CHAPTER 46
1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Jeremy, the prophet, against heathen men;
2 to Egypt, against the host of Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt, that was beside the flood Euphrates, in Carche-mish, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 Make ye ready shield and target, and go ye forth to battle.
4 Join ye horses, and ascend [or go up], ye knights; stand ye in helmets, polish ye spears, clothe ye you in habergeons.
5 What therefore? I saw them dreadful, either afeared, and turning the backs, the strong men of them slain; and they fled swiftly, and beheld not; dread was on each side, saith the Lord.
6 A swift man shall not flee, and a strong man guess not himself to be saved; at the north, beside the flood Euphrates, they were overcome, and fell down.
7 Who is this, that ascendeth [or goeth up] as a flood, and his swells waxed great as of floods?
8 Egypt ascended [or goeth up] at the likeness of a flood, and his waves shall be moved as [the] floods; and it shall say, I shall ascend, and cover the earth; I shall lose the city, and dwellers thereof.
9 Ascend ye [or Goeth] upon horses, and make ye full out joy in chariots; and strong men, come forth, Ethiopia and Libya, holding shield, and Lydia, taking and shooting arrows.
10 Forsooth that day of the Lord God of hosts is a day of vengeance, that he take vengeance of his enemies; the sword shall devour, and shall be [full-]filled, and shall greatly be filled with the blood of them; for why the slain sacrifice of the Lord of hosts is in the land of the north, beside the flood Euphrates.
11 Thou virgin, the daughter of Egypt, go up into Gilead, and take medicine. In vain thou shalt multiply medicines; health shall not be to thee.
12 Heathen men heard thy shame, and thy yelling filled the earth; for a strong man hurtled against a strong man, and both fell down together.
13 The word which the Lord spake to Jeremy, the prophet, on that that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was to coming, and to smiting the land of Egypt.
14 Tell ye to Egypt, and make ye heard in Migdol, and sound it in Memphis, and say ye in Tahpanhes, Stand thou, and make thee ready, for a sword shall devour those things that be by thy compass.
15 Why hath thy strong man waxed rotten? He stood not, for the Lord underturned him.
16 He multiplied fallers, and a man fell down to his neighbour; and they shall say, Rise ye, and turn we again to our people, and to the land of our birth, from the face of sword of the culver.
17 Call ye the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, The time hath brought noise.
18 I live, saith the king, the Lord of hosts is his name; for it shall come as Tabor in hills, and as Carmel in the sea.
19 Thou dwelleress, the daughter of Egypt, make to thee vessels of passing over; for why Memphis shall be into wilderness, and it shall be forsaken [and] unhabitable.
20 Egypt is a shapely cow calf, and fair; a pricker from the north shall come to it.
21 Also the hired men thereof, that lived as calves made fat in the midst thereof, be turned, and fled together, and might not stand; for the day of slaying of them shall come [up] on them, the time of the visiting of them.
22 The voice of them shall sound as of brass, for they shall hasten with host, and with axes they shall come to it. As men cutting down trees,
23 they cutted down the forest thereof, saith the Lord, which may not be numbered; they be multiplied over locusts, and no number is in them.
24 The daughter of Egypt is shamed, and betaken into the hand of the people of the north,
25 said the Lord of hosts, God of Israel. Lo! I shall visit on the noise of Alexandria, and on Pharaoh, and on Egypt, and on the gods thereof, and on the kings thereof, and on them that trust in him.
26 And I shall give them into the hands of men that seek the life of them, and into the hands of Nebu-chadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants; and after these things it shall be inhabited, as in the former days, saith the Lord.
27 And thou, Jacob, my servant, dread thou not, and Israel, dread thou not; for lo! I shall make thee safe from a far place, and thy seed from the land of his captivity; and Jacob shall turn again, and shall rest, and shall have prosperity, and none shall be, that shall make him afeared.
28 And Jacob, my servant, do not thou dread, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I shall waste all folks, to which I casted thee out; but I shall not waste thee, but I shall chastise thee in doom, and I shall not spare thee as innocent.