1 The words of the Lord, which came to Jeremiah the Prophet against the [a]Gentiles,
2 As against Egypt, against the army of [b]Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Perath in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
3 [c]Make ready buckler and shield, and go forth to battle.
4 Make ready the horses, and let the horsemen get up, and stand up with your sallets, furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.
5 [d]Wherefore have I seen them afraid, and driven back? for their mighty men are smitten, and are fled away, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord.
6 The swift shall not flee away, nor the strong man escape: they shall stumble, and [e]fall toward the North by the river Perath.
7 Who is this that cometh up as [f]a flood, whose waters are moved like the rivers?
8 Egypt riseth up like the 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 with them that dwell therein.
9 Come up ye horses, and rage ye chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, [g]the black Moors, and the Libyans that bear the shield, and the Lydians that handle and bend the bow.
10 ¶ For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, and a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his enemies: for the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate, and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath [h]a sacrifice in the North country [i]by the river Perath.
11 Go up unto Gilead, [j]and take balm, [k]O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many [l]medicines: for thou shalt have no health.
12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and they are fallen both together.
13 ¶ The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the Prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14 Publish in Egypt and declare in Migdol, and proclaim in Noph, and in Tahpanhes, and say, Stand still and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15 Why are thy valiant men put back? they could not stand, because the Lord did drive them.
16 He made many to fall, and one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, let us go again to our [m]own people, and to the land of our nativity from the sword of the violent.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt, and of a great multitude, [n]hath passed the time appointed.
18 As I live, saith the King, whose Name is the Lord of hosts, surely as Tabor is in the mountains, and as Carmel is in the sea: so shall [o]it come.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, make thee gear to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is like a [p]fair calf, but destruction cometh: out of the North it cometh.
21 Also her hired men [q]are in the midst of her like fat calves: they are also turned back and fled away together: they could not stand, because the day of their destruction was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
22 The voice thereof shall go forth like a [r]serpent: for they shall march with an army, and come against [s]her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down [t]her forest, saith the Lord: for they cannot be counted, because they are more than the [u]grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded: she shall be delivered into the hands of the people of the North.
25 ¶ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will visit thy [v]common people of No and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him,
26 And I will deliver them into the hands of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and into the hands of his servants, and afterward she shall dwell as [w]in the old time, saith the Lord.
27 ¶ [x]But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not thou afraid, O Israel: for behold, I will deliver thee from a far country, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return and be in rest, and prosperity, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee, and I will utterly destroy all the nations, whither I have driven thee: but I will not utterly destroy thee, but correct [y]thee by judgment, and not utterly cut thee off.