Jeremiah 46
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord’s Messages About the Nations
46 These messages about different nations came to Jeremiah the prophet from the Lord.
Messages About Egypt
2 This message is about the nation of Egypt. It is about the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt. His army was defeated at the town of Carchemish. Carchemish is on the Euphrates River. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated the army of Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish in the fourth year that Jehoiakim[a] son of Josiah was king of Judah. The Lord said,
3 “Get your large and small shields ready.
March out for battle.
4 Get the horses ready.
Soldiers, get on your horses.
Go to your places for battle.
Put your helmets on.
Sharpen your spears.
Put your armor on.
5 What do I see?
That army is afraid.
The soldiers are running away.
Their brave soldiers are defeated.
They run away in a hurry.
They don’t look back.
There is danger all around.”
This is what the Lord said.
6 “Fast men cannot run away.
Strong soldiers cannot escape.
They will all stumble and fall.
This will happen in the north, by the Euphrates River.
7 Who is coming like the Nile River?
Who is coming like that strong, fast river?
8 It is Egypt that comes like the rising Nile River.
It is Egypt that comes like that strong, fast river.
Egypt says, ‘I will come and cover the earth.
I will destroy the cities and the people in them.’
9 Horse soldiers, charge into battle.
Chariot drivers, drive fast.
March on, brave soldiers.
Soldiers from Cush and Put, carry your shields.
Soldiers from Lydia, use your bows.
10 “But on that day, the Lord God All-Powerful will win.
He will give his enemies the punishment they deserve.
His sword will kill until it is finished,
until it has satisfied its thirst for blood.
Yes, the Lord God All-Powerful will kill them as a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
11 “Egypt, go to Gilead and get some medicine.
You will make up many medicines, but they will not help.
You will not be healed.
12 The nations will hear you crying.
Your cries will be heard all over the earth.
One ‘brave soldier’ will run into another ‘brave soldier.’
And both ‘brave soldiers’ will fall down together.”
13 This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about Nebuchadnezzar coming to attack Egypt.
14 “Announce this message in Egypt.
Tell it in the city of Migdol.
Tell it in Memphis and Tahpanhes.
‘Get ready for war,
because people all around you are being killed with swords.’
15 Egypt, your strong soldiers will be killed.
They will not be able to stand
because the Lord will push them down.
16 They will stumble again and again.
They will fall over each other.
They will say, ‘Get up; let’s go back to our own people.
Let us go back to our homeland.
Our enemy is defeating us.
We must get away.’
17 In their homelands, those soldiers will say,
‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is only a lot of noise.
His time of glory is over.’”
18 This message is from the King.
The King is the Lord All-Powerful.
“I promise, as surely as I live, a powerful leader will come.
He will be like Mount Tabor or Mount Carmel among smaller mountains.
19 People of Egypt, pack your things.
Get ready for captivity,
because Memphis will be a ruined, empty land.
Those cities will be destroyed,
and no one will live there.
20 “Egypt is like a beautiful cow.
But a horsefly[b] is coming from the north[c] to attack her.
21 The hired soldiers in Egypt’s army are like fat calves.
They will all turn and run away.
They will not stand strong against the attack.
Their time of destruction is coming.
They will soon be punished.
22 Egypt is like a snake hissing
and trying to escape.
The enemy comes closer and closer,
and the Egyptian army is trying to slither away.
The enemy will attack Egypt with axes,
like men cutting down trees.”
23 This is what the Lord says:
“They will chop down Egypt’s forest.
There are many trees in that forest,
but they will all be cut down.
There are more enemy soldiers than locusts.
There are so many soldiers that no one can count them.
24 Egypt will be ashamed.
The enemy from the north will defeat her.”
25 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, “Very soon I will punish Amon,[d] the god of Thebes, and I will punish Pharaoh, Egypt, and her gods. I will punish the kings of Egypt, and I will punish the people who depend on Pharaoh. 26 I will let all of them be defeated by their enemies—their enemies want to kill them. I will give the people to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his servants.
“Long ago, Egypt lived in peace. And after all these times of trouble, Egypt will live in peace again.” This is what the Lord said.
A Message for Northern Israel
27 “Jacob, my servant, do not be afraid.
Do not be frightened, Israel.
I will save you from those faraway places.
I will save your children from the countries where they are captives.
Jacob will have peace and safety again,
and no one will make him afraid.”
28 This is what the Lord says.
“Jacob, my servant, do not be afraid.
I am with you.
I sent you away to many different places.
But I will not destroy you completely.
But I will destroy all those nations.
You must be punished for the bad things you did.
So I will not let you escape your punishment.
I will discipline you, but I will be fair.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 46:2 the fourth year … Jehoiakim This was about 605 B.C.
- Jeremiah 46:20 horsefly A large insect that often flies around cows and horses and bites them.
- Jeremiah 46:20 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
- Jeremiah 46:25 Amon For many centuries Amon was the most important god of Egypt. At the time of this prophecy, he was not worshiped as much in northern Egypt. But he was still the most important god in southern Egypt, especially around the old Egyptian capital city of Thebes.
Jeremiah 46
King James Version
46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.
5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.
13 The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them.
16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.
27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
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