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13 The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.

14 “Declare in Egypt,
    publish in Migdol,
    and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes:
say, ‘Stand up, and prepare;
    for the sword has devoured around you.’
15 Why are your strong ones swept away?
    They didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them.
16 He made many to stumble.
    Yes, they fell on one another.
They said, ‘Arise! Let’s go again to our own people,
    and to the land of our birth,
    from the oppressing sword.’
17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise;
    he has let the appointed time pass by.’

18 “As I live,” says the King,
    whose name is Yahweh of Armies,
“surely like Tabor among the mountains,
    and like Carmel by the sea,
    so he will come.
19 You daughter who dwells in Egypt,
    furnish yourself to go into captivity;
for Memphis will become a desolation,
    and will be burned up,
    without inhabitant.

20 “Egypt is a very beautiful heifer;
    but destruction out of the north has come.
    It has come.
21 Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall;
    for they also are turned back.
    They have fled away together.
They didn’t stand,
    for the day of their calamity has come on them,
    the time of their visitation.
22 Its sound will go like the serpent;
    for they will march with an army,
    and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.
23 They will cut down her forest,” says Yahweh,
    “though it can’t be searched;
because they are more than the locusts,
    and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be disappointed;
    she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”

25 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. 26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says Yahweh.

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13 Then the Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar’s plans to attack Egypt.

14 “Shout it out in Egypt!
    Publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis,[a] and Tahpanhes!
Mobilize for battle,
    for the sword will devour everyone around you.
15 Why have your warriors fallen?
    They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down.
16 They stumble and fall over each other
    and say among themselves,
‘Come, let’s go back to our people,
    to the land of our birth.
    Let’s get away from the sword of the enemy!’
17 There they will say,
    ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth
    who missed his opportunity!’

18 “As surely as I live,” says the King,
    whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“one is coming against Egypt
    who is as tall as Mount Tabor,
    or as Mount Carmel by the sea!
19 Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile,
    you citizens of Egypt!
The city of Memphis will be destroyed,
    without a single inhabitant.
20 Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer,
    but a horsefly from the north is on its way!
21 Egypt’s mercenaries have become like fattened calves.
    They, too, will turn and run,
for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt,
    a time of great punishment.
22 Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away.
    The invading army marches in;
    they come against her with axes like woodsmen.
23 They will cut down her people like trees,” says the Lord,
    “for they are more numerous than locusts.
24 Egypt will be humiliated;
    she will be handed over to people from the north.”

25 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes,[b] and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him. 26 I will hand them over to those who want them killed—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the Lord, have spoken!

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Footnotes

  1. 46:14 Hebrew Noph; also in 46:19.
  2. 46:25 Hebrew of No.