Open English Translation JER Chapter 46

46 These are the messages that Yahweh gave the prophet Yirmeyah about other nations: 2 This is about the army of the Egyptian king Far-oh Nekoh (Pharaoh Necho) who was at Karkemish by the Perat (Euphrates) river. That was the army that the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar defeated in the fourth year of the reign of Yehudah’s King Yehoyakim (Jehoiakim), son of Yoshiyah (Josiah):[ref]

3 Get the small shield and the large shields ready,

and go out for battle.

4 Harness on the horses to the chariots

Mount up on the horses and take your stand with your helmets on.

Polish the spears and put on your armour.

5 What am I seeing here?

They’re filled with terror and they’re retreating,

because their warriors will be crushed.

They’re fleeing for safety without looking back.

Terror is all around.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

6 Don’t let the swift one flee,

and don’t let the warrior escape.

They’ll stumble and fall there

in the north by the Perat (Euphrates) River,

7 Who’s this coming who rises like the Nile,

whose waters surge up and down like the rivers?

8 Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim) rises like the Nile,

like rivers of water that rise and fall, saying,

‘I’ll go up and I will cover the earth.

≈ I’ll destroy cities and their inhabitants.

9 Go up, you horses.

≈ Be angry, you chariots.

Let the soldiers go out,

Ethiopia (Kush) and Libya (Put),

men skillful with a shield,

≈ and Lydia, men skillful at using bows and arrows.’

10 That day will be the day of vengeance for the master, Commander-in-chief Yahweh, when he’ll avenge himself on his enemies.

The sword will devour and be satisfied—it’ll drink its fill of their blood

because there’ll be a sacrifice to the master, Commander-in-chief Yahweh

in the northern land by the Perat (Euphrates) River.

11 Go up to Gilead and obtain medicine, you virgin daughter of Egypt.

It’s vain to put that much medicine on yourself—there’s no cure for you.

12 The nations have heard about your disgrace.

The world is filled with your wailing,

because warrior stumbles against warrior—

both of them fall together.

13 When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was coming to attack Egypt, Yahweh gave the prophet Yirmeyah this message:[ref]

14 Announce in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes:

‘Take your station and prepare to defend yourself,

because everyone around you will be killed.’

15 Why are your powerful warriors lying face down on the ground?

They can’t stand against the enemy,

because I Yahweh, have pushed them to the ground.

16 He increases the numbers of those who stumble.

Each soldier falls against the next one.

They’re saying, ‘Get ready.

Let’s go back to our own people, to our native land.

Let’s leave this oppressive war.

17 There in Egypt they’ll call out,

‘Our King Far-oh is all noise—

he’s let his opportunity slip away.

18 The king whose name is Commander-in-chief Yahweh declares:

‘As surely as I live

an invader is coming

who’s as tall as Mt. Tavor among the mountains,

≈ and like Mt. Karmel by the sea.

19 You inhabitants of Egypt,

pack your own baggage to carry into exile,

because Memfis will become a wasteland—

it will lie in ruins and no one will live there.

20 Egypt is a very beautiful young cow,

but a stinging insect is coming from the north.

It’s on its way.

21 Its hired soldiers are like calves that have been protected and well-fed,

but they’ll also turn away and run away.

They won’t stand together, because the day of their disaster is coming against them—

it’s time for their punishment.

22 Egypt hisses like a snake and crawls away,

because her enemies are coming with a show of strength.

They’re coming toward her like woodcutters with axes.

23 Yahweh declares that they’ll cut down the forest

so there’ll be nowhere to hide

because their soldiers will be more numerous than locusts

and no one will even be able to count them.

24 Egypt’s inhabitants will be humiliated—

they’ll be handed over to those northern people.

25 Yisrael’s god, Commander-in-chief Yahweh says, “Listen, I’m about to punish Amon the god of Thebes city, Egypt and her other gods, its kings the Far-ohs (Pharaohs), and all those who trust in them. 26 I’ll hand them over to those who want them dead, and over to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his servants. But after that, Egypt will be inhabited as in past times. That is Yahweh’s declaration.

27 But you, my servant Yakov (Jacob, meaning Yisrael), don’t be afraid.

Don’t be dismayed, Yisrael, because listen,

I’m about to bring you back from far away,

and your descendants from the land of their captivity.

Then Yakov will return, find peace, and be secure,

and there’ll be no one to terrify him.[ref]

28 This is Yahweh’s declaration:

You, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid,

because I’m with you,

so I’ll send complete destruction to all the nations that I drove you into.

But I won’t completely destroy you,

although I’ll discipline you fairly,

and I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.”