³ “Prepare the buckler and shield,
    and draw near to battle!
⁴ Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen,
    and stand up with your helmets.
Polish the spears,
    put on the coats of mail.
⁵ Why have I seen it?
    They are dismayed and are turned backward.
Their mighty ones are beaten down,
    have fled in haste,
    and don’t look back.
Terror is on every side,”
    says Yahweh.
⁶ “Don’t let the swift flee away,
    nor the mighty man escape.
In the north by the river Euphrates
    they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷ “Who is this who rises up like the Nile,
    whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
⁸ Egypt rises up like the Nile,
    and his waters toss themselves like the rivers.
He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth.
    I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’
⁹ Go up, you horses!
    Rage, you chariots!
Let the mighty men go out:
    Cush and Put, who handle the shield;
    and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰ For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies,
    a day of vengeance,
    that he may avenge himself of his adversaries.
The sword will devour and be satiated,
    and will drink its fill of their blood;
    for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
¹¹ Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt.
    You use many medicines in vain.
    There is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your shame,
    and the earth is full of your cry;
    for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty,
    they both fall together.”