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The Lord's messages about Egypt[a]
46 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah messages about the nations.
2 This is the message about Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his army fought against the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt. Babylon's army won the battle against Egypt's army at Carchemish on the Euphrates river. That happened in the fourth year that Josiah's son Jehoiakim ruled Judah as king.
3 ‘Get ready to march to the battle!
Pick up your shields and your weapons.
4 Prepare your horses and sit on them.
Put on your helmets and be ready to fight.
Make your spears sharp.
Put on your armour!’
5 The Lord says,
‘But I see this:
The soldiers are afraid and they are running away!
They cannot win the fight.
Terror is everywhere around them.[b]
They do not turn to look behind them.
They run away as fast as they can.
6 But none of them can run fast enough.
Even the strongest soldiers cannot escape.
In the north, beside the River Euphrates,
they fall down to the ground.
7 A nation is rising up, like the great waters of the Nile river.
Who is this nation?
8 Egypt is rising like the waters of the Nile.
Its streams of water quickly pour out over the earth.
Egypt says, “I will rise up and I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities.
I will kill the people who live in them.”
9 So ride your horses quickly into the battle!
Drive your chariots as fast as they will go!
Tell your soldiers to march forward into the battle.
Send your soldiers of Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields.
Send your soldiers of Lydia who have bows and arrows.
10 But it is the Lord God Almighty who will win!
It is the day when he will punish his enemies.
His sword will completely destroy them,
like a hungry person who cannot stop eating!
His sword will cause a lot of blood to pour out.
The Lord God Almighty will accept his enemies as a sacrifice.
That is what will happen in the northern land beside the Euphrates river.
11 Dear people of Egypt,
go to Gilead and find medicine to make you well.
But that will not help you.
There is no medicine that will make you better.
12 The other nations will see that you are ashamed.
All over the earth, people will hear you as you weep.
As your soldiers run from the battle,
they will fall over each other.
They will fall to the ground together.’
King Nebuchadnezzar will attack Egypt
13 The Lord gave this message to the prophet Jeremiah about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He said that Nebuchadnezzar would come to attack Egypt.
14 ‘Shout this message everywhere in Egypt.
Let people hear it in Migdol, Memphis and in Tahpanhes.
“Get ready to fight against your enemies!
They are already killing the people all around you.”
15 Your brave soldiers will fall.
They will lie flat on the ground.
They cannot stand and fight because the Lord will knock them down.
16 They will continue to fall over each other.
They will say to each other, “Get up!
We must return to our homes where our own people live.
We must escape from our enemies, who want to kill us.”
17 When they get back home, they will say,
“The king of Egypt is only a loud noise.
He could not win when he had the chance.” ’
18 The Lord Almighty is the great King. He says,
‘I promise you, as surely as I live,
that a powerful army will come to fight against you!
They will look as great as Tabor looks among the other mountains.
They will seem like Carmel mountain that stands beside the sea.
19 You dear people of Egypt, be ready to travel as prisoners to a foreign land!
Your enemy will destroy Memphis city.
It will become a heap of stones where nobody lives.
20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.
But an army from the north will attack her, like a crowd of flies that bite.
21 Egypt has paid soldiers from other countries to help her.
But they are like fat calves that are too weak to fight.
They will not stand and fight, but they will turn and run away.
Yes, the day of Egypt's punishment has arrived!
Their enemy has come to destroy them.
22 Egypt's people will run away, like a snake along the ground.
The enemy's strong army will march forward.
They will attack Egypt with axes, like men who cut down trees.
23 Egypt's soldiers are as many as the trees in a great forest.
But the enemy's soldiers will cut them down.
Their army is like a hungry crowd of locusts.
They are too many to count.
24 The people of Egypt will be ashamed.
They will be under the power of the people from the north.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, also says, ‘Now I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes city, and the other gods of Egypt. I will also punish Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Egypt's other rulers. I will punish Egypt's people and everyone who trusts in Pharoah's power. 26 I will put them under the power of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill them. But in later years, people will again live in Egypt, as they did before.’ That is what the Lord says.
The Israelites will live in peace
27 ‘My servants, descendants of Jacob, do not be afraid.[c]
People of Israel, do not be upset.
You have been prisoners in countries far away.
But I will rescue you and your descendants.
You will return to your own land and you will live in peace.
Jacob's descendants will be safe and nobody will make them afraid.
28 So do not be afraid, descendants of my servant Jacob.
I am with you to help you.
I may completely destroy all the nations where I send you to live.
But I will never completely destroy you.
I will certainly punish you, to teach you what is right.
But I will do that in a fair way.’
That is what the Lord says.
The Lord's message about the Philistines
47 The Lord gave this message to the prophet Jeremiah before Pharaoh and the army of Egypt attacked Gaza. The Lord said this about the Philistines:
2 ‘Look at what is happening!
Armies in the north are rising like a flood of water.
They will pour out from there like a great river.
They will cover the whole land and everything in it.
They will destroy the cities and the people who live in them.
People will shout for help.
Everyone who lives there will cry with pain.
3 They will hear the sound of their enemies' horses
and the loud noises of their chariots.
Fathers will not turn back to save their children,
because fear has made them weak.
4 The time has come when the Lord will destroy all the Philistines.
None of them will remain to give help to Tyre and Sidon.
The Lord is ready to destroy the Philistines who remain.
Those are the people who came from the island of Crete.[d]
5 The people of Gaza will cut the hair off their heads
because they are so upset.
In Ashkelon, nobody will say a word.
You Philistines who live near the sea and are still alive,
will you continue to cut your bodies?[e]
6 You shout to the Lord, “How long will you attack us with your sword?
Please stop killing us! Put your sword away!”
7 But the Lord has commanded his sword to kill.
So it cannot rest!
The Lord has commanded his sword to attack Ashkelon
and the people who live on the coast of the sea.’
The Lord's message about Moab
48 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, spoke this message about Moab:[f]
‘Nebo city is in terrible trouble!
It will soon become a heap of stones.
The people of Kiriathaim city will be ashamed.
Its enemies will take it for themselves.
They will knock down its strong buildings,
and its people will be ashamed.
2 People will no longer praise Moab.
In Heshbon, Moab's enemies will decide how to destroy the nation.
They will say, “We must completely destroy Moab!”
The town of Madmen will become silent,
as a great army chases out the people.
3 The people of Horonaim will shout for help,
because a strong army is destroying them.
4 Moab will come to an end!
Its children will cry loudly.
5 They will go up the hill to Luhith.
They will weep as they go.
As they go down the road towards Horonaim,
they will cry about their town that the enemy is destroying.
6 People say, “Run away to save your lives!
Go and live in the desert.”
7 People of Moab, you trusted your riches and your skills to save you.
Because of that, your enemies will catch you.
They will even take your god Chemosh away as prisoner,
together with his priests and officers.
8 Your cruel enemy will attack every town.
No town or city will escape.
The enemy will destroy every place in the valley,
and every place on the high ground.
They will become heaps of stones.
I, the Lord, tell you this!
9 Dig a grave to bury Moab![g]
Its land will become like a desert.
Its cities will become heaps of stones.
Nobody will live in them.’
10 The Lord will curse anyone who refuses to do his work! He will punish anyone who does not use his sword to kill his enemies!
Moab's peace will come to an end
11 The Lord said, ‘Moab's people have lived in peace since they first became a nation. No enemy has taken them away to a foreign land as their prisoners. They have been like the wine in a bottle that nobody has moved. Nobody has poured it into another bottle, so its taste and smell have never changed. Moab has always been the same.
12 But the time will soon come when I will send people to attack Moab. They will pour out Moab's people like somebody pours wine out of a bottle. They will pour out all the wine so that the bottles are empty. And they will break the bottles into pieces!
13 Then Moab's people will be ashamed because their god Chemosh has not saved them. They will be like the Israelites who trusted in their idol at Bethel and they became ashamed.
14 Men of Moab, you should no longer say,
“We are brave soldiers who know how to fight.”
15 I am the King, the Lord Almighty, and I tell you this:
The enemy will soon destroy Moab and its cities.
They will kill its strongest young men.
16 Moab will soon come to an end.
Terrible trouble will quickly destroy it.
17 You nations that live around Moab,
you know how famous it has been.
But now you must weep for it.
Say, “Moab's royal power is finished!
They no longer have great power to rule!”
18 You people who live in Dibon must stop being proud.
Come down from the places where people give you honour.
Sit on the ground in the dirt.
Moab's cruel enemy has arrived.
They will cause your strong buildings to become heaps of stones.
19 You people who live in Aroer,
stand beside the road and watch.
Ask the people who are running away what has happened.
20 They will reply, “The enemy has won against Moab
and its people are ashamed.
So weep and cry out!
Stand beside the Arnon river and tell the news.
Tell people that the enemy has destroyed Moab.”
21 The Lord has judged the cities on the high ground and he will soon punish them:
Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
22 Dibon, Nebo and Beth-Diblathaim,
23 Kiriathaim, Beth-Gamul and Beth-Meon,
24 Kerioth and Bozrah.
He will punish all the towns of Moab, near or far away. 25 Moab has lost its power. Its strength has finished.’
That is what the Lord says.
26 ‘Moab has turned against me.
So my anger will make him like a person who is drunk.
He will lie down in the place where he has been sick.
People will laugh at him.
27 You people of Moab laughed at my people, the Israelites.
Why did you insult them?
You said that they were no better than a group of robbers.
28 Now you must all leave your towns.
Go and live among the rocks.
Live like doves that make their nests high up among the rocks.
29 We have heard that Moab's people are very proud.
They think that they are better than everyone else.
We know how much they boast.’
30 The Lord says,
‘I know about Moab's proud thoughts.
But their pride is false.
Whatever they do, it will be useless.
31 So I am sad for Moab. I am crying for all their people.
I weep for the people of Kir-Heres.[h]
32 I weep for the vines of Sibmah, more than Jazer weeps.
The branches of those vines reached across the sea as far as Jazer.[i]
But the cruel enemy will destroy all the fruit that grows on your vines and trees.
33 People will no longer be happy in the land where this fruit grows.
I will stop them making wine from their grapes.
They will not stamp on their grapes and shout with joy.
Instead, the shouts will be shouts about trouble.
34 In Heshbon and Elealeh people cry out because of their pain.
The noise reaches as far as Jahaz.
It reaches from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-Shelishiyah.
Even the Nimrim river has become dry.’
35 The Lord says this:
‘I will remove the people of Moab who worship other gods.
They offer sacrifices to them
and they burn incense at their altars.
36 So I am very sad for the people of Moab.
I weep like a flute that plays a funeral song.
I am sad for the people of Kir-Heres,
because all their riches will disappear.
37 All the men will be very upset.
They will cut the hair off their heads and their faces.
They will use knives to cut their hands.
They will wear sackcloth as their clothes.
38 People are standing on the roofs of their houses.
They are standing in the streets.
They are all crying and weeping.
They are sad because I have destroyed Moab.
I have broken it in pieces, like a jar that I no longer want.’
That is what the Lord says.
39 ‘Yes, Moab will be like a broken jar.
Its people will weep with loud voices.
They will turn away because they are ashamed.
All the nations around there will laugh at Moab.
They will see the terrible trouble that it has received.’
40 The Lord says,
‘Look at the enemy that suddenly arrives!
It comes like an eagle that flies down to catch its food.
41 The enemy will take Moab's towns and its strong buildings.
Moab's soldiers will be afraid,
like a woman who will soon give birth.
42 Moab has been proud and it has turned against the Lord.
So they will no longer be a nation.’
43 The Lord says this:
‘People of Moab, there will be danger, deep holes and traps that are ready to catch you!
44 Anyone who runs away from danger, will fall into a deep hole.
And a trap will catch anyone who climbs out of the deep hole.
Yes, the time will soon come when I will punish Moab's people.
45 People will run away to Heshbon to be safe.
They will be helpless as they stand outside its walls.
Flames of fire will come out from Heshbon,
the city where King Sihon once ruled.
It will burn as far as Moab's borders.
It will destroy those proud people who love to fight.
46 It will be very bad for you, you people of Moab!
The enemy will destroy you people who worship Chemosh.
They will take away your sons and your daughters.
They will take them as prisoners to a foreign land.
47 But one day I will cause Moab to be strong again.’
That is what the Lord says.
That is the end of the Lord's message against Moab.
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