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¹ THE word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet to prophesy concerning the Gentiles:² Concerning Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt, which was encamped by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon slew in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take up the buckler and shield and draw near to battle.⁴ Harness the horses and mount, O you horsemen; put on your helmets; polish the spears and wear the breastplates.⁵ Because I have seen them defeated and retreating, and their mighty men are beaten down and are fled apace, and they look not back: for they were surrounded, says the LORD.⁶ The swift cannot flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they have all stumbled and fallen by the river Euphrates.⁷ Who is this that comes up like a river, and like rivers whose waters are raging?⁸ The king of Egypt is rising up like a river, and his waters surge like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.⁹ Mount the horses, O you horsemen; sing, O you riders in the chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Putians, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, who are skilled in handling and bending the bow.¹⁰ And let that day be the day of the LORD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his enemies; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood: for the LORD of hosts shall bring slaughter in the north country by the river Euphrates.¹¹ Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt! In vain you shall use many medicines; for you shall not be healed.

¹² The nations have heard of your shame, and your wailing has filled the land; for soldier has stumbled against soldier, and they are fallen both together by the sword.¹³ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt.¹⁴ Declare it in Egypt and publish it in Migdol and announce it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes. Say, Make ready and prepare yourselves; for the sword shall devour round about you.¹⁵ Why are your valiant men defeated? They fell down and rose up no more because the LORD has overthrown them.¹⁶ Multitudes of them are fallen; yea, one fell upon another and said, Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.¹⁷ They did invoke there the name of Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt, the troublemaker and passer of time.¹⁸ As I live, says the LORD, whose name is the King of hosts, surely Pharaoh shall fall like a mountain slide, and like Carmel when it slides into the sea.¹⁹ Furnish yourself with the clothes for exile, O virgin daughter of Egypt; for Memphis shall become waste and desolate without an inhabitant.²⁰ Egypt is like a very fair and pampered heifer, but an army from the north has come against her.²¹ Also her hired men in the midst of her are like fatted bullocks; for they have turned back and fled together; they did not stand, because the day of their defeat was come upon them and the time of their punishment.²² The sound of the army is like that of a serpent when it creeps; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, like hewers of trees.²³ Cut down her forests, says the LORD, for they are limitless; they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.²⁴ The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she is delivered into the hand of the people of the north.²⁵ The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I will punish Arnon of the waters of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her army and her kings, and even Pharaoh and all those who trust in him;²⁶ And I will deliver them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants; and afterward Egypt shall regain her freedom, as in the days of old, says the LORD.²⁷ But fear not, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar off, and your descendants from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be in rest and at ease, and none shall harm him.²⁸ Fear not, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD, for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, for I will correct you justly; but I will not wholly declare you blameless.