Jeremiah 46-47

New King James Version

Judgment on Egypt

46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against ^(A)the nations. ²Against ^(B)Egypt.

^(C)Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(D)defeated in the ^(E)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³“Order^[a] the ^[b]buckler and shield,
And draw near to battle!
⁴Harness the horses,
And mount up, you horsemen!
Stand forth with your helmets,
Polish the spears,
^(F)Put on the armor!
⁵Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?
Their mighty ones are beaten down;
They have speedily fled,
And did not look back,
For ^(G)fear was all around,” says the Lord.
⁶“Do not let the swift flee away,
Nor the mighty man escape;
They will ^(H)stumble and fall
Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

⁷“Who is this coming up ^(I)like a flood,
Whose waters move like the rivers?
⁸Egypt rises up like a flood,
And its waters move like the rivers;
And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
⁹Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!
And let the mighty men come forth:
^[c]The Ethiopians and ^[d]the Libyans who handle the shield,
And the Lydians ^(J)who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰For this is ^(K)the day of the Lord God of hosts,
A day of vengeance,
That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.
^(L)The sword shall devour;
It shall be ^[e]satiated and made drunk with their blood;
For the Lord God of hosts ^(M)has a sacrifice
In the north country by the River Euphrates.

¹¹“Go^(N) up to Gilead and take balm,
^(O)O virgin, the daughter of Egypt;
In vain you will use many medicines;
^(P)You shall not be cured.
¹²The nations have heard of your ^(Q)shame,
And your cry has filled the land;
For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty;
They both have fallen together.”

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and ^(R)strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^(S)Migdol;
Proclaim in ^[f]Noph and in ^(T)Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves,
For the sword devours all around you.’
¹⁵Why are your valiant men swept away?
They did not stand
Because the Lord drove them away.
¹⁶He made many fall;
Yes, ^(U)one fell upon another.
And they said, ‘Arise!
^(V)Let us go back to our own people
And to the land of our nativity
From the oppressing sword.’
¹⁷They cried there,
‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise.
He has passed by the appointed time!’

¹⁸“As I live,” says the King,
^(W)Whose name is the Lord of hosts,
“Surely as Tabor is among the mountains
And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
¹⁹O ^(X)you daughter dwelling in Egypt,
Prepare yourself ^(Y)to go into captivity!
For ^[g]Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.

²⁰“Egypt is a very pretty ^(Z)heifer,
But destruction comes, it comes ^(AA)from the north.
²¹Also her mercenaries are in her midst like ^[h]fat bulls,
For they also are turned back,
They have fled away together.
They did not stand,
For ^(AB)the day of their calamity had come upon them,
The time of their punishment.
²²^(AC)Her noise shall go like a serpent,
For they shall march with an army
And come against her with axes,
Like those who chop wood.

²³“They shall ^(AD)cut down her forest,” says the Lord,
“Though it cannot be searched,
Because they are innumerable,
And more numerous than ^(AE)grasshoppers.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed;
She shall be delivered into the hand
Of ^(AF)the people of the north.”

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on ^[i]Amon of ^(AG)No,^[j] and Pharaoh and Egypt, ^(AH)with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who ^(AI)trust in him. ²⁶^(AJ)And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. ^(AK)Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the Lord.

God Will Preserve Israel^(AL)

²⁷“But^(AM) do not fear, O My servant Jacob,
And do not be dismayed, O Israel!
For behold, I will ^(AN)save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity;
Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease;
No one shall make him afraid.
²⁸Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord,
“For I am with you;
For I will make a complete end of all the nations
To which I have driven you,
But I will not make ^(AO)a complete end of you.
I will rightly ^(AP)correct you,
For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”

Judgment on Philistia

47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(AQ)against the Philistines, ^(AR)before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

²Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, ^(AS)waters rise ^(AT)out of the north,
And shall be an overflowing flood;
They shall overflow the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell within;
Then the men shall cry,
And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
³At the ^(AU)noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses,
At the rushing of his chariots,
At the rumbling of his wheels,
The fathers will not look back for their children,
^[k]Lacking courage,
⁴Because of the day that comes to plunder all the ^(AV)Philistines,
To cut off from ^(AW)Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains;
For the Lord shall plunder the Philistines,
^(AX)The remnant of the country of ^(AY)Caphtor.^[l]
⁵^(AZ)Baldness has come upon Gaza,
^(BA)Ashkelon is cut off
With the remnant of their valley.
How long will you cut yourself?

⁶“O you ^(BB)sword of the Lord,
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself up into your scabbard,
Rest and be still!
⁷How can ^[m]it be quiet,
Seeing the Lord has ^(BC)given it a charge
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore?
There He has ^(BD)appointed it.”