³ “Prepare buckler and shield,
    and advance into the battle!
⁴ Harness the horses!
    Riders, mount up!
Take your^[c] positions with your^[d] helmets!
    Polish lances,
    and put on armor!
⁵ Why am I seeing this?^[e]
They’re terrified,
    they have turned back.
Their warriors are crushed,
    and they take flight.
They don’t look back.
    Terror is on every side,”
        declares the Lord.
⁶ “The swift cannot flee,
    nor can the strong escape.
In the north, beside the Euphrates River,
    they stumble and fall.
⁷ Who is this, rising like the Nile,
    like rivers whose waters surge?
⁸ Egypt is rising like the Nile,
    like rivers whose waters surge.
He says, ‘I’ll rise and cover the land.^[f]
    I’ll destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
⁹ Horses, get up!
Chariots, drive furiously!
Let the warriors go forward,
    Ethiopia and Put, who carry shields,
        and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰ That day belongs to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
    It is a day of vengeance to take vengeance on his foes.
The sword will devour and be satisfied,
    and will drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
    will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north,
        by the Euphrates river.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead and get balm,^[g]
    virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you multiply remedies,
    but there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your disgrace,
    and your cry of distress fills the earth.
Indeed, one warrior stumbles over another,
    and both of them fall down together.”