Beginning
Prophecies against the Nations
46 This is[a] the message from the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
Prophecies against Egypt: Its Defeat at Carchemish
2 To Egypt: Concerning the army of King Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, which was encamped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of the reign of[b] Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah.
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.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s Conquest of Egypt
13 This is the message that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to conquer[h] the land of Egypt.
14 “Announce in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol.
Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes.
Say, ‘Take your positions and be ready,
for the sword will devour all around you.’
15 Why are your warriors prostrate?
They don’t stand[i] because the Lord has brought them down.
16 They repeatedly stumble and fall.
They say to each other, ‘Get up!
Let’s go back to our people
and to the land of our birth,
away from the oppressor’s sword.’
17 There they’ll cry out,
‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just a big noise.
He has let the appointed time pass by.’[j]
18 As certainly as I’m alive and living,” declares the King,
whose name is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
“Indeed, one will come like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Prepare your baggage for exile,
daughter living in Egypt,
for Memphis will become a desolate place.
It will become a ruin without inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a beautiful calf,[k]
but a horsefly from the north is surely coming.
21 Even the mercenary troops in her ranks
are like a fattened calf.
They too will turn around,
and will flee together.
They won’t stand,
for the day of their disaster is coming on them,
the time of their punishment.
22 Her cry will be like that of a fleeing serpent
when they come in strength.
They’re coming to her with axes like woodcutters.
23 They’ll cut down her forest, though it’s impenetrable,”
declares the Lord,
“for they’re more numerous than locusts,
and there are too many of them to count.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame,
she will be given into the hands of the people from the north.”
25 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says, “Look, I’m going to punish Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods and its kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. 26 I’ll give them to those who are seeking their lives and to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers.[l] Then afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the Lord.
Israel will be Delivered
27 “As for you, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid,
and Israel, don’t be dismayed.
For I’ll deliver you from a distant place,
and your descendants from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return.
He will be undisturbed and secure,
and no one will cause him to fear.
28 “As for you, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid,
and Israel, don’t be dismayed,”
declares the Lord, “for I am with you.
Indeed, I’ll make an end of all the nations
where I scattered you;
but I won’t make an end of you!
I’ll discipline you justly,
but I’ll certainly not leave you unpunished.”
A Prophecy against the Philistines
47 This is[m] the message from the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza. 2 This is what the Lord says:
“Look, waters are rising from the north,
and they’ll become an overflowing river.
They’ll overflow the land and all that fills it[n]—
the city and those that live in it.
People will cry out,
and all those living in the land will wail.
3 At the sound of the galloping hooves of his horses,[o]
at the rumbling of his chariots,
the clatter of his wheels,
fathers won’t turn back for their[p] children
because their hands are weak,
4 for the day is coming to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every helper who remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
the remnant of the coastlands of Caphtor.[q]
5 Baldness[r] is coming to Gaza.
Ashkelon is silenced.
Remnant of their valley,
how long will you gash yourself?[s]
6 Ah, sword of the Lord,
how long before you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard,
be at rest, be silent!
7 How can it be quiet,
when the Lord has ordered disaster
to come to Ashkelon and the seashore?
That’s where he has assigned it.”
A Prophecy against Moab
48 To Moab: This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says:
“How terrible for Nebo, for it’s laid waste.
Kiriathaim is put to shame, it’s captured.
The fortress is put to shame, it’s shattered.
2 The pride of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they plotted evil against her:
‘Come and let’s eliminate her as a nation.’
Madmen[t] will also be silenced,
and the sword will pursue you.
3 The sound of crying will come from Horonaim,
devastation and great destruction.
4 Moab will be destroyed;
her little ones will cry out.
5 Indeed, at the ascent of Luhith
people will go up with bitter weeping.
At the descent of Horonaim
the anguished cries over the destruction will be heard.
6 Flee, save your lives,
and you will be like a wild donkey[u] in the desert.
7 But, because you trust in your deeds and your riches,
you will also be captured.
Chemosh[v] will go out into exile,
along with his priests and officials.
8 A destroyer will come to every town
and no town will escape.
The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed.”
This[w] is what the Lord has said!
9 “Put salt[x] on Moab[y]
for she will surely fall.
Her towns will become desolate places,[z]
without any inhabitants in them.
10 Cursed is the one who is slack
in doing the Lord’s work.
Cursed is the one who holds back his sword
from shedding[aa] blood.
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth.
He has been undisturbed like wine[ab] on its dregs
and not poured from vessel to vessel.
He has not gone into exile.
Therefore, his flavor has remained,
and his aroma has not changed.
12 “Therefore, look, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I’ll send those who tip over vessels[ac] to him, and they’ll tip him over. They’ll empty his vessels and shatter his jars. 13 Moab will be ashamed because of Chemosh just as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, their confidence.
14 “How can you say, ‘We’re strong warriors,
and soldiers ready[ad] for battle’?
15 Moab will be destroyed,
and the enemy[ae] will come up against her cities.
Her finest young men will go down to slaughter,”
declares the King,
whose name is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
16 “Moab’s disaster is near at hand,
and his calamity is coming very quickly.
17 Mourn for him, all who live around him,
and all who know his name.
Say, ‘Oh how the mighty rod is broken,
the glorious staff.’
18 “Come down from glory, and sit on parched ground,
O woman who lives in Dibon,
for the destroyer of Moab will come up
against you to destroy you.
He will destroy your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and keep watch,
O woman who lives in Aroer.
Ask the man who flees and the woman who escapes.
Say, ‘What happened’?
20 Moab will be put to shame,
for it will be destroyed.
Wail and cry out.
Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
21 Judgment has come to the plateau:[af]
to Holon and Jahzah,
and against Mephaath,
22 Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
24 against Kerioth, Bozrah,
and all the towns in the land of Moab,
both far and near.
25 The strength[ag] of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,”
declares the Lord.
26 “Make him drunk for he has exalted himself
against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his vomit,
and he will be the object of mocking.
27 Wasn’t Israel an object of mocking for you?
Wasn’t he treated like a thief,[ah]
so that whenever you spoke about him
you shook your head in contempt?[ai]
28 Abandon the cities, and live on the cliffs,[aj]
you inhabitants of Moab.
Be like a dove that builds a nest
by the mouth of a cave.
29 We have heard about Moab’s pride—
he’s very proud—
his haughtiness, his arrogance,
his insolence, and his conceit.[ak]
30 I know his gall,”
declares the Lord,
“and it’s futile;
the boasting that they do is futile.
31 Therefore, I’ll wail for Moab,
and for the whole of Moab I’ll cry out,
for the men of Kir-heres I’ll moan.
32 More than the weeping for Jazer,[al]
I’ll weep for you, vine of Sibmah.[am]
Your branches spread out to the sea,
and reached as far as the Sea of Jazer.[an]
On your summer fruit and grapes[ao]
the destroyer will fall.
33 Gladness and rejoicing will be taken away
from the fruitful land.[ap]
From the land of Moab I’ll cause the wine
in the wine presses to stop flowing.[aq]
The workers won’t tread[ar] the grapes with a loud shout.[as]
There will be no shout!
34 “From the cry of Heshbon, to Elealeh, to Jahaz they have lifted up their voice. From Zoar to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah, even the waters of Nimrim will become a desolate place. 35 In Moab,” declares the Lord, “I’ll put an end to the one who offers a burnt offering on the high place and to the one who burns incense to his gods. 36 Therefore my heart wails for Moab like flutes[at] and my heart wails for the men of Kir-heres like flutes. Therefore they’ll lose the abundance they produced. 37 Indeed every head will be bald[au] and every beard cut short.[av] There will be gashes on all the hands[aw] and sackcloth on the loins. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets there will be nothing but mourning, for I’ll break Moab like a vessel that no one wants,” declares the Lord. 39 “How it will be shattered! How they’ll wail! How Moab will turn his back in shame! Moab will be an object of ridicule and terror to all those around him.”
40 For this is what the Lord says:
“Look, like an eagle one will fly swiftly
and spread his wings against Moab.
41 The towns[ax] will be captured
and the strongholds seized.
On that day the hearts of the warriors of Moab
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation[ay]
because he exalted himself against the Lord.
43 Terror, pit, and trap will be used[az] against you
who live in Moab,”
declares the Lord.
44 “The one who flees from the terror
will fall into a pit.
And the one who comes up out of the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For I’ll bring upon her, that is upon Moab,
the time of her[ba] punishment,”
declares the Lord.
45 “The fugitives will stand without strength
in the shadow of Heshbon,
for fire will go out from Heshbon
and a flame from the middle of Sihon.
It will devour the forehead of Moab
and the heads of the rebellious people.[bb]
46 How terrible for you, Moab!
The people of Chemosh[bc] will perish.
Indeed, your sons will be taken into captivity,
and your daughters as well.[bd]
47 But I’ll restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days,”
declares the Lord.
This concludes the judgment on Moab.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.