CHAPTER 46
1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2Concerning Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates* by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3Prepare buckler and shield!
move forward to battle!
4Harness the horses,
charioteers, mount up!
Fall in, with helmets on;
polish your spears, put on your armor.
5What do I see?
Are they panicking, falling apart?
Their warriors are hammered back,
They flee headlong
never making a stand.
Terror on every side—
oracle of the LORD!a
6The swift cannot flee,
nor the warrior escape:
There up north, on the banks of the Euphrates
they stumble and fall.
7Who is this? Like the Nile, it rears up;
like rivers, its waters surge.
8Egypt rears up like the Nile,
like rivers, its waters surge.
“I will rear up,” it says, “and cover the earth,
destroying the city and its people.b
9Forward, horses!
charge, chariots!
March forth, warriors,
Cush and Put, bearing shields,
Archers of Lud, stretching bows!”
10Today belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts,
a day of vengeance, vengeance on his foes!
The sword devours and is sated, drunk with their blood:
for the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
in the land of the north, on the River Euphrates.c
11Go up to Gilead, procure balm,
Virgin daughter Egypt!
No use to multiply remedies;
for you there is no healing.d
12The nations hear your cries,
your screaming fills the earth.
Warrior stumbles against warrior,
both collapse together.e
13f The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack the land of Egypt:*
14Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol,
announce in Memphis and Tahpanhes!
Say: Fall in, get ready,
the sword has devoured your neighbors.g
15Why has Apis* fled?
Your champion did not stand,
Because the LORD thrust him down;
16he stumbled repeatedly then collapsed.
They said to each other,
“Get up! We must return to our own people,
To the land of our birth,
away from the destroying sword.”h
17Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
“Braggart-missed-his-chance.”*
18As I live, says the King
whose name is LORD of hosts,
Like Tabor above mountains,
like Carmel* above the sea, he comes.
19Pack your bags for exile,
enthroned daughter Egypt;
Memphis shall become a wasteland,
an empty ruin.
20Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
a horsefly from the north keeps coming.
21Even the mercenaries in her ranks
are like fattened calves;
They too turn and flee together—
they do not stand their ground,
For their day of ruin comes upon them,
their time of punishment.
22Her voice is like a snake!
Yes, they come in force;
They attack her with axes,
like those who fell trees.
23They cut down her forest—oracle of the LORD—
impenetrable though it be;
More numerous than locusts,
they cannot be counted.
24Shamed is daughter Egypt,
handed over to a people from the north.
25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: See! I will punish Amon* of Thebes and Egypt, gods, kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.i
26I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and to his officers. But later, Egypt shall be inhabited again, as in days of old—oracle of the LORD.j
27But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear;
do not be dismayed, Israel!
Listen! I will deliver you from far-off lands;
your offspring, from the land of their exile.
Jacob shall again find rest,
secure, with none to frighten him.k
28You, Jacob my servant, must not fear—oracle of the LORD—
for I am with you;
I will make an end of all the nations
to which I have driven you,
But of you I will not make an end:
I will chastise you as you deserve,
I cannot let you go unpunished.l
* [46:1–51:64] A collection of oracles against foreign nations constitutes the final section of the Hebrew text of Jeremiah; in the Greek text they follow 25:13. The oracles here appear to be arranged in loose chronological order: 46:2 mentions the fourth year of Jehoiakim; the oracles in 50:1–51:64 are evidently from the end of Jeremiah’s life.
* [46:2] Carchemish on the Euphrates: the western terminus of the Mesopotamian trade route, where Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Neco in 605 B.C., thus gaining undisputed control of Syria and Palestine.
* [46:13] In 601 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar advanced into Egypt itself, but finally had to withdraw to Syria.
* [46:15] Apis: the chief god of Memphis; the black bull honored as an incarnation of the god Ptah and, later, of the god Osiris.
* [46:17] “Braggart-missed-his-chance”: the Hebrew phrase may contain a pun on the Pharaoh’s name or royal title.
* [46:18] Tabor…Carmel: mountains in Palestine that seem to tower over their surroundings as Nebuchadnezzar towers over the nations in his path as he makes his way toward Egypt.
* [46:25] Amon: the sun-god worshiped at Thebes in Upper Egypt.
c. [46:10] Dt 32:42; Is 13:9; Ez 39:17–20.
d. [46:11] Jer 8:22; 51:8; Ez 30:21–22.
f. [46:13] Jer 43:10–11; 44:30; Is 19:1.
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