1
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
2
Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnechoking of Egypt, which was by the riverEuphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzarking of Babylonsmote in the fourthyear of Jehoiakim the son of Josiahking of Judah.
3Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
4Harness 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 fledapace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.
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Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty manescape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the northby the riverEuphrates.
7
Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
8Egypt 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.
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For this is the day of the LordGOD 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 LordGOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the northcountry by the riverEuphrates.
11
Go up into Gilead, and takebalm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use manymedicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
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The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mightyman hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallenbothtogether.
13
The word that the LORDspake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzarking of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14Declare 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.
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He made many to fall, yea, onefell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressingsword.
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They did cry there, Pharaohking of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
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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.
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O thou daughterdwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20Egypt is like a very fairheifer, but destructioncometh; it comethout of the north.
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Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fattedbullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled awaytogether: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
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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.
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They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
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The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
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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:
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And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzarking 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 servantJacob, 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.
28Fear 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 whollyunpunished.