Judgment on Egypt
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the jnations.
2 kAbout Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ldefeated in the mfourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3 “Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!
4 Harness the horses;
mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
polish your spears,
put on your armor!
5 Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed
and have turned backward.
Their warriors are beaten down
and have fled in haste;
they look not back—
nterror on every side!
declares the Lord.
6 “The swift cannot flee away,
nor the warrior escape;
in the north by the river Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.
7 “Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?
8 Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
9 Advance, O horses,
and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,
men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
10 That day is the oday of the Lord God of hosts,
a pday of vengeance,
to avenge himself on his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a qsacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is rno healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry;
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
they have both fallen together.”
13 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 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in sMigdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,
for the 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, and 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,
tbecause of the sword of the oppressor.’
17 Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’
18 “As I live, declares the uKing,
whose name is the Lord of hosts,
like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
19 Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
O inhabitants of Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.
20 “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
21 Even her hired soldiers in her midst
are like fattened calves;
yes, they have turned and fled together;
they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
the time of their punishment.
22 “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;
for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes
like those who fell trees.
23 They shall cut down her forest,
declares the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are vmore 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 a people from the north.”
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who wtrust in him. 26 xI will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. yAfterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.
27 z“But afear 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 bnone shall make him afraid.
28 Fear 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 cof you I will not make a full end.
I will ddiscipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
Judgment on the Philistines
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet econcerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.
2 “Thus says the Lord:
Behold, fwaters are rising out of the north,
and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the 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,
at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers look not back to their children,
so feeble are their hands,
4 because of the day that is coming to destroy
all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 gBaldness has come upon Gaza;
Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
how long will you hgash yourselves?
6 Ah, isword of the Lord!
How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
rest and be still!
7 How can it2 be quiet
when the Lord has given it a charge?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore
he has appointed it.”
1 Therefore let us leave the pelementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from qdead works rand of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings,1 the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For sit is impossible, in the case of those who have once been tenlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and uhave shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have vtasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, wsince they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But xif it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and yits end is to be burned.
9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your zwork and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the afull assurance of bhope until the end, 12 so that you may not be csluggish, but dimitators of those who through faith and patience einherit the promises.
The Certainty of God’s Promise
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, fhe swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,2 having patiently waited, gobtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to hlie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to ihold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that jenters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 kwhere Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, lhaving become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
