The Lord talks about the land of Egypt
1The Lord talked to the prophet Jeremiah about the other nations. 2He talked about Egypt, and about the soldiers of Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt. The soldiers were at Carchemish next to the Euphrates River. The army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked the soldiers of Pharaoh and defeated them in the 4th year after Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had become king_of_Judah. 3Pharaoh said:
‘Take your shields and go to war.
4Get the horses ready.
Soldiers, get on your horses, and prepare yourselves.
Put your helmets on your heads,
sharpen your spears and put on your armour.’
5The Lord says:
‘I see soldiers who become afraid and flee.
Some soldiers die, and other soldiers run away.
They don't stand still, and they don't turn_around.
Their enemies are around them.
6The fastest men can not run away.
The soldiers can not escape.
They stumble and fall
at the Euphrates River in the north.
7Who is that, coming like the Nile River
roaring and flowing strongly over its sides?
8It is Egypt flowing over its sides,
like a big river when its water roars.
Egypt says: “I want to flow strongly
over my sides.
I want to flow all over the world.
I want to destroy all the towns and cities
and kill the people who live there.”
9Horses, you must run fast.
War-chariots, you must drive hard.
Soldiers, you must go, all the soldiers
from the lands of Cush and Put,
all the soldiers from the land of Lydia
who have bows_and_arrows.
10But the day belongs to the Lord,
who rules over all.
That is the day when
He will punish his enemies.
The enemies will kill a lot of soldiers.
The blood will flow because it will be an offering
in the land of the north
near the Euphrates River.
It will be an offering to the Lord,
who rules over all.
11Egypt, you must go to Gilead.
Go and get balm because
all your medicine did not help,
and you were not healed.
12The nations on the earth will hear
that you have lost the war
and you will shout with pain,
because your soldiers
will fall over each other and
they will lie down on the ground.’
13The Lord talked to the prophet Jeremiah. It was at the time when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Egypt to fight against them. 14The Lord said:
‘Go and tell it in Egypt,
tell it to the people in the city of Migdol,
and tell it to the people in the cities
of Memphis and Tahpanhes. Tell them:
“Your soldiers must prepare and be ready,
because the enemies are killing all the people.”
15And why did your soldiers run away?
They did not keep on fighting
because the Lord pushed them down
and made them lose.
16They fell over each other and said:
“Get up. We must go back to our people at home,
to the places where we were born,
away from the swords of our enemies
who have killed so many of our people.”
17They gave a new name to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. His new name is: “The man who boasts but does nothing”.’
18The King speaks. His name is
The Lord who rules over all.
He says: ‘As sure as I live,
the enemies that come are strong,
as strong as Mount Tabor
between the mountains,
like Mount Carmel near the sea.
19People of Egypt,
get everything that you have, and tie it together,
because the enemies will
catch you and take you away.
They will destroy the town of Memphis,
and there will no longer be people living there.
20Egypt is like a beautiful young calf,
but armies will come from the north
and they will sting like a swarm of horseflies.
21Egypt has hired soldiers.
They were like fat calves,
but they have turned_around and run away.
Not one of those soldiers stayed to fight.
The day has come when they will be defeated,
when the Lord will punish them.
22Egypt will flee like a hissing snake
that goes away when
the woodcutters come into the forest.
The soldiers of Babylon are going to war.
They come like woodcutters
23who cut down the trees with their axes
in the big forest of Egypt.
There are more soldiers than locusts,
and no one can count them.
24Egypt will lose the war,
and they will be ashamed.
The nation from the north will defeat them.’
25The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will now punish Amon, the god of the city of Thebes. I will also punish Pharaoh and his gods and his kings because they think that Pharaoh can help them. 26I will give them to their enemies who want to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and his soldiers. But after that, the people of Egypt will live in their land again as they did long ago.’ This is what the Lord said.
The descendants of Jacob will come back
27The Lord says:
‘People of Jacob, my servants,
don't be afraid. Israelites,
don't fear because I will save you
in all the far away places where you are.
I will save your descendants
from the land where they are prisoners.
The descendants of Jacob
will come back and they will be safe,
and they will not be afraid of anyone.’
28The Lord says:
‘Descendants of Jacob, you are my servants.
You must not be afraid,
because I am with you.
I have chased you away to other nations,
but I will make those nations disappear.
But I will not let you disappear.
I will punish you fairly.
I have to do it,
because I can not say that you are innocent.’
