Read the Bible

¹ Here folowe the wordes off the LORDE to the prophet Ieremy, which he spake vnto the Gentiles.² These wordes folowinge preached he to the Egipcias concernynge the hoost off Pharao Necho kynge off Egipte, when he was in Charcamis besyde the water off Euphrates: what tyme as Nabuchodonosor the kynge of Babilon slewe him, In the fourth yeare off Ioachim the sonne off Iosias kynge off Iuda.³ Ye make redy buckler and shylde, ye go forth to fight:⁴ Yee harnesse youre horses, & set youre selues vpon them: Ye set youre salettes fast on, ye bringe forth speares, ye scoure youre sweardes, & put on youre brest plates.⁵ But alas, how happeneth it, that I se you so afrayed? why shrecke ye backe? where fore are youre worthies slayne? Yee they runne so fast awaye, that none off them loketh behynde him. Fearfulnesse is fallen vpon euerychone off them, saieth the LORDE.⁶ The lightest off fote shall not fle awaye, and the worthies shall not escape. Towarde the north by the water of Euphrates they shall stomble and fall.⁷ But what is he this, that swelleth vp, as it were a floude, roaringe & raginge like the streames off water?⁸ It is Egipte that ryseth vp like the floude, and casteth out the waters with so greate noyse. For they saye: We will go vp, and will couer the earth: we wil destroye ye cities, with them that dwell therin.⁹ Get you to horse backe, roll forth ye Charettes, come forth ye worthies: ye Morians, ye Libeans with youre buclers, ye Lideans with youre bowes:¹⁰ So shall this daye be vnto the LORDE God of hoostes, a daye of vegeaunce, that he maye avege him of his enemies. The swearde shal deuoure, it shalbe satisfied and bated in their bloude: For the LORDE God off hoostes shall haue a slayneoffringe towarde the North, by the water of Euphrates.¹¹ Go vp (o Galaad) & bringe triacle vnto the doughter off Egipte: But in vayne shalt thou go to surgery, for thy wounde shall not be stopped.

¹² The Heithen shall heare off thy shame, and the londe shalbe full of thy confucion: for one stronge man shall stomble vpon another, how then shulde they not fall both together?¹³ These are the wordes that the LORDE spake to the prophet Ieremy, concernyge ye hoost of Nabuchodonosor the kynge of Babilon, which was to destroye the londe off Egipte:¹⁴ Preach out thorow the londe of Egipte, and cause it be proclamed at Migdal, Memphis and Taphnis, and saye: Stonde still, make the redie, for the swearde shal consume the rounde aboute.¹⁵ How happeneth it that thy mightie worthies are fallen? why stode they not fast? Euen because the LORDE thrust them downe.¹⁶ The slaughter was greate, for one fell euer still vpon another. One cried vpon another: Vp, let vs go agayne to oure owne people, and to oure owne naturall countre, from the swearde of oure enemie.¹⁷ Crie euen there: O Pharao kynge of Egipte, the tyme will bringe sedicion.¹⁸ As truly as I lyue (saieth the kynge, whose name is the LORDE of hoostes) it shall come as ye mount of Thabor, and as Libanus yf it stode in the see.¹⁹ O thou doughter of Egipte, make redy thy geer to flyt. For Memphis shalbe voyde and desolate, so that no ma shal dwell therin.²⁰ The londe of Egipte is like a goodly fayre calfe, but one shall come out of the north to dryue her forwarde.²¹ Hir wagied souldyers that be with her, are like fat calues. They also shall fle awaye together, and not abyde: for the daye off their slaughter and the tyme of their visitacion shall come vpon them.²² The crie off their enemies shall make a noyse, as the blast of a trompet. For they shall entre in with their hooste, and come wt axes, as it were hewers downe of wod.²³ And they shall cut downe hir wod (saieth the LORDE) with out eny discrecion. For they shal be mo in nobre then the greshoppers, so that no man shalbe able to tell the.²⁴ The doughter of Egipte shalbe confouded. whe she shalbe delyuered in to the hondes off the people off the north.²⁵ Morouer thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes the God of Israel: Beholde I will vyset that restlesse people off Alexandria, Pharao and Egipte, yee both their goddes and their kynges: euen Pharao, and all them yt litten vnto him.²⁶ Yee I will delyuer them in to the hondes off those, that seke after their lyues: Namely, in to the power off Nabuchodonosor the kynge off Babilon, and in to the power off his seruautes. And after all these thinges, it shalbe inhabited as afore tyme, saieth the LORDE²⁷ But be not thou afrayed (o my seruaunt Iacob) feare not thou, o Israel. For lo, I wil helpe the from farre, and thy sede from the londe of thy captiuyte. Iacob also shall come agayne, and be in rest: he shall be rich, and no man shall do him harme.²⁸ Feare thou not (o Iacob my seruaunt) saieth the LORDE, for I am with the: and will destroye all nacions, amonge whom I haue scatred the. Neuertheles I will not consume the, but chasten the and correcke the: yee and that with discrecion: nether wil I spare the, as one that were fautlesse.