Shared Word Translation
Jeremiah 46
Concerning the Nations
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
Concerning Egypt at Carchemish
Concerning Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
Prepare shield and buckler,
and draw near for battle!
Harness the horses
and mount, riders!
Take your stand with helmets;
polish the spears;
put on the coats of armor!
Why do I see it?
They are terrified;
they are turning backward.
Their warriors are beaten down
and flee in haste
without looking back.
Terror is all around,
says the LORD.
The swift cannot flee,
and the warrior cannot escape.
In the north, by the bank of the Euphrates River,
they stumble and fall.
Egypt Rises Like the Nile
Who is this rising like the Nile,
whose waters surge like rivers?
Egypt rises like the Nile,
and its waters surge like rivers.
It says, “I will rise;
I will cover the earth.
I will destroy city
and those who live in it.”
Go up, horses!
Rage, chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
Cush and Put, who handle the shield,
and the Ludim,
who handle and bend the bow.
But that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts,
a day of vengeance,
to avenge himself on his adversaries.
The sword will devour and be satisfied;
it will drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has a sacrifice
in the land of the north
by the Euphrates River.
There Is No Healing for Egypt
Go up to Gilead and take balm,
virgin daughter Egypt.
In vain you multiply medicines;
there is no healing for you.
The nations have heard your shame,
and your cry has filled the earth,
for warrior stumbled against warrior;
both of them fell together.
Nebuchadnezzar Will Strike Egypt
The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
Declare in Egypt,
make it heard in Migdol;
make it heard in Memphis
and in Tahpanhes.
Say:
“Take your stand and prepare yourself,
for the sword has devoured
all around you.
Why has your mighty one been swept away?
He did not stand,
because the LORD thrust him down.
He made many stumble;
indeed, one fell against another.
They said,
‘Rise, and let us return to our people
and to the land of our birth
because of the sword of the oppressor.’
There they called Pharaoh king of Egypt,
‘Noise—he has let the appointed time pass.’
The King Is Coming
As I live,” says the King,
whose name is the LORD of Hosts,
“surely like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea,
so he will come.
Prepare baggage for exile,
inhabitant daughter Egypt,
for Memphis will become a desolation,
burned and without inhabitant.
Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
but a gadfly from the north
has come—has come.
Even her hired soldiers in her midst
are like fattened calves,
but they also have turned;
they have fled together.
They did not stand,
for the day of their disaster
has come upon them,
the time of their visitation.
Egypt Will Be Handed Over
Her sound is like a serpent moving away,
for they come with an army;
with axes they come against her
like woodcutters.
They will cut down her forest,
says the LORD,
though it cannot be searched out,
for they are more numerous than locusts
and without number.
Daughter Egypt is put to shame;
she is given into the hand
of a people from the north.
The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Look, I am attending to Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods and her kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
I will give them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. Afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old,” says the LORD.
Do Not Fear, Jacob My Servant
“But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear,
and do not be dismayed, Israel.
For look, I am saving you from far away
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease,
and no one will make him afraid.
You, my servant Jacob, do not fear,”
says the LORD,
“for I am with you.
Though I make a complete end
of all the nations where I drove you,
of you I will not make a complete end.
I will discipline you in justice,
but I will certainly not leave you unpunished.”