The word of יהוה that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the nations.

Concerning Mitsrayim, concerning the army of Pharaoh Nekoh, king of Mitsrayim, which was by the Euphrates River in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babel struck in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah.

Prepare shield and large shield, and advance to war.

Harness the horses and mount the riders; stand with helmets! Polish the spears, put on the body armor!

Why have I seen them? They are terrified, retreating backward. Their warriors are struck down, fleeing in haste, and they do not turn back. Terror is all around, declares יהוה.

Let the swift not flee, nor the warrior escape. To the north by the Euphrates River they stumbled and fell.

Who is this rising like the Nile, whose waters surge like rivers?

Mitsrayim rises like the Nile, and like rivers its waters surge. He said, 'I will rise, I will cover the earth; I will destroy city and its inhabitants.'

Mount the horses, and let the chariots charge! Let the warriors of Kush and Put, who hold shields, and the Ludim, who draw bows, go forth.

But that day belongs to Adonai, יהוה of Hosts, a day of vengeance to take vengeance on his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satisfied, and drink its fill of their blood. For there is a sacrifice to Adonai, יהוה of Hosts, in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Go up, Gil'ad, and take balm, virgin daughter of Mitsrayim! In vain you multiply remedies; there is no healing for you.

The nations have heard your shame, and your cry has filled the earth. For warrior has stumbled against warrior; both have fallen. They have fallen together.

This is the message that יהוה spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babel to strike the land of Mitsrayim.

Announce in Mitsrayim and proclaim in Migdol; proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes! Say, 'Take your stand and prepare yourself, for the sword surrounds you.'

Why have your mighty ones been overthrown? They did not stand, because יהוה pushed them.

He multiplies the stumbling; indeed, one falls against his neighbor. They say, 'Rise up, and let us return to our people and to our native land, away from the sword of the oppressor.'

There they cry out, 'Pharaoh king of Mitsrayim is mere noise; he has let the appointed time pass.'

As I live, declares the King, whose name is יהוה of Hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, he will come.

Prepare your baggage for exile, daughter of Mitsrayim! For Noph will become a desolation and will be burned, with no inhabitant.

Mitsrayim is a beautiful heifer; a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

Her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves. For they too have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, for the day of their disaster has come upon them, the time of their punishment.

Her sound goes like a serpent; for they march with an army and come against her with axes, like woodcutters.

They will cut down her forest, declares יהוה, though it cannot be searched out. For they are more numerous than locusts; they are countless.

The daughter of Mitsrayim is put to shame; she is given into the hand of a people from the north.

יהוה of Hosts, the Elohim of Yisra'el, says: 'Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Mitsrayim, and its gods, and its kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him.'

'I will give them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babel, and into the hand of his servants. But afterward it will be inhabited as in the days of old, declares יהוה.'

'But you, my servant Ya'aqov, do not fear, and do not be dismayed, Yisra'el. For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Ya'aqov will return and be at ease, and secure, with no one to make him afraid.'

'You, my servant Ya'aqov, do not fear, declares יהוה, for I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you. But of you I will not make a full end; I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means let you go unpunished.'