Jeremiah 26
2 For Egypt, against the Power of Pharao Nechao King of Egypt,
who was by the river Euphrates in Charmis, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
smote in the fourth year of Joakim king of Juda.
3 Take up arms and spears, and draw
nigh to battle; 4 and harness the
horses: mount, ye horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the
spears, and put on your breast-plates.
5 Why do they fear, and turn back?
even because their mighty men shall be slain: they have utterly fled, and
being hemmed in they have not rallied, saith the Lord.
6 Let not the swift flee, and let not
the mighty man escape to the north: the forces at
Euphrates are become feeble, and they have fallen.
7 Who is this
that shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll
their waves?
8 The waters of Egypt shall come up
like a river: and he said, I will go up, and will cover the earth, and will
destroy the dwellers in it. 9 Mount ye
the horses, prepare the chariots; go forth, ye warriors of the Ethiopians, and
Libyans armed with shields; and mount, ye Lydians, bend the bow.
10 And that day
shall be to the Lord our God a day of vengeance, to
take vengeance on his enemies: and the sword of the Lord shall devour, and be
glutted, and be drunken with their blood: for the Lord
has a sacrifice from the land of the north at the
river Euphrates.
11 Go up to Galaad, and take balm for
the virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain hast thou multiplied thy medicines;
there is no help in thee. 12 The
nations have heard thy voice, and the land has been filled with thy cry: for
the warriors have fainted fighting one against another,
and both are fallen together.
13 The Words which the Lord spoke by Jeremiah,
concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt.
14 Proclaim
it at Magdol, and declare
it at Memphis: say ye, Stand up, and prepare; for the
sword has devoured thy yew-tree.
15 Wherefore has Apis fled from thee?
thy choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him.
16 And thy multitude has fainted and
fallen; and each one said to his neighbour, Let us arise, and return into our
country to our people, from the Grecian sword.
17 Call ye the name of Pharao Nechao
king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed. 18 As I live, saith the Lord God, he shall come as
Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea.
19 O daughter of Egypt dwelling
at home, prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis
shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no
inhabitants in it.
20 Egypt is a fair heifer,
but destruction from the north is come upon her.
21 Also her hired
soldiers in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed
in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not,
for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their
retribution. 22 Their voice is as
that of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand;
they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest,
saith the Lord, for their number cannot at all be
conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt is
confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north.
25 Behold, I
will avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them
that trust in him.
27 But fear not thou, my servant
Jacob, neither be thou alarmed, Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from
afar, and thy seed from their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at
ease, and sleep, and there shall be no one to trouble him.
28 Fear not thou, my servant Jacob,
saith the Lord; for I am with thee: she
that was without fear and in luxury, has been
delivered up: for I will make a full end of every nation among whom I have
thrust thee forth; but I will not cause thee to fail: yet will I chastise thee
in the way of judgment, and will not hold thee entirely guiltless.