An oracle about Egypt: Pharaoh Necho's army is defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish. Egypt will be handed to Babylon, but God promises Israel not to fear, for he will save them from afar.
1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles ;
2 Against Egypt , against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt , which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish , which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah .
3 Order ye the buckler and shield , and draw near to battle .
4 Harness the horses ; and get up , ye horsemen , and stand forth with your helmets ; furbish the spears , and put on the brigandines .
5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back ? and their mighty ones are beaten down , and are fled apace , and look not back : for fear was round about , saith the LORD .
6 Let not the swift flee away , nor the mighty man escape ; they shall stumble , and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates .
7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood , whose waters are moved as the rivers ?
8 Egypt riseth up like a flood , and his waters are moved like the rivers ; and he saith , I will go up , and will cover the earth ; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
9 Come up , ye horses ; and rage , ye chariots ; and let the mighty men come forth ; the Ethiopians and the Libyans , that handle the shield ; and the Lydians , that handle and bend the bow .
10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts , a day of vengeance , that he may avenge him of his adversaries : and the sword shall devour , and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood : for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates .
11 Go up into Gilead , and take balm , O virgin , the daughter of Egypt : in vain shalt thou use many medicines ; for thou shalt not be cured .
12 The nations have heard of thy shame , and thy cry hath filled the land : for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty , and they are fallen both together .
13 The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet , how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt .
14 Declare ye in Egypt , and publish in Migdol , and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes : say ye, Stand fast , and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15 Why are thy valiant men swept away ? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
16 He made many to fall , yea, one fell upon another : and they said , Arise , and let us go again to our own people , and to the land of our nativity , from the oppressing sword .
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise ; he hath passed the time appointed .
18 As I live , saith the King , whose name is the LORD of hosts , Surely as Tabor is among the mountains , and as Carmel by the sea , so shall he come .
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt , furnish thyself to go into captivity : for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant .
20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer , but destruction cometh ; it cometh out of the north .
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks ; 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 visitation .
22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent ; for they shall march with an army , and come against her with axes , as hewers of wood .
23 They shall cut down her forest , saith the LORD , though it cannot be searched ; because they are more than the grasshoppers , and are innumerable .
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded ; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north .
25 The LORD of hosts , the God of Israel , saith ; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No , and Pharaoh , and Egypt , with their gods , and their kings ; even Pharaoh , and all them that trust in him:
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives , and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon , and into the hand of his servants : and afterward it shall be inhabited , as in the days of old , saith the LORD .
27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob , and be not dismayed , O Israel : for, behold, I will save thee from afar off , and thy seed from the land of their captivity ; and Jacob shall return , and be in rest and at ease , and none shall make him afraid .
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant , saith the LORD : for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure ; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished .