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¹ The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.² Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.³ Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.⁴ Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.⁵ Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith the LORD.⁶ Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled, and fallen.⁷ Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?⁸ Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.⁹ Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.¹⁰ For that day is a day of the Lord, the LORD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood: for the Lord, the LORD of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.¹¹ Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

¹² The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.¹³ The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.¹⁴ Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, stand forth, and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured round about thee.¹⁵ Why are thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.¹⁶ He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.¹⁷ They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by.¹⁸ As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.¹⁹ O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.²⁰ Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.²¹ Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.²² The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.²³ They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.²⁴ The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.²⁵ The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and them that trust in him: ²⁶ and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.²⁷ But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, low, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.²⁸ Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee with judgment, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished.