Jeremiah Chapter 46 to 48 : English Standard Version   | SearchSearch | Next Version | Previous Page | Next Page |

Other Versions46  Judgment on Egypt

46:1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

2About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

3“Prepare buckler and shield, and advance for battle! 4Harness the horses; mount, O horsemen! Take your stations with your helmets, polish your spears, put on your armor! 5Why 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— terror on every side! declares theLord.

6The 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? 8Egypt 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.’ 9Advance, 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. 10That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day 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 sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you. 12The 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.” 13The 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 Migdol; proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you.’ 15Why are your mighty ones face down? They[1] do not stand because the Lord thrust them down. 16He 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, because of the sword of the oppressor.’ 17Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

18“As I live, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come. 19Prepare 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. 21Even 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. 23They shall cut down her forest, declares theLord, though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts; they are without number. 24The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.” 25The 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 trust in him. 26I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.

27“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. 28Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares theLord, 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. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

[1] Hebrew He 


47Judgment on the Philistines

47:1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

2“Thus says the Lord: Behold, waters 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. 3At 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, 4because 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. 5Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has perished. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves? 6Ah, sword of the Lord! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still! 7How can it[2] be quiet when the Lord has given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore he has appointed it.”

[2] Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you


48 Judgment on Moab

48:1 Concerning Moab.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:  “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; the fortress is put to shame and broken down; 2  the renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they planned disaster against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’ You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.

3“Hark! A cry from Horonaim, ‘Desolation and great destruction!’ 4Moab is destroyed; her little ones have made a cry. 5For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping;[3] for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressed cry[4] of destruction. 6Flee! Save yourselves! You will be like a juniper in the desert! 7For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials. 8The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken.

9“Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away; her cities shall become a desolation, with no inhabitant in them. 10“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

11“Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his[5] jars in pieces. 13Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

14“How do you say, ‘We are heroes and mighty men of war’? 15The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up, and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. 16The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction hastens swiftly. 17Grieve for him, all you who are around him, and all who know his name; say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff.’

18“Come down from your glory, and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon! For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you; he has destroyed your strongholds. 19Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’ 20Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21“Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth- iblathaim, 23and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the Lord. 26“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. 27Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

28“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab! Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge. 29We have heard of the pride of Moab— he is very proud— of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart. 30I know his insolence, declares the Lord; his boasts are false, his deeds are false. 31Therefore I wail for Moab; I cry out for all Moab; for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn. 32More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches passed over the sea, reached to the Sea of Jazer; on your summer fruits and your grapes the destroyer has fallen. 33Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.

34“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. 35And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. 36Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

37“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth. 38On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord. 39How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

40For thus says the Lord: “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab; 41the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains; 42Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the Lord. 43Terror, pit, and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares theLord. 44He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares theLord.

45“In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength, for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult. 46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity. 47Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord.” Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

[3] Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping  [4] Septuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) cry  [5] Septuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their

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