes where our own people live.
We must escape from our enemies, who want to kill us.”
17 When they get back home, they will say,
“The king of Egypt is only a loud noise.
He could not win when he had the chance.” ’
18 The Lord Almighty is the great King. He says,
‘I promise you, as surely as I live,
that a powerful army will come to fight against you!
They will look as great as Tabor looks among the other mountains.
They will seem like Carmel mountain that stands beside the sea.
19 You dear people of Egypt, be ready to travel as prisoners to a foreign land!
Your enemy will destroy Memphis city.
It will become a heap of stones where nobody lives.
20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.
But an army from the north will attack her, like a crowd of flies that bite.
21 Egypt has paid soldiers from other countries to help her.
But they are like fat calves that are too weak to fight.
They will not stand and fight, but they will turn and run away.
Yes, the day of Egypt's punishment has arrived!
Their enemy has come to destroy them.
22 Egypt's people will run away, like a snake along the ground.
The enemy's strong army will march forward.
They will attack Egypt with axes, like men who cut down trees.
23 Egypt's soldiers are as many as the trees in a great forest.
But the enemy's soldiers will cut them down.
Their army is like a hungry crowd of locusts.
They are too many to count.
24 The people of Egypt will be ashamed.
They will be under the power of the people from the north.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, also says, ‘Now I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes city, and the other gods of Egypt. I will also punish Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Egypt's other rulers. I will punish Egypt's people and everyone who trusts in Pharoah's power. 26 I will put them under the power of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill them. But in later years, people will again live in Egypt, as they did before.’ That is what the Lord says.
The Israelites will live in peace
27 ‘My servants, descendants of Jacob, do not be afraid.[c]
People of Israel, do not be upset.
You have been prisoners in countries far away.
But I will rescue you and your descendants.
You will return to your own land and you will live in peace.
Jacob's descendants will be safe and nobody will make them afraid.
28 So do not be afraid, descendants of my servant Jacob.
I am with you to help you.
I may completely destroy all the nations where I send you to live.
But I will never completely destroy you.
I will certainly punish you, to teach you what is right.
But I will do that in a fair way.’
That is what the Lord says.
Footnotes
- 46:1 Chapters 46-51 are about punishment for the nations.
- 46:5 See Jeremiah 20:3,10.
- 46:27 Jacob was the ancestor of the nation, Israel. The Israelites were descendants of Jacob.
Jeremiah 46
King James Version
46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.
5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.
13 The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them.
16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; 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 visitation.
22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.
27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
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