Beginning
A Prophecy About Egypt
46 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
2 Concerning Egypt:
Concerning the strong army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3 Arrange your shields, both large and small,
and march out for battle!
4 Harness the horses!
Mount up, you horsemen!
Take up your stations with your helmets on.
Polish your spears.
Put on your armor!
5 But what do I see?
They are terrified.
They are turning back.
Their warriors are beaten.
They are fleeing without looking back.
There is terror on every side! declares the Lord.
6 There is no chance for the swift to flee.
There is no escape for the strong.
In the north, near the River Euphrates,
they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers with surging waters?
8 It is Egypt that rises like the Nile,
like rivers with surging waters.
Egypt said, “I will rise.
I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities
and those who live in them.”
9 Horses, charge!
Charioteers, drive like madmen!
Forward, you warriors,
you men of Cush and Put who carry the shield,
you men of Lud who grasp and bend the bow![a]
10 That day is the day of the Lord, the God of Armies.
It is a day of vengeance,
when he will take vengeance on his foes.
11 Go up to Gilead and get balm,
virgin daughter of Egypt!
You have tried many medicines with no results.
There is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame,
and your cry fills the earth.
Warrior stumbles against warrior,
and the two of them fall together.
Nebuchadnezzar Will Attack Egypt
13 This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt.
14 Declare this in Egypt. Proclaim it in Migdol.
Proclaim it in Memphis[b] and Tahpanhes.
Say, “Take your positions and get ready.
The sword is going to devour those around you.”
15 Why are your mighty ones laid low?[c]
They cannot stand, for the Lord has pushed them down.
16 He made many stumble.
They fall against each other.
They say, “Get up! Let’s go back to our people
and to the land of our birth,
away from the sword of our oppressor.”
17 There they will cry out,
“Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise.
He has missed his opportunity.”
18 As surely as I live, declares the King,
whose name is the Lord of Armies,
someone is coming who is like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea.[d]
19 Get your bags ready to go into exile,
you daughter who dwells in Egypt,
for Memphis will become a desolation
and lie in ruins without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a lovely heifer,
but a horsefly has come against her out of the north.
21 The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves.
They will turn and flee together.
They will not stand,
for the day of disaster has come upon them,
the time for their punishment.
22 Egypt will hiss like a snake,
because the enemy will advance as an army.
It will come against her with axes,
like men who cut down trees.
23 They will cut down her forest, declares the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
even though they are more numerous than locusts,
even though they are too many to count.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame,
handed over to the people from the north.
25 The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Watch, I will punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, with Egypt, her gods, and her kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers.
But afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in former days, declares the Lord.
27 But do not be afraid, my servant Jacob.
Do not be terrified, Israel,
because I will save you from a faraway place,
and I will rescue your descendants from the land where
they are captives.
Jacob will return.
He will enjoy quiet and be at ease,
and no one will make him afraid.
28 Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, declares the Lord,
for I am with you.
I will completely destroy all the nations
among which I have scattered you,
but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you with justice,
and I will not regard you as entirely innocent.
A Prophecy Against Philistia
47 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
2 This is what the Lord says.
See, waters rise up out of the north,
and they will become an overflowing stream.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
the cities and those who live there.
The people will cry out,
and everyone who lives in the land will wail
3 at the sound of the stamping hoofs of his steeds,
at the rumbling of his chariots,
at the roar of his wheels.
Fathers will not turn back for their sons,
because their hands will hang limp,
4 on account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who survives.
For the Lord will destroy the Philistines,
the surviving remnant from the shores of Caphtor.[e]
5 Baldness is coming to Gaza.
Ashkelon will be destroyed.
You survivors left on the plain,
how long will you cut yourselves?
6 O sword of the Lord!
How long until you rest?
Return to your scabbard.
Rest and be still.
7 How can you rest since the Lord has commanded this?
Against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea,
he has assigned the sword.
A Prophecy Against Moab
48 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
Woe to Nebo! It will be destroyed.
Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured.
The stronghold will be disgraced and broken down.
2 There will no longer be any praise for Moab.
They have plotted evil against her in Heshbon:
“Come, let us destroy that nation!”
You will be silenced, O Madmen.[f]
The sword will pursue you.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
desolation and great destruction!
4 Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones will cry out.
5 Now they go up the ascent to Luhith,
weeping continually.
And on the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the cry of distress
caused by the destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Be like a juniper bush[g] in the wilderness.
7 Because you trusted in your works and treasures,
you too will be taken.
Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley will also perish,
and the tableland will be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken.
9 Give Moab a blossom, but it will blow away completely.[h]
Her cities will become desolate
with no one to live in them.
10 Cursed is the one who is negligent in doing the Lord’s work.
Cursed is the one who holds back his sword from bloodshed.
11 Moab has been at peace since its youth,
undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,
never poured from one vessel to another.
It has never gone into captivity.
That is why it tastes the same as it always did,
and its aroma is unchanged.
12 Therefore, know this: the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will send to Moab people who pour,
and they will pour it out.
They will drain its containers
and smash its jars.
13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
14 How can you say, “We are mighty warriors,
courageous soldiers?”
15 Moab is laid waste,
and they have gone up into its cities.
Its finest young men have gone down to be slaughtered.
The declaration of the King,
whose name is the Lord of Armies:
16 The destruction of Moab is approaching,
and its disaster hurries swiftly.
17 Mourn for it, all you surrounding nations.
All you who know its name say,
“How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!”
18 Come down from your glory,
and sit on the parched ground,
you[i] who dwell in Dibon.
Moab’s destroyer has come up against you.
He has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand beside the road and watch,
you[j] who dwell in Aroer.
Ask him who flees, ask her who escapes,
“What has happened?”
20 Moab is withered,
for it is broken down.
Wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab has been destroyed.
21 Judgment has come upon the tableland, on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mepha’ath, 22 on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim, 23 on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon, 24 on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off,
and his arm is broken, declares the Lord.
26 Make him drunk,
because he exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his vomit,
and he will be ridiculed.
27 Was not Israel ridiculed by you?
Was Israel caught among thieves,
so that whenever you speak of him,
you shake your head?
28 You who live in Moab, abandon the cities and dwell in the rocks.
Be like a dove that makes her nest over the mouth of a chasm.
29 We have heard about the pride of Moab.
He is very arrogant.
He is smug, he is conceited,
he is proud, and his heart is haughty.
30 I know his insolence, says the Lord.
It is empty, and so are his deeds.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab.
I will cry out for all of Moab.
I will mourn for the men of Kir Hareseth.
32 I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
more than Jazer.
Your branches passed over the sea.
They reached to the Sea of[k] Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit
and on your grapes.
33 Gladness and joy have been taken from the fertile field
and from the land of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses.
No one will tread them with shouts of joy.
The shouting is not shouting for joy.
34 There is an outcry from Heshbon to Elealeh.
They raise their voices as far as Jahaz,
from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah,
and even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
35 In Moab, declares the Lord,
I will stop the one who presents offerings on the high places
and burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore, my heart wails like a flute for Moab,
and for the men of Kir Hareseth my heart wails like a flute.
Even the wealth they have acquired is gone.
37 Every head is shaved, and every beard is clipped.
Every hand is cut, and there is sackcloth around their waists.
38 On all the rooftops of Moab
and in its streets there is wailing,
because I have broken Moab like an unwanted jar,
declares the Lord.
39 How broken she is!
How they wail!
How Moab turns her back in shame!
So Moab will be ridiculed
and be a horror to all around.
40 For the Lord says:
Watch, he will fly like an eagle,
and he will spread his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken,
and the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Moab’s strong warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation
because he has defied the Lord.
43 Panic, pit, and peril[l] are before you,
you who live in Moab, declares the Lord.
44 Whoever flees from the panic will fall into the pit.
Whoever gets out of the pit will be trapped in the snare,
for I will bring on Moab the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
45 Those who fled stand helpless under the shadow of Heshbon,
because a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
and a flame from the midst of Sihon.
It has burned the foreheads of Moab,
and the tops of the heads of those who boast.[m]
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are destroyed,
for your sons are taken away captive,
and your daughters go into exile.
47 Nevertheless, I will reverse the captivity of Moab in days to come,
declares the Lord.
This is the conclusion of the judgment against Moab.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.