Jeremiah 46

English Standard Version

^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!
⁵ Why 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?
⁸ Egypt 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.
¹² The 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.”

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.’
¹⁵ Why are your mighty ones face down?
    They do not stand^[a]
    because the Lord thrust them down.
¹⁶ He 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.’
¹⁷ Call 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.
²¹ Even 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.
²⁴ The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
    she shall be delivered into the hand of ^(BB)a people from the north.”

^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.”