3  ^f“Prepare buckler and shield,

and advance for battle!

4  ^gHarness the horses;

mount, O horsemen!

Take your stations with your helmets,

^fpolish your spears,

put on your armor!

5  Why have I seen it?

They are dismayed

and have turned backward.

Their ^hwarriors are beaten down

and have fled in haste;

ⁱthey look not back—

^jterror on every side!

declares the Lord.

6  “The swift cannot flee away,

nor the warrior escape;

^din the north by the river Euphrates

^kthey have stumbled and fallen.

7  “Who is this, ^lrising like the Nile,

like rivers ^mwhose waters surge?

8  Egypt rises like the Nile,

like rivers ^mwhose waters surge.

He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’

9  ⁿAdvance, O horses,

and rage, O chariots!

Let the warriors go out:

men of Cush and ^oPut who handle the shield,

^pmen of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.

10  ^qThat day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,

^ra day of vengeance,

^sto avenge himself on his foes.

^tThe sword shall devour and be sated

and drink its fill of their blood.

For the Lord God of hosts holds ^ua sacrifice

^vin the north country ^wby the river Euphrates.

11  ^xGo up to Gilead, and take ^xbalm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain you have used many medicines;

^ythere is no healing for you.

12  The nations have heard of your shame,

and the earth is full of your cry;

^zfor warrior has stumbled against warrior;

they have both fallen together.”

14  “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^bMigdol;

proclaim in ^bMemphis and ^bTahpanhes;

say, ^c‘Stand ready and be prepared,

for ^dthe sword shall devour around you.’

15  Why are your mighty ones face down?

They do not stand¹

because the Lord thrust them down.

16  He made many stumble, ^fand they fell,

and they said one to another,

‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people

and to the land of our birth,

^gbecause of the sword of the oppressor.’

17  Call the name of ^hPharaoh, king of Egypt,

‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

18  ⁱ“As I live, declares the King,

^jwhose name is the Lord of hosts,

like ^kTabor among the mountains

and like ^lCarmel by the sea, shall one come.

19  ^mPrepare yourselves baggage for exile,

O ⁿinhabitants of Egypt!

For ^oMemphis shall become a waste,

a ruin, ^pwithout inhabitant.

20  “A beautiful ^qheifer is Egypt,

but a biting fly ^rfrom the north has come upon her.

21  Even her hired soldiers in her midst

are like ^sfattened calves;

yes, they have turned and fled together;

they did not stand,

for the day of their calamity has come upon them,

^tthe time of their punishment.

22  “She makes ^ua sound like a serpent gliding away;

for her enemies march in force

and come against her with axes

^vlike those who fell trees.

23  ^vThey shall cut down her forest,

declares the Lord,

though it is impenetrable,

because ^wthey are more numerous than locusts;

they are without number.

24  The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;

she shall be delivered into the hand of ^ra people from the north.”

27  ^d“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,

nor be dismayed, O Israel,

for behold, I will save you from far away,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and none shall make him afraid.

28  ^dFear not, O Jacob my servant,

declares the Lord,

for I am with you.

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.

^eI will discipline you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

2  “Thus says the Lord:

^hBehold, waters are rising ⁱout of the north,

^hand shall become an overflowing torrent;

they shall overflow ^jthe land and all that fills it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

3  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

^lat the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

the fathers ^mlook not back to their children,

so feeble are their hands,

4  because of the day that is coming to destroy

all ^fthe Philistines,

to cut off from ⁿTyre and Sidon

every helper that remains.

For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,

^othe remnant of the coastland of ^pCaphtor.

5  ^qBaldness has come upon Gaza;

^rAshkelon has perished.

O remnant of their valley,

^show long will you gash yourselves?

6  ^tAh, sword of the Lord!

How long till you are quiet?

Put yourself into your scabbard;

rest and be still!

7  How can it² be quiet

^uwhen the Lord has given it a charge?

Against ^vAshkelon and against the seashore

^whe has appointed it.”