Jeremiah 46
Contemporary English Version
The Lord Speaks to Jeremiah about the Nations
46 The Lord often told me what to say about the different nations of the world.
What the Lord Says about Egypt
2 (A) In the fourth year that Jehoiakim[a] was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylonia defeated King Neco of Egypt[c] in a battle at the city of Carchemish near the Euphrates River. And here is what the Lord told me to say about the Egyptian army:
3 It's time to go into battle!
So grab your shields,
4 saddle your horses,
and polish your spears.
Put on your helmets and armor,
then take your positions.
5 I can see the battle now—
you are defeated
and running away,
never once looking back.
Terror is all around.
6 You are strong and run fast,
but you can't escape.
You fall in battle
near the Euphrates River.
7 What nation is this,
that rises like the Nile River
overflowing its banks?
8 It is Egypt, rising with a roar
like a raging river
and saying,
“I'll flood the earth,
destroying cities, and killing
everyone in them.”
9 Go ahead, Egypt.
Tell your chariots and cavalry
to attack and fight hard.
Order your troops to march out,
with Ethiopians[d] and Libyans
carrying shields,
and the Lydians[e] armed with bows
and arrows.
10 But the Lord All-Powerful
will win this battle
and take revenge
on his enemies.
His sword will eat them
and drink their blood
until it is full.
They will be killed in the north
near the Euphrates River,
as a sacrifice to the Lord.
11 Egypt, no medicine can heal you,
not even the soothing lotion
from Gilead.
12 All nations have heard you weep;
you are disgraced,
and they know it.
Your troops fall to the ground,
stumbling over each other.
A Warning for Egypt
13-14 (B) When King Nebuchadnezzar[f] of Babylonia was on his way to attack Egypt, the Lord sent me with a warning for every Egyptian town, but especially for Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes. He said to tell them:
Prepare to defend yourselves!
Everywhere in your nation,
people are dying in war.
15 I have struck down
your mighty god Apis[g]
and chased him away.[h]
16 Your soldiers stumble
over each other
and say, “Get up!
The enemy will kill us,
unless we can escape
to our own land.”
17 Give the king of Egypt
this new name,
“Talks-Big-Does-Nothing.”
18 Egypt, I am the true king,
the Lord All-Powerful,
and as surely as I live,
those enemies who attack
will tower over you
like Mount Tabor among the hills
or Mount Carmel by the sea.
19 You will be led away captive,
so pack a few things
to bring with you.
Your capital, Memphis,
will lie empty and in ruins.
20 An enemy from the north
will attack you, beautiful Egypt,
like a fly biting a cow.
21 The foreign soldiers you hired
will turn and run.
But they are doomed,
like well-fed calves
being led to the butcher.
* 22 The enemy army will go forward
like a swarm of locusts.[i]
Your troops will feel helpless,
like a snake in a forest
23 when men with axes
start chopping down trees.
It can only hiss
and try to escape.
24 Your people will be disgraced
and captured by the enemy
from the north.
25 I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel. Soon I will punish the god Amon of Thebes[j] and the other Egyptian gods, the Egyptian kings, the people of Egypt, and everyone who trusts in the Egyptian power. 26 I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar and his army. But I also promise that Egypt will someday have people living here again, just as it had before. I, the Lord, have spoken.
The Lord Will Bring Israel Home
The Lord said:
27 (C) Israel,[k] don't be afraid.
Someday I will bring you home
from foreign lands.
You and your descendants
will live in peace and safety,
with nothing to fear.
28 So don't be afraid,
even though now
you deserve to be punished
and have been scattered
among other nations.
But when I destroy them,
I will protect you.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Footnotes
- 46.2 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3.
- 46.2 King Nebuchadnezzar: Ruled 605–562 b.c. At the time of the battle in 605 b.c., he was crown prince, but his father died a few months later, and he became king.
- 46.2 King Neco of Egypt: Neco II, ruled 609–594 b.c.
- 46.9 Ethiopians: See the note at 38.7,8.
- 46.9 Lydians: Probably hired soldiers from Lydia, an area in west-central Asia minor.
- 46.13,14 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
- 46.15 Apis: A sacred bull, kept in a temple at Memphis, Egypt, and worshiped as a god.
- 46.15 I have … him away: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 46.22 locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
- 46.25 the god Amon of Thebes: Amon was the king of the Egyptian gods and was the special god of the Egyptian kings.
- 46.27 Israel: See the note at 30.10.
Yirmeyah 46
Orthodox Jewish Bible
46 The Davar Hashem which came to Yirmeyah HaNavi against the Goyim;
2 Against Mitzrayim, against the army of Pharaoh Necho Melech Mitzrayim, which was by the river Euphrates in Carkemish (Carchemish), which Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel defeated in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim Ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah.
3 Order ye the mogen and tzinnah (large shield), and draw near to milchamah.
4 Harness the susim; and get up, ye parashim (horsemen), and stand forth with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the armor.
5 What do I see? They are filled with terror and retreat! And their gibborim are beaten down, and are fled speedily, and look not back; for fear was all around, saith Hashem.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the gibbor escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7 Who is this that riseth like the Nile, whose mayim surge like the rivers?
8 Mitzrayim riseth up like the Nile, and his mayim surge like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover eretz (earth); I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.
9 Come up, ye susim; and rage, ye chariots; and let the Gibborim come forth; Kush and Put, that handle the mogen; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the keshet.
10 For this is the Yom Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him on His adversaries; and the cherev shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their dahm; for Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os hath a zevach in eretz tzafon by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gil‘ad, and take balm, O Betulat Bat Mitzrayim; in vain shalt thou use many refu’ot (healing remedies, medicines); for thou shalt not be healed.
12 The Goyim have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled ha’aretz; for the gibbor hath stumbled against the gibbor, and they are fallen both together.
13 The Davar that Hashem spoke to Yirmeyah HaNavi, how Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel would come and strike Eretz Mitzrayim.
14 Declare ye in Mitzrayim, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes; say ye, Stand fast, prepare thee; for the cherev shall devour all around thee.
15 Why was it swept away? They stood not, because Hashem did drive them.
16 He made many to stumble, indeed, one fell upon another; and they said, Arise, and let us go back to ammenu (our own people), and to eretz moladteinu (land of our birth), from the oppressing cherev.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh Melech Mitzrayim is but a noise; he hath passed the mo’ed (time appointed).
18 As I live, saith HaMelech, Hashem Tzva’os Shmo, Surely as Tavor is among the harim, and as Carmel by the yam, so shall he [Nebuchadnezzar] come.
19 O thou Bat dwelling in Mitzrayim, prepare thyself to go into Golus; for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Mitzrayim is like a very fair eglah, but a gadfly comes; it comes out of the tzafon.
21 Also her mercenaries are in the midst of her like young calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together; they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their pekuddat.
22 The noise thereof [the sound of Egypt fleeing] shall go like a nachash; for they [her enemies] shall march in force, and come against her with axes, as choppers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith Hashem, though it cannot be searched out; because they are more in number than the arbeh (locust), innumerable.
24 The Bat Mitzrayim shall be ashamed; she shall be delivered into the yad of the Am Tzafon (People of the North).
25 Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel, saith; Hineni, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Mitzrayim, with their elohim, and their melachim; even Pharaoh, and all the botechim (ones trusting) in him;
26 And I will deliver them into the yad of those that seek their nefesh, and into the yad of Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel, and into the yad of his avadim; and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the yemei kedem (days of old), saith Hashem.
27 But fear not thou, O Avdi Ya’akov, and be not dismayed, O Yisroel; for, hineni, I will save thee from afar off, and thy zera from the land of their captivity; and Ya’akov shall return, and be in rest and securely at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Ya’akov Avdi, saith Hashem; for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of kol HaGoyim where I have scattered thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee with mishpat (justice); yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
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