Jeremiah 46

1 These are messages that Yahweh gave to the prophet Jeremiah about [other] nations.

The word of YHWH which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

2 After Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah, had been ruling Judah for almost four years, this message about Egypt was given [by Yahweh]. It was when the army of King Neco of Egypt was defeated by the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon along the Euphrates River. [This is what Yahweh said: “The officers of the army of Egypt are saying to their troops],

Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho 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 ‘Prepare your shields and march out to fight the battle!

Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

4 Put harnesses on your horses, and get on their backs. (Get into your positions/Line up) [for the battle]; put on your helmets. Sharpen your spears, and put on your armor!’

Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.

5 But what [RHQ] do I see? I see that the soldiers of Egypt will be terrified and will be fleeing. [Even] the bravest of their soldiers will be running away, without [even] looking backward! [I, ] Yahweh, say that [their soldiers] will be terrified on all sides!

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 YHWH.

6 [Even] the fastest [runners] will try to run away, but [even the greatest of] their warriors will not escape. In the north, by the Euphrates [River], they will stumble and fall.

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

7 What group is this that will be covering the land like the water of the Nile [River] covers the land when it floods?

Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

8 [It is the army of] Egypt that will be covering the land like a surging/huge flood, and they will boast that they will cover the earth and will destroy cities and the people [who live in them].

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 You [riders of] horses, charge/rush [into the battle]! You [drivers of] chariots, drive furiously! [All] you warriors from Ethiopia and Libya who carry your shields, you warriors from Lydia who shoot arrows, you come!

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 But, [you need to know that] this is the day when [I], Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, will get revenge on my enemies. With my sword [PRS] I will kill [my enemies] until I am satisfied; my sword will [be like a monster that] [MET, PRS] drinks the blood [of the animals it kills] until it is no longer thirsty. [The enemy soldiers who will be killed] in the north beside the Euphrates River [will be like] [MET] a sacrifice to [me], the Commander of the armies of angels.

For this is the day of the Master YHWH 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 Master YHWH of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11 You people [IDM] of Egypt, go up to the Gilead [region] to obtain medicine; but it will be useless to take all those medicines; you will not be healed.

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 [People in] the [other] nations will hear how you were humiliated. [People] all over the earth will hear you wailing. [Your mighty] warriors will stumble over each other and they will all fall down together.”

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 [Then] Yahweh gave me this message about King Nebuchadnezzar when he planned to attack Egypt [with his army]:

The word that YHWH spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

14 “Shout [this message] throughout Egypt! Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpenes [cities]! ‘(Get into your positions/Line up) [for the battle]; Prepare to defend yourselves, because [everyone] around you will be killed.’ [PRS, MTY]

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 Your god is a bull; Why does he fall down? He will not be able to stand up, because Yahweh will knock him down.

Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because YHWH did drive them.

16 The soldiers from other countries will stumble and fall over each other, and [then] they will say to each other, ‘Let’s get up and go back to our own people, to our own land. Let’s get away from the swords of our enemies!’

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 There [in Egypt] they will say, ‘The king of Egypt talks loudly, but when our [army] had an opportunity [to defeat our enemies], they failed.’

They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

18 [I, ] the King, who am called the Commander of the armies of angels, say this: ‘As [surely as] I live, someone’s army will be coming [to fight against the army of Egypt]. They will be [extremely powerful], [as though they were as tall] as Tabor Hill, or [as high] as Carmel [Mountain] close to the [Mediterranean] Sea.

As I live, saith the King, whose name is YHWH of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

19 [All] you people who live in Egypt, pack your possessions/clothes and prepare to be exiled. Memphis [city] will be destroyed; it will become a ruin, and no one will be living there.

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] [SIM] a beautiful young cow, but [the army of a powerful king] from the northeast will come to attack it [like] a horsefly [MET] [bites a cow].

Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

21 The (mercenaries/soldiers [from other countries] who have been hired) will become like [SIM] fat calves; but they also will turn around and run away; they will not stand [there and fight], because it will be a day when there will be a [great] disaster in Egypt, a day when their people will be [greatly] punished.

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 soldiers of] Egypt will run away, as silently as a snake scurries/crawls away. [The army of] the enemy will advance; they will march along carrying their axes like [SIM] men who cut down trees.

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 [I, ] Yahweh, say that they will kill the soldiers [of Egypt] as though [SIM] they were a forest of trees, because the enemy soldiers will be as numerous as [a swarm of] locusts.

They shall cut down her forest, saith YHWH, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

24 The people of Egypt will be humiliated; they will be conquered by people from the northeast.’

The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

25 [I, ] the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom the Israelis [worship], say, ‘I will punish Amon, [the god whom the people] of Thebes [city] worship, and [all] the [other] gods in Egypt. [I will punish] the King of Egypt and [all] those who trust in him.

YHWH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their elohim, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

26 I will cause them to be captured by those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and his army officers. But many years later, people will live in Egypt again. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.’

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 YHWH.

27 But you people of Israel who serve me, do not be at all dismayed [DOU] now, because some day I will bring you back from distant places; I will bring your descendants from the land to which they were exiled. [Then you] Israeli people will again live peacefully and safely, and there will not be any [nation] to cause you to be terrified.

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 [I, ] Yahweh, say to you people of Israel who serve me, ‘Do not be afraid, because I will be with you. I will completely destroy the nations among whom I have scattered you, but I will not completely get rid of you. I will punish you, but I will punish you only as severely as you deserve: It would be wrong if I did not punish you at all.’”

Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith YHWH: 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.