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Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold

¹ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(C1)concerning the Gentile nations.

² Concerning ^(C1)Egypt, against the army of ^(C2)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at ^(C3)Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(F1)defeated decisively in the ^(C4)fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: ^(VR1)

³ "^(C1)Line up the ^(F1)buckler (small shield) and large shield,
And advance for battle!

⁴ "Harness the horses,
And mount, you riders!
Take your stand with your helmets!
^(C1)Polish the spears,
Put on the ^(C2)coats of mail!

⁵ "Why have I seen it?
They are terrified
And have ^(C1)turned back,
And their ^(C2)warriors are beaten down.
They take flight in haste
Without looking back;
^(C3)Terror is on every side!"
Says the LORD. ^(VR1)

⁶ Do not let the ^(C1)swift man run,
Nor the mighty man escape;
In the north by the river Euphrates
They have ^(C2)stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this that ^(C1)rises up like the Nile River,
Like the rivers in the delta of Egypt whose waters surge about?

⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
Even like the rivers whose waters surge about.
And ^(F1)He has said, "I will ^(C1)rise, I will cover that land;
I will certainly ^(C2)destroy the city and its inhabitants."

⁹ Charge, you horses,
And ^(C1)drive like madmen, you chariots!
Let the warriors go forward:
Ethiopia and ^(C2)Put (Libya) who handle the shield,
And the ^(C3)Lydians who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰ For ^(C1)that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts,
A day of vengeance, that He may ^(C2)avenge Himself on His adversaries.
And the ^(C3)sword will devour and be satiated
And drink its fill of their blood;
For the Lord GOD of hosts has a ^(C4)sacrifice like that of a great sin offering
In the north country by the river Euphrates.

¹¹ Go ^(C1)up to Gilead and obtain healing balm,
^(C2)O Virgin Daughter of Egypt!
In vain you use many medicines;
For you there is ^(C3)no healing or remedy.

¹² The nations have heard of your ^(C1)disgrace and shame,
And your ^(C2)cry of distress has filled the earth.
For ^(C3)warrior has stumbled against warrior,
And both of them have fallen together.

¹³ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the ^(C1)coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to ^(C2)strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴ "Declare in Egypt and proclaim in ^(F1)(C1)Migdol,
And proclaim in ^(F2)Memphis and in ^(C2)Tahpanhes;
Say, 'Take your stand and get yourself ready,
For the ^(C3)sword has devoured those around you.'

¹⁵ "Why have your ^(C1)strong ones been cut down?
They do not stand because the LORD ^(C2)drove them away.

¹⁶ "He will make many ^(C1)stumble and fall;
Yes, they have fallen one on another.
Then they said, 'Arise, and ^(C2)let us go back
To our own people and to the land of our birth,
Away from the ^(C3)sword of the oppressor.'

¹⁷ "They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is destroyed and is merely ^(C1)a loud noise;
He has let the appointed time of opportunity pass by!'

¹⁸ "As I live," says the ^(C1)King,
Whose name is the LORD of hosts,
"Surely like ^(F1)(C2)Tabor among the mountains
Or like ^(C3)Carmel by the sea,
So shall he the great king of Babylon come.

¹⁹ "O you ^(C1)daughter who dwells in Egypt and you who dwell with her,
Prepare yourselves with all you will need to go into ^(C2)exile,
For ^(C3)Memphis will become desolate;
It will even be burned down and without inhabitant.

²⁰ "Egypt is a very pretty ^(C1)heifer,
But a horsefly (Babylonia) is coming against her ^(C2)out of the north!

²¹ "Also her ^(C1)mercenaries in her army
Are like fattened ^(C2)calves,
For they too have turned back and have fled together;
They did not stand their ground,
Because the day of their disaster has come upon them,
The time of their ^(C3)punishment.

²² "The sound of Egypt fleeing from the enemy is like the rustling of an escaping serpent,
For her foes advance with a mighty army
And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

²³ "They have cut down her ^(C1)forest," says the LORD;
"Certainly it will no longer be found,
Because they (the invaders) are more numerous than ^(C2)locusts
And cannot be counted.

²⁴ "The Daughter of Egypt has been shamed,
Given over to the power of the ^(C1)people of the north the Chaldeans of Babylonia."

²⁵ The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Behold, I am going to punish Amon chief god of the sacred city of ^(C1)Thebes the capital of Upper Egypt, and ^(C2)Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her ^(C3)gods and her kings—even Pharaoh and those who put their ^(C4)trust in him as a shield against Babylon.²⁶ "I will put them into the hand of those who ^(C1)seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. ^(C2)Afterward Egypt will be ^(F1)inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD.

²⁷ "But as for you, ^(C1)do not fear, O My servant Jacob,
Nor be dismayed, O Israel!
For behold, I will ^(C2)save you from your captivity in a distant land,
And your descendants from the land of their exile;
And Jacob will return and be ^(C3)quiet and secure,
And no one will make him afraid.

²⁸ "Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD,
"For ^(C1)I am with you.
For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations
To which I have driven you;
Yet I will ^(C2)not make a full end of you.
But I will ^(C3)discipline and correct you appropriately
And by no means will I declare you guiltless or leave you unpunished."