¹The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:

²Concerning Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was at the river of Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down in the year of the fourth of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:

³Arrange the buckler and the large shield, and draw near for battle.

⁴Harness the horses, and mount up, you horsemen; take your stand in helmets; scour the spears; put on the armor.

⁵Why have I seen them terrified, turned backward? And their mighty men are crushed, and they flee in flight, and do not turn back; terror is from round about, the utterance of Yahweh.

⁶Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape; in the north, at the side of the river of Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷Who is this that rises like the River, like rivers whose waters toss?

⁸Egypt rises like the River, and like rivers the waters toss; and it said, I will rise, I will cover the land, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it.

⁹Go up, horses; rave, chariotry; and let the mighty men go forth—Cush and Put, who wield the shield, and the Ludites, who wield, who bend the bow.

¹⁰And that day belongs to the Adonai Yahweh of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his enemies; and the sword will devour and be satisfied, and drink its fill of their blood; for the Adonai Yahweh of hosts has a sacrifice in the land of the north, by the river of Euphrates.

¹¹Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain you have multiplied remedies, there is no bandage for you.

¹²Nations have heard your shame, and your outcry has filled the land; for mighty man has stumbled against mighty man, together the two of them have fallen.

¹³The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴Tell in Egypt, and make it heard in Migdol, and make it heard in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say, Take your stand and make yourself ready, for the sword has eaten all around you.

¹⁵Why was your mighty one swept away? He did not stand, for Yahweh pushed him down.

¹⁶He multiplied those who stumble; also each one fell against his neighbor, and they said, Rise, and let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, from the face of the sword of the one who oppresses.

¹⁷There they called Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Tumult; he has let the appointed time pass by.

¹⁸As I live, the utterance of the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name: surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, he will come.

¹⁹Make for yourself the gear of exile, O you who dwell, daughter of Egypt; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be set on fire, with no one dwelling.

²⁰A very beautiful heifer is Egypt; a gadfly from the north has come, has come.

²¹Even her hired men in her midst are like calves of the stall; for even they turned, fled together, they did not stand; for the day of their disaster came upon them, the time of their punishment.

²²Her sound goes like the snake; for they go with an army, and with axes they come to her like those who cut down trees.

²³They have cut down her forest, the utterance of Yahweh, for it cannot be searched out; for they are more numerous than locusts, and there is no number to them.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is given into the hand of the people of the north.

²⁵Yahweh of hosts the God of Israel has said: Behold me, I am punishing to Amon from Thebes, and over pharaoh, and over Egypt, and over her gods, and over her kings, and over pharaoh, and over those who trust in him.

²⁶And I will give them into the hand of those who seek their living being, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his slaves; and after that she will dwell as in the days of old, the utterance of Yahweh.

²⁷But you, do not fear, my slave Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for look, I am about to save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob will return and be undisturbed and at ease, with no one to terrify him.

²⁸You, do not fear, my slave Jacob, the utterance of Yahweh, for I am with you; for I will make a complete end among all the nations to which I have driven you, but you I will not make a complete end; I will discipline you with justice, and by no means will I leave you unpunished.