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46 The word of the Eternal came to Jeremiah concerning the nations.
Prophets often speak against foreign nations. God is not neutral to the designs and practices of outsiders. These first oracles are directed against the nation of Egypt, who fought and lost the Battle of Carchemish in 605 b.c. Though the fallout was not immediate, this battle was the undoing of Egypt. Babylon is now clearly the dominant world power, and Nebuchadnezzar is her despotic and cruel ruler. But as powerful as he is now and is destined to become, the Babylonian king is only an instrument in the hand of God. By continuing to oppose Babylon and fostering ill-fated political alliances with other nations, Egypt is, in effect, opposing God Himself. God will accomplish what He sets out to do—and all will answer to Him—for God is the God of all history and sovereign over all rulers.
2 This message is about Egypt and the army and her king, Pharaoh Neco; they were defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This decisive battle happened when Jehoiakim (son of Josiah) had been king of Judah for four years.
3 Eternal One: Line up your shields, large and small.
March toward the battle!
4 Harness your horses; mount your stallions!
Get in position; put your helmets on!
Polish your spears; put on your armor!
5 And what do I see when I look at the Egyptian army?
They are panicked, pulling back in retreat;
their mighty warriors are already defeated.
Look how they run away so quickly,
never looking back, for terror is everywhere they turn.
6 The fast cannot outrun it; the mighty cannot escape it.
Beside the river Euphrates in the north, they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this I see rising like the river Nile,
like a swollen, flooding river?
8 It is Egypt that rises like the river Nile,
her pride like a swollen, flooding river.
Pharaoh blusters, “I will rise and cover the earth, like a river.
I will destroy the cities and their people who dare to stand in my way.”
9 Charge, O horses; go up into the fray! Let your chariots madly rush in!
March, mighty warriors, summoned to war.
Soldiers of Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields,
archers of Ludim who bend the bow, march to your defeat!
10 For this day belongs to the Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies;
it is a day of vengeance, a day to pay back His enemies.
The sword will devour them until it is satisfied,
until its thirst for their blood has been quenched.
For the Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies,
will offer them as a sacrifice beside the river Euphrates in the land of the north.
11 Go up to Gilead to find balm for your wounds,
O virgin daughter of Egypt.
But you will find no relief in your many medicines.
This time your wound will not heal.
12 The nations of the world hear of your shame;
the earth is filled with your cries.
One mighty warrior stumbles over another,
and both of them fall down together.
13 This is the word the prophet Jeremiah received from the Eternal about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack the land of Egypt.
14 Eternal One: Make this announcement in Egypt, and tell everyone in Migdol;
proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes as well:
Take your positions, and get ready for battle,
for the sword will devour everyone around you.
15 Why are your mighty warriors lying face down?
They do not stand, indeed cannot stand,
Because I, the Eternal One, have pushed them to the ground.
16 These soldiers will stumble again and again—falling over each other.
They will say to each other, “Pick yourself up! Let us go home
To our own land and people;
let us escape the edge of our enemy’s sword.”
17 It is there, in that moment, that they will cry out,
“Pharaoh, king of Egypt, makes a lot of noise, but he missed his chance.”
18 As I live, says the King
whose name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
That one is coming who will tower over you
like Mount Tabor over the mountains,
like Mount Carmel over the sea.
19 Pack for the coming exile, you citizens of Egypt,
for Memphis will be a wasteland, a city destroyed and empty of life.
20 Egypt is like a heifer—beautiful, but helpless—
because a biting horsefly from the north is coming against her.
21 The mercenaries in her army are like fattened calves:
they will turn and run, all of them together.
They will not stand their ground, for the day of disaster is coming;
the time for their punishment is upon them.
22 Egypt will slither away like a hissing serpent
as her enemy marches on.
They will come with axes,
like woodsmen who cut down trees.
23 I, the Eternal One, declare, “As thick as the forest of Egypt might be,
they will chop her down,
For they are more numerous than locusts,
their numbers too great to count.
24 The daughter of Egypt will be disgraced;
she will be handed over to this nation from the north.”
25 Then the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, gave this word to Egypt and anyone foolish enough to side with Egypt.
Eternal One: Look! I will soon punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other so-called gods of Egypt. I will punish all her rulers, including Pharaoh (who claims to be a god himself) and any who trust in him. 26 I will hand them over to the enemy who wants them dead—to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his officers. But later, I will restore Egypt. Her people will return in numbers to live there again as in the days of old. I, the Eternal, promise this.
27 Do not be afraid, O Jacob, My servant.
Do not be dismayed, O Israel.
For I will rescue you from that distant land;
I will bring your children home from the exile.
Jacob will again know peace and what it means to feel secure.
No one will make him afraid.
28 Do not be afraid, O Jacob, My servant, for I am with you.
Even if I completely destroy all the nations
To which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you.
Remember this, O Israel: I will discipline you out of justice.
I will not let you go unpunished.
Between Egypt and Babylon are several smaller nations whose futures hang in the balance. To whom will they submit in the coming years? The first of these smaller states to receive a word of judgment is Philistia. At one time a formidable foe of Israel, this nation has seen its power and influence slowly weakening for the last 400 years, since the time of the great King David. In these days of political intrigue, it is likely that the Philistines have entered into a treaty with the city-states of Tyre and Sidon to the north. These allies are among those considering standing up to Babylon (27:3). Perhaps it is this rebellion against God’s greater plan to use Babylon that is the reason for this judgment, or perhaps it is something else He sees in these people who live along the coastal plains of the Mediterranean. Whatever the case, it is God, the mighty warrior, who now moves against the Philistines.
47 The word of the Eternal came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza, one of Philistia’s five major cities.
2 Eternal One: Do you see how the waters are rising in the north?
They will become an overwhelming flood.
They will flow across the land, covering everything—
including the towns and the people who live there.
Those people will cry out;
those who live in that land will weep loudly,
3 For they will hear the pounding hooves of the charging horses,
the clatter of enemy chariots, and the rumbling of their wheels.
Fathers will panic and abandon their children,
their hands limp with fear.
4 For the time will come
to destroy all the Philistines.
She will find no help in Tyre and Sidon—
these allies, too, will be cut off.
The Eternal will destroy the Philistines,
this remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning,
for Ashkelon is no more.
You who remain in the valley,
how long will you cut yourselves in grief?
6 You cry out, “O sword of the Eternal, when will you stop?
Return to your sheath, rest from your destruction, and be still!”
7 But how can His sword be still
when the Eternal has given it a direct order?
For Ashkelon and those along the coast will be no more!
48 This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, has to say about Moab.
Next is Moab, a familiar enemy of Israel. Despite Jeremiah’s warning they will answer for their trust in themselves, their material wealth, and their god Chemosh.
Eternal One: Woe to the city of Nebo, for she is in ruins.
So, too, will Kiriathaim be put to shame when she is captured.
The proud fortress of Moab will be humbled and shattered into pieces.
2 No one will praise you, Moab—that time has gone.
Instead, in places like Heshbon, men are planning your destruction.
“Come,” they will say, “and let us finish off that nation.”
Indeed, the town of Madmen will be silenced,
for war will surely find you.
3 Do you hear the voice from Horonaim—
the cries rising up from the ruins and desolation?
4 Moab is broken,
and her little ones cry in desperation.
5 The defeated make their way up Luhith, crying bitterly as they go;
as they descend to Horonaim, they hear the anguished cries of destruction.
6 Run for your lives! Save yourselves!
Live in the desert like a juniper bush, alone and forsaken.
7 You depended on your own works and your own wealth,
and now you will be humbled and taken captive.
Your so-called god, Chemosh, will go with you into exile
along with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer is coming to each of your towns; none of them will escape.
The valley will be ruined;
The plateau will be destroyed
because I, the Eternal One, have spoken.
9 Give Moab wings so she can fly away.
Her cities will be a wasteland with no one living in them.
10 A curse on any who do not finish the work I, the Eternal One, have given you! A curse on anyone who holds back his sword and refuses to shed blood.
11 Moab has been at rest since his early days—
like wine that is carefully left to age,
Not poured from jar to jar,
not going from nation to nation in exile.
And so his flavor has remained; his aroma has not faded.
12 But all of that will change. Look, in the coming days, I, the Eternal One, declare that I will send those who will upend him, stirring him up and pouring him out until his jars have nothing left. They will empty his jars and smash the empty jugs.
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of his powerless god, Chemosh, just as the people of Israel were ashamed of Bethel when they trusted in their false gods.
14 Eternal One: How can you still boast,
“We are mighty warriors, brave in battle?”
15 Because Moab is destroyed;
invaders have laid waste his towns.
His best young men have gone down to slaughter.
So say I, the King whose name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
16 The fall of Moab is at hand;
his disaster is coming quickly.
17 Grieve for him, you neighbors of Moab,
all who know his name.
Say, “Look how his mighty scepter is broken,
how the splendor of his staff is gone!”
18 You people of Dibon, come down from your glory on the hills
and sit on the dry, dusty ground and wait,
For the same one who destroyed Moab
is coming against you and will tear down your strongholds as well.
19 Stand by the road and watch closely,
you people of Aroer.
Call out to the refugees running from Moab.
Ask them what happened!
20 And they will answer: “Moab has been humiliated and crushed.
Weep for him, and cry out.
Go down to the Arnon River and
proclaim that Moab has been destroyed.”
21 Judgment has come to the cities of the plain: to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath; 22 to Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; 23 to Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; 24 to Kerioth and Bozrah. To all the cities of Moab, far and near, judgment has come.
Eternal One: 25 The symbols of his strength are gone; the horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm broken.
26 Make Moab drink deeply from this cup until he is drunk, for he has exalted himself above the Eternal. Make him drink until he wallows in his own vomit; then he will be ridiculed by all who see him. 27 Did you not ridicule Israel? Was he guilty of a crime? Was he caught among thieves? Is that why you, Moab, shake your head in contempt every time you speak of him?
28 Eternal One: Run from your towns and live in the wilderness,
you citizens of Moab;
Hide among the rocks
like doves who nest among the cliffs.
29 We have all heard about the pride of Moab—
so vain and so smug.
We have all heard about her pride and arrogance
and her overconfident heart.
30 I, too, know of the arrogant outbursts, but they are pointless;
empty boasts accomplish nothing.
31 This is why I will mourn for Moab; for all her people, I will cry aloud;
for the men of Kir-heres, I will moan.
32 You who tend the prolific vineyards in Sibmah,
I will cry for you more than I did for Jazer.
Your vines once spread as far as the sea, as far as the sea of Jazer.
But now the destroyer has spoiled your summer harvest and sweet grapes.
33 The joy of the harvest is gone from Moab’s orchards and vineyards.
For I have stopped the flow of wine; no one treads the grapes.
The land is full of shouting, but they are not shouts of joy.
34 The anguish of their cries rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will dry up.
Eternal One: 35 I will put an end to idol worship in Moab, to those who make offerings on shrines in high places and burn incense to so-called gods.
36 Like the somber sound of a flute, my heart mourns for Moab. My heart mourns for the men of Kir-heres, for everything they had is gone.
37 For every head is shaved, and every beard is cut short;
every hand is cut, and every waist is wrapped in sackcloth.
38 Eternal One: On every rooftop in Moab and on every street corner,
there is nothing but mourning
Because I have smashed Moab like a jar that no one wants.
39 How broken he is! How the people wail!
How the once-proud Moab turns away in shame!
See how Moab has become a laughingstock
and a horror to all his neighbors.
40 Eternal One: Look in the distance: an eagle will swoop down
and spread his wings over Moab, his prey.
41 The cities will be captured and the strongholds seized.
On that day the heart of Moab’s warriors
Will be like the heart of a woman in labor—helpless and vulnerable.
42 The nation of Moab will be no more
because he dares to defy the Eternal.
43 Terror and traps and snares lie ahead, O citizens of Moab.
44 Eternal One: If you run from the terror, you will fall into a pit.
If you climb out of the pit, you will be caught in a trap.
There is no escape, for I will bring these disasters against Moab;
the year of their judgment has come at last.
45 Run if you will, but in Heshbon’s shadow the refugees are helpless.
Look! A fire rages from Heshbon; destroying flames leap from Sihon;
They consume the northern regions of Moab
and destroy his clamoring rebels.
46 Woe to you, O Moab! Worshipers of Chemosh are destroyed;
your sons are sent away, your daughters taken captive.
47 But even so, in latter times the day will come
when I will restore the fortunes of Moab.
This is the end of Jeremiah’s oracle of judgment against Moab.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.