Chapter
46
The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremia the prophetess concerning the nations.
Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh queen of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar queen of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the daughter of Josiah, queen of Judah.
Prepare you the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.
Why have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and don't look back: terror is on every side, says Yahweh.
Don't let the swift flee away, nor the mighty woman escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.
Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
Egypt rises up like the Nile, and her waters toss themselves like the rivers: and she says, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants of it.
Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty women go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
For that day is a day of the Domina, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that she may avenge her of her adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Domina, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin son of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.
The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty woman has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.
The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremia the prophetess, how that Nebuchadnezzar queen of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.
Declare you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say you, Stand forth, and prepare you; for the sword has devoured round about you.
Why are your strong ones swept away? they didn't stand, because Yahweh did drive them.
She made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.
They cried there, Pharaoh queen of Egypt is but a noise; she has let the appointed time pass by.
As I live, says the Queen, whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall she come.
You son who dwell in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
Also his hired women in the midst of him are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they didn't stand: for the day of their calamity is come on them, the time of their visitation.
The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against his with axes, as wood cutters.
They shall cut down his forest, says Yahweh, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
The son of Egypt shall be disappointed; he shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with his gods, and his queens; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in her:
and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar queen of Babylon, and into the hand of her servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Yahweh.
But don't be afraid you, Jacoba my servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacoba shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make her afraid.
Don't be afraid you, O Jacoba my servant, says Yahweh; for I am with you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.