| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1The following messages were given to Jeremiah the prophet from the LORD concerning foreign nations. Messages about Egypt | 1This is the word of the LORD about the nations—the word that came to Jeremiah the prophet |
| 2This message concerning Egypt was given in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, on the occasion of the battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. | 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“Prepare your shields, and advance into battle! | 3“Deploy your shields, small and large; advance for battle! |
| 4Harness the horses, and mount the stallions. Take your positions. Put on your helmets. Sharpen your spears, and prepare your armor. | 4Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears; put on armor! |
| 5But what do I see? The Egyptian army flees in terror. The bravest of its fighting men run without a backward glance. They are terrorized at every turn,” says the LORD. | 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 swiftest runners cannot flee; the mightiest warriors cannot escape. By the Euphrates River to the north, they stumble and fall. | 6“The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall. |
| 7“Who is this, rising like the Nile at floodtime, overflowing all the land? | 7Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn? |
| 8It is the Egyptian army, overflowing all the land, boasting that it will cover the earth like a flood, destroying cities and their people. | 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.’ |
| 9Charge, you horses and chariots; attack, you mighty warriors of Egypt! Come, all you allies from Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia who are skilled with the shield and bow! | 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 this is the day of the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, a day of vengeance on his enemies. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, yes, until it is drunk with your blood! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will receive a sacrifice today in the north country beside the Euphrates River. | 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. |
| 11“Go up to Gilead to get medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! But your many treatments will bring you no healing. | 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. The earth is filled with your cries of despair. Your mightiest warriors will run into each other and fall down together.” | 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.” |
| 13Then the LORD gave the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar’s plans to attack Egypt. | 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“Shout it out in Egypt! Publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Mobilize for battle, for the sword will devour everyone around you. | 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 fallen? They cannot stand, for the LORD has knocked them down. | 15Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down. |
| 16They stumble and fall over each other and say among themselves, ‘Come, let’s go back to our people, to the land of our birth. Let’s get away from the sword of the enemy!’ | 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 say, ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth who missed his opportunity!’ | 17There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’ |
| 18“As surely as I live,” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “one is coming against Egypt who is as tall as Mount Tabor, or as Mount Carmel by the sea! | 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 up! Get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt! The city of Memphis will be destroyed, without a single inhabitant. | 19Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited. |
| 20Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way! | 20Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her. |
| 21Egypt’s mercenaries have become like fattened calves. They, too, will turn and run, for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt, a time of great punishment. | 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 flees, silent as a serpent gliding away. The invading army marches in; they come against her with axes like woodsmen. | 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 cut down her people like trees,” says the LORD, “for they are more numerous than locusts. | 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. |
| 24Egypt will be humiliated; she will be handed over to people from the north.” | 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 Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him. | 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 hand them over to those who want them killed—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the LORD, have spoken! | 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. |
| 27“But do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them. | 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. |
| 28Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, for I am with you,” says the LORD. “I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.” | 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.” |
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