³ “Line up the shield and ^[a]buckler,
And draw near for the battle!
⁴ “Harness the horses,
And ^[b]mount the steeds,
And take your stand with helmets on!
Polish the spears,
Put on the scale-armor!
⁵ “Why have I seen it?
They are terrified,
They are drawing back,
And their mighty men are defeated
And have taken refuge in flight,
Without facing back;
^[c]Terror is on every side!”
Declares the Lord.
⁶ Let not the swift man flee,
Nor the mighty man escape;
In the north beside the river Euphrates
They have stumbled and fallen.
⁷ Who is this that rises like the Nile,
Like the rivers whose waters surge about?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
Even like the rivers whose waters surge about;
And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land;
I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants.”
⁹ Go up, you horses, and ^[d]drive madly, you chariots,
That the mighty men may ^[e]march forward:
Ethiopia and ^[f]Put, that handle the shield,
And the ^[g]Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰ For that day belongs to the Lord ^[h]God of hosts,
A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;
And the sword will devour and be satiated
And ^[i]drink its fill of their blood;
For there will be a slaughter for the Lord ^[j]God of hosts,
In the land of the north by the river Euphrates.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain have you multiplied ^[k]remedies;
There is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your shame,
And the earth is full of your cry of distress;
For one warrior has stumbled over ^[l]another,
And both of them have fallen down together.

¹⁴ “Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol,
Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,
For the sword has devoured those around you.’
¹⁵ “Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?
They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them down.
¹⁶ “They have repeatedly stumbled;
Indeed, they have fallen one against another.
Then they said, ‘Get up! And let us go back
To our own people and our native land
Away from the ^[n]sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷ “^[o]They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a big noise;
He has let the appointed time pass by!’
¹⁸ “As I live,” declares the King
Whose name is the Lord of hosts,
“Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the mountains,
Or like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ “Make your baggage ready for exile,
O daughter dwelling in Egypt,
For Memphis will become a desolation;
It will even be burned down and ^[p]bereft of inhabitants.
²⁰ “Egypt is a pretty heifer,
But a ^[q]horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!
²¹ “Also her mercenaries in her midst
Are like ^[r]fattened calves,
For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;
They did not stand their ground.
For the day of their calamity has come upon them,
The time of their punishment.
²² “Its sound moves along like a serpent;
For they move on ^[s]like an army
And come to her as woodcutters with axes.
²³ “They have cut down her forest,” declares the Lord;
“Surely it will no more be found,
Even though ^[t]they are now more numerous than locusts
And are without number.
²⁴ “The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
Given over to the ^[u]power of the people of the north.”

²⁷ “But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear,
Nor be dismayed, O Israel!
For, see, I am going to save you from afar,
And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob will return and be undisturbed
And secure, with no one making him tremble.
²⁸ “O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord,
“For I am with you.
For I will make a full end of all the nations
Where I have driven you,
Yet I will not make a full end of you;
But I will correct you properly
And by no means leave you unpunished.”