Jeremiah 46–48

1This is the word of the LORD about the nations—the word that came to Jeremiah the prophet

2concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:

3“Deploy your shields, small and large; advance for battle!

4Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears; put on armor!

5Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.

6“The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.

7Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn?

8Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters churn like rivers, boasting, ‘I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy the cities and their people.’

9Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth— Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.

10For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance against His foes. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, until it is quenched with their blood. For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

11Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.

12The nations have heard of your shame, and your outcry fills the earth, because warrior stumbles over warrior and both of them have fallen together.”

13This is the word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

14“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and prepare yourself, for the sword devours those around you.’

15Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.

16They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.’

17There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’

18As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.

19Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.

20Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

21Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them— the time of their punishment.

22Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.

23They will chop down her forest, declares the LORD, dense though it may be, for they are more numerous than locusts; they cannot be counted.

24The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be delivered into the hands of the people of the north.”

25The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.

26I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives—of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old, declares the LORD.

27But you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.

28And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

1This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

2This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and all who dwell in the land will wail

3at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.

4For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

5The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?

6‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’

7How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”

1Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.

2There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

3A voice cries out from Horonaim: ‘Devastation and great destruction!’

4Moab will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.

5For on the ascent to Luhith they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Horonaim cries of distress resound over the destruction:

6‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’

7Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.

8The destroyer will move against every city, and not one town will escape. The valley will also be ruined, and the high plain will be destroyed, as the LORD has said.

9Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her cities will become desolate, with no one to dwell in them.

10Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

11Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.

12Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will send to him wanderers, who will pour him out. They will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.

13Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.

14How can you say, ‘We are warriors, mighty men ready for battle’?

15Moab has been destroyed and its towns have been invaded; the best of its young men have gone down in the slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

16Moab’s calamity is at hand, and his affliction is rushing swiftly.

17Mourn for him, all you who surround him, everyone who knows his name; tell how the mighty scepter is shattered— the glorious staff!

18Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.

19Stand by the road and watch, O dweller of Aroer! Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping, ‘What has happened?’

20Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

21Judgment has come upon the high plain— upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

22upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

23upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

24upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab, those far and near.

25The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm is broken,” declares the LORD.

26“Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.

27Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.

28Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of Moab! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.

29We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.

30I know his insolence,” declares the LORD, “but it is futile. His boasting is as empty as his deeds.

31Therefore I will wail for Moab; I will cry out for all of Moab; I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

32I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, more than I weep for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they reach even to Jazer. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

33Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.

34There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.

35In Moab, declares the LORD, I will bring an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods.

36Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.

37For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.

38On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the LORD.

39“How shattered it is! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror to all those around him.”

40For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab.

41Kirioth has been taken, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

42Moab will be destroyed as a nation because he vaunted himself against the LORD.

43Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the LORD.

44“Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

45“Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.

46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.

47Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.