Jeremiah 46:13-28

English Standard Version

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^(B)Migdol;
    proclaim in ^(C)Memphis and ^(D)Tahpanhes;
say, ^(E)‘Stand ready and be prepared,
    for ^(F)the sword shall devour around you.’
¹⁵Why are your mighty ones face down?
    They do not stand^[a]
    because the Lord thrust them down.
¹⁶He made many stumble, ^(G)and they fell,
    and they said one to another,
‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people
    and to the land of our birth,
    ^(H)because of the sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷Call the name of ^(I)Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
    ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

¹⁸^(J)“As I live, declares the King,
    ^(K)whose name is the Lord of hosts,
like ^(L)Tabor among the mountains
    and like ^(M)Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
¹⁹^(N)Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
    O ^(O)inhabitants of Egypt!
For ^(P)Memphis shall become a waste,
    a ruin, ^(Q)without inhabitant.

²⁰“A beautiful ^(R)heifer is Egypt,
    but a biting fly ^(S)from the north has come upon her.
²¹Even her hired soldiers in her midst
    are like ^(T)fattened calves;
yes, they have turned and fled together;
    they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
    ^(U)the time of their punishment.

²²“She makes ^(V)a sound like a serpent gliding away;
    for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes
    ^(W)like those who fell trees.
²³^(X)They shall cut down her forest,
declares the Lord,
    though it is impenetrable,
because ^(Y)they are more numerous than locusts;
    they are without number.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
    she shall be delivered into the hand of ^(Z)a people from the north.”

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon ^(AA)Amon of ^(AB)Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt ^(AC)and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶^(AD)I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. ^(AE)Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited ^(AF)as in the days of old, declares the Lord.

²⁷^(AG)“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸^(AH)Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the Lord,
    for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
    to which I have driven you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
^(AI)I will discipline you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”