Jeremiah 46 Cross References - ISV

¹ Prophecies against the NationsThis is the message from the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
² Prophecies against Egypt: Its Defeat at CarchemishTo Egypt: Concerning the army of King Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, which was encamped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah. ³ “Prepare buckler and shield, and advance into the battle! ⁴ Harness the horses! Riders, mount up! Take your positions with your helmets! Polish lances, and put on armor! ⁵ Why am I seeing this? They’re terrified, they have turned back. Their warriors are crushed, and they take flight. They don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” declares the LORD. ⁶ “The swift cannot flee, nor can the strong escape. In the north, beside the Euphrates River, they stumble and fall. ⁷ Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? ⁸ Egypt is rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He says, ‘I’ll rise and cover the land. I’ll destroy the city and its inhabitants.’ ⁹ Horses, get up! Chariots, drive furiously! Let the warriors go forward, Ethiopia and Put, who carry shields, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. ¹⁰ That day belongs to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. It is a day of vengeance to take vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour and be satisfied, and will drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north, by the Euphrates river. ¹¹ Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you multiply remedies, but there is no healing for you. ¹² The nations have heard of your disgrace, and your cry of distress fills the earth. Indeed, one warrior stumbles over another, and both of them fall down together.”
¹³ Nebuchadnezzar’s Conquest of EgyptThis is the message that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to conquer the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ “Announce in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol. Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say, ‘Take your positions and be ready, for the sword will devour all around you.’ ¹⁵ Why are your warriors prostrate? They don’t stand because the LORD has brought them down. ¹⁶ They repeatedly stumble and fall. They say to each other, ‘Get up! Let’s go back to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressor’s sword.’ ¹⁷ There they’ll cry out, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just a big noise. He has let the appointed time pass by.’ ¹⁸ As certainly as I’m alive and living,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “Indeed, one will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea. ¹⁹ Prepare your baggage for exile, daughter living in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolate place. It will become a ruin without inhabitant. ²⁰ Egypt is a beautiful calf, but a horsefly from the north is surely coming. ²¹ Even the mercenary troops in her ranks are like a fattened calf. They too will turn around, and will flee together. They won’t stand, for the day of their disaster is coming on them, the time of their punishment. ²² Her cry will be like that of a fleeing serpent when they come in strength. They’re coming to her with axes like woodcutters. ²³ They’ll cut down her forest, though it’s impenetrable,” declares the LORD, “for they’re more numerous than locusts, and there are too many of them to count. ²⁴ The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame, she will be given into the hands of the people from the north.”
²⁵ The LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says, “Look, I’m going to punish Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods and its kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. ²⁶ I’ll give them to those who are seeking their lives and to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. Then afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the LORD.
²⁷ Israel will be Delivered“As for you, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid, and Israel, don’t be dismayed. For I’ll deliver you from a distant place, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return. He will be undisturbed and secure, and no one will cause him to fear. ²⁸ “As for you, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid, and Israel, don’t be dismayed,” declares the LORD, “for I am with you. Indeed, I’ll make an end of all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you! I’ll discipline you justly, but I’ll certainly not leave you unpunished.”

⁵ from whom the coastal peoples spread into their own lands and nations, each with their own language and family groups.

⁹ I saw them from the top of the rocks. I watched them from the hills. Truly this is a people that lives by itself and doesn’t matter among the nations.

¹⁰ See, today I’ve appointed you to prophesy about nations and kingdoms, to pull up and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

¹⁵ Judgment on the NationsFor this is what the LORD God of Israel says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of burning anger from my hand and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶ They’ll drink, stagger, and act like madmen because of the sword I’m sending among them.” ¹⁷ So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and I made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: ¹⁸ Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and officials to make them into a ruin, an object of horror and scorn, and a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his officials, his princes, and all his people; ²⁰ all the various people; all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod; ²¹ Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the coast lands that are beyond the sea; ²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, and those who shave the corners of their beards; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the various people who live in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; ²⁶ all the kings of the north near and far, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. The king of Sheshak will drink after all the others.
²⁷ “You are to say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Drink, get drunk, and vomit! Fall down and don’t get up because of the sword I’m sending among you.”’ ²⁸ And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink it, say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “You will surely drink it! ²⁹ Look, I’m beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and do you actually think you will avoid punishment? You won’t avoid punishment because I’m summoning the sword against all those who live in the land,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.’”
³⁰ The LORD will Judge the Nations“You are to prophesy all these things against them, and you are to say to them, ‘The LORD roars from his high place, from his holy dwelling he lifts his voice. He roars loudly against his flock, and against all who live on the earth; he shouts like those treading grapes. ³¹ A tumult reaches to the ends of the earth because the LORD is bringing an indictment against the nations. He judges all flesh. He has given the wicked over to the sword,’ declares the LORD. ³² ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Look, disaster is going from nation to nation, a great storm is being stirred up from the most distant parts of the earth.
³³ “Those slain by the LORD on that day will extend from one end of the earth to the other. They won’t be mourned for or gathered up or buried. They’ll be like dung on the surface of the ground. ³⁴ “Scream, you shepherds! Cry out! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! Indeed, the time for your slaughter and your dispersion has arrived, and you will break like a choice vessel. ³⁵ Flight will be impossible for the shepherds, as will be escape for the leaders of the flock. ³⁶ A sound—it’s the cry of the shepherds and the scream of the leaders of the flock— because the LORD is destroying their pastures. ³⁷ The peaceful meadows are silent because of the LORD’s fierce anger. ³⁸ Like a lion, he has left his den. Indeed, their land has become a waste because of the anger of the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”

⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye.

²⁹ Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the gentiles, too? Yes, of the gentiles, too,

²⁹ During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, marched out toward the Euphrates River to meet the king of Assyria. King Josiah went out to engage him in battle, but Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him.

²⁰ Pharaoh Neco and Josiah’s Death
Some time after all of this, after Josiah had finished preparing the Temple, King Neco of Egypt invaded Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah went out to fight him. ²¹ But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, “What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won’t destroy you!”

⁹ Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?

¹ The Irrevocable Judgment on JudahThis message from the LORD came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah. (This was also the first year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.)

⁹ I’m now sending for all the tribes from the north, declares the LORD, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I’ll bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I’ll utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting desolation.

¹⁹ Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his officials, his princes, and all his people;

¹ Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the TempleIn the fourth year of the reign of Josiah’s son King Jehoiakim of Judah, this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

¹ God’s Message to BaruchThis is the message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Neriah’s son Baruch, when in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah’s son King Jehoiakim of Judah had, at Jeremiah’s dictation, written these words in a scroll:

¹⁴ “Announce in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol. Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes. Say, ‘Take your positions and be ready, for the sword will devour all around you.’

¹ Prophecy against EgyptIn the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, a message came to me from the LORD, who had this to say:
² “Son of Man, turn your attention to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and the entire nation of Egypt. ³ Tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Watch out! I’m coming to get you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt! You big monster! You lay in wait in the middle of your waterways and say, “My waterways belong to me! I made them for myself!” ⁴ ‘So I’m going to plant a hook in your jaw and make the fish in your waterways grab hold of your scales. I’ll bring you up out of the middle of your waterways, along with all of the fish from your waterways that cling to your scales, ⁵ Then I’ll fling you out into the desert, you and all those fish in your waterways. You’ll fall out in the open fields; you’ll never be reunited. I’m giving you to the wild beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky, and they will dine on you! ⁶ ‘Then everyone living in Egypt will know that I am the LORD, because they have been an unreliable ally to the house of Israel. ⁷ When they reached out to you for support, you tore their hands and dislocated all of their shoulders. When they tried to lean on you, they couldn’t control their own bowels.’
⁸ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Look out! I’m bringing violent death in your direction! I’m going to kill every person and animal, ⁹ and the land of Egypt will be turned into a desolate ruin. Then you will know that I am the LORD. Because Egypt said, “The Nile is mine. I made it!” ¹⁰ therefore watch out! I’m coming to get you! I’m going to attack your waterways, and then I’m going to make the land of Egypt a total wasteland from the Aswan fortress to the border of Ethiopia! ¹¹ Neither man nor beast will walk through that area. It won’t even be inhabited for 40 years. ¹² I’ll see to it that Egypt becomes a devastated land in the midst of devastated lands. Her cities deep inside her territories will be laid waste and desolate for 40 years. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the land.’”
¹³ Restoration of Egypt after Judgment“Because this is what the LORD says: ‘At the end of 40 years I’ll gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they have been scattered. ¹⁴ I’ll restore the economy of Egypt and return them to the land of Pathros, from which they originated, and there they will remain an insignificant kingdom, ¹⁵ the least significant of kingdoms. It will never again dominate other nations. I will make them so small that they will never again rule any nation. ¹⁶ Egypt will never again be a source of confidence to the nation of Israel. Instead, Egypt will serve as a reminder of when they sinned by turning to Egypt for help. Then they’ll know that I am the Lord GOD.’”
¹⁷ Egypt Given to NebuchadnezzarOn the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of our captivity, a message came to me from the LORD, who had this to say:
¹⁸ “Son of Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work very hard to attack Tyre. They tore their hair out and rubbed their shoulders raw! Despite all of that work trying to capture Tyre, neither he nor his army got paid from Tyre for all that! ¹⁹ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I’m going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He’s going to carry off her wealth, confiscate her war implements, and use it all to pay wages for his army! ²⁰ I’ve given him the land of Egypt as a reward for attacking Tyre for me,’ declares the Lord GOD. ²¹ ‘When that day comes about, I’ll strengthen Israel’s military might, and I will give you an audience in their midst. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

⁹ “Band together, you peoples, but be shattered! Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor, but be shattered. ¹⁰ Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us.”

⁵ They set the tables; they spread the carpets; they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers! Oil the shields!”

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes— he has decided to destroy Babylon. Indeed, it’s the LORD’s vengeance, vengeance for his Temple. ¹² Lift up the battle standard against Babylon’s walls. Strengthen the guard; post watchmen. Set men in position for an ambush. For the LORD will both plan and carry out what he has declared against the inhabitants of Babylon.

⁹ The LORD’s Call to Judgment“Declare this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up your elite forces! Let all the soldiers draw near! Call them up!

¹ The Coming Invasion of Nineveh You are being attacked by advancing forces! Guard your rampart! Watch your roads! Prepare yourselves! Marshall your defenses!

¹⁴ The Futility of Avoiding God’s Judgment“Draw water, because a siege is coming! Strengthen your fortresses! Make the clay good and strong! Mix the mortar! Go get your brick molds!

⁵ wore a bronze helmet on his head, and wore bronze scale armor that weighed about 5,000 shekels.

³⁸ Saul put his garments on David, set a bronze helmet on his head, and put armor on him.

¹⁴ In addition, Uzziah equipped the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and stones for use in slings.

¹⁶ From that day on, half of my helpers engaged in the work while the other half kept spears, shields, bows, and armor ready. The senior officials backed all of the Judeans

³ Don’t let the archer bend the bow; don’t let him rise up in his armor. Don’t spare her young men. Completely destroy her entire army.

⁹ “Son of Man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘A sword! A sword is being sharpened. It’s also being polished. ¹⁰ It’s being sharpened for slaughter, and being polished to gleam like lightning.’ “We shouldn’t be rejoicing, should we, while my Son’s scepter, the sword, is despising every tree? ¹¹ It’s intended to be polished so it can be grasped in the hand. The sword is sharpened. It’s polished for placement into the hand of the executioner.”

²⁸ A Rebuke to AmmonAnd now Son of Man, prophesy to the Ammonites that this is what the Lord GOD says to the Ammonites about their approaching humiliation: “A sword! A sword is being drawn for slaughter. It’s polished to flash like lightning.

¹⁷ Then one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the plain. Escape to the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”

⁶ The LORD had made the Aramean army hear the sounds of chariots, horses, and a large army, so they told one another, “Look! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians to come attack us!” ⁷ So the Arameans got up and ran away in the gathering darkness. They left behind their tents, horses, and donkeys just as they were—and fled for their lives!

¹⁶ Egypt and Syria Will Worship GodAt that time, the Egyptians will be like women—they will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.

²⁵ Don’t go out into the field, and don’t travel on the road, because the enemy has a sword, and terror is on every side.

³ The next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, and Jeremiah told him, “The LORD has not named you Pashhur, but rather Magor-missabib. ⁴ For this is what the LORD says: ‘Look, I’m going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your loved ones. They’ll fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I’ll give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will take them into exile to Babylon, and he will execute them with swords.

¹⁰ Indeed, I hear many people whispering, “Terror on every side. Denounce him, let’s denounce him!” All my close friends watch my steps and say, “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him.”

¹⁵ Why are your warriors prostrate? They don’t stand because the LORD has brought them down.

²¹ Even the mercenary troops in her ranks are like a fattened calf. They too will turn around, and will flee together. They won’t stand, for the day of their disaster is coming on them, the time of their punishment.

²⁹ Take their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. Take their camels away from them. Cry out against them, ‘Terror is all around!’

¹⁰ I’ll make many nations be appalled at you, and their kings will be terrified because of you when I brandish my sword right in their face. They will all tremble from fear for their own safety on the day that you fall!’

⁸ Nineveh is a reservoir whose water is draining away. “Wait! Wait!” they cry, yet not even one person looks back.

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people concealed themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains. ¹⁶ They told the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. ¹⁷ For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to endure it?”

¹⁵ and the LORD threw Sisera, all the chariots, and his entire army into a panic right in front of Barak. Then Sisera abandoned his chariot and escaped on foot ¹⁶ while Barak chased the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera’s entire army died in the battle—not even one soldier remained.
¹⁷ Heber’s Wife Jael Kills SiseraMeanwhile, Sisera had escaped on foot to a tent belonging to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera. “Turn aside, sir!” she told him. “Turn aside to me! Don’t be afraid.” So he turned aside to her and entered her tent, where she concealed him behind a curtain.
¹⁹ He asked her, “Please give me some water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” Instead, she opened a leather container of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up. ²⁰ He told her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks ‘Is anybody here?’ say ‘No’.”
²¹ But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other, crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how he died.

² When those who practice evil, my enemies, and my oppressors come near me to devour my flesh, they stumble and fall.

¹⁶ A king is not saved by a large army; a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength. ¹⁷ It is vain to trust in a horse for deliverance, even with its great strength, it cannot deliver.

¹⁰ He takes no delight in the strength of a horse, and gains no pleasure in the runner’s swiftness. ¹¹ But the LORD is pleased with those who fear him, with those who depend on his gracious love.

¹¹ I considered and observed on earth the following: The race doesn’t go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor food to the wise, nor wealth to the smart, nor recognition to the skilled. Instead, timing and circumstances meet them all.

¹⁵ Many will stumble on them; They’ll fall and be broken; They’ll be snared and captured.

¹⁶ Instead, you said, ‘No! We’ll escape on horses!’ Therefore, you’ll flee away. And you said, ‘We’ll ride off on swift steeds!’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift. ¹⁷ A thousand will flee at the threat of one; and run away, pursued by five, until you are left like a flagpole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”

¹⁴ Then the LORD told me, “From the north disaster will pour out on all who live in the land,

⁶ Raise a standard in the direction of Zion. Flee! Don’t stand around! For I’m bringing calamity from the north, along with great destruction.

¹ The Enemy Besieges Jerusalem “Flee to safety, you people of Benjamin, leave Jerusalem. Sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem! For calamity and terrible destruction are turning toward you from the north.

¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, those who pursue me will stumble and won’t prevail. They’ll be put to great shame, when they don’t succeed. Their everlasting disgrace won’t be forgotten.

¹⁰ That day belongs to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. It is a day of vengeance to take vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour and be satisfied, and will drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north, by the Euphrates river.

¹² The nations have heard of your disgrace, and your cry of distress fills the earth. Indeed, one warrior stumbles over another, and both of them fall down together.”

¹⁶ They repeatedly stumble and fall. They say to each other, ‘Get up! Let’s go back to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressor’s sword.’

³² The arrogant one will stumble and fall, and there will be no one to lift him up. I’ll set fire to his cities, and it will devour everything around him.”

¹⁹ He’ll turn his attention toward the fortresses in his own territory, but he’ll stumble and fall, and won’t endure.

²² Overwhelming forces will be carried away before him, along with the Commander-in-Chief of the covenant.

¹⁴ So the swift runner will not escape, the valiant will not fortify his strength, and the mighty warrior will not save his life. ¹⁵ The skilled archer will not be able to stand, the swift runner will not survive, and the mounted rider will not preserve his own life.

¹ Israel to be DestroyedI saw the Lord standing beside the altar as he was saying, “Strike the doorposts so that the thresholds tremble, bringing them down on the heads of all of them. Those who survive I will kill with the sword. Those who flee will not escape. There will be no deliverance for the fugitives. ² “Even if they burrow into Sheol, from there my hand will find them. Even if they ascend to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. ³ Even if they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, from there I will search and seize them. Even if they hide from my sight in the depths of the sea, from there I will order the serpent to strike them.

⁶ The Lover ArrivesWhat is this coming up from the desert like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁵ The Young WomenWho is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved?
The Loved One Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother had gone into labor with you; there she went into labor and gave birth to you.

⁷ watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. ⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

¹ God’s Day of Vengeance “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, in garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in such splendor, marching in his great might? It is I, speaking in vindication, mighty to save.

² This is what the LORD says: “Look, waters are rising from the north, and they’ll become an overflowing river. They’ll overflow the land and all that fills it— the city and those that live in it. People will cry out, and all those living in the land will wail.

²⁶ Then after the 62 weeks, the anointed one will be cut down (but not for himself). Then the people of the Coming Commander will destroy both the city and the Sanctuary. Its ending will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war, with desolations having been decreed.

⁸ Surely the land will tremble because of this, won’t it? And all who live in it will mourn, won’t they? The entire land will swell up like a flooded river. It will be stirred up and then will sink like the river of Egypt.

¹⁵ From its mouth the serpent spewed water like a river behind the woman in order to sweep her away with the flood.

⁹ “The enemy said, ‘I’ll pursue them, I’ll overtake them, I’ll divide the spoil. I’ll satisfy my anger on them, I’ll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.’ ¹⁰ “You blew with your breath, and the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty water.

¹³ He keeps bragging: ‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I’m so clever. I removed the boundaries of peoples, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones. ¹⁴ My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.’ ¹⁵ “Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood! ¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire.

²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. ²⁵ I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.” ²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I’ve made it happen— that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps.

³ Tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Watch out! I’m coming to get you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt! You big monster! You lay in wait in the middle of your waterways and say, “My waterways belong to me! I made them for myself!”

² “Son of Man, start singing this lamentation about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Tell him, ‘You may have called yourself a lion among nations, but you’re a monster at sea. You thrash about in your rivers, muddy the water with your feet, and relieve yourself in the rivers.’

⁶ Ham’s DescendantsHam’s descendants included Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

¹³ Egypt fathered the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites,

¹¹ Mitzraim fathered the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim,

¹⁹ “I will put up signs among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations—to Tarshish, Libya, and Lydia, (who draw the bow), to Tubal and Greece, to the far off coastlands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. Then they will proclaim my glory among the nations.

⁵ “Indeed, this is what the LORD says: ‘We have heard a sound of terror and of fear, and there is no peace.

³ At the sound of the galloping hooves of his horses, at the rumbling of his chariots, the clatter of his wheels, fathers won’t turn back for their children because their hands are weak,

¹⁰ Tyre’s International Makeup“Soldiers from Persia, Lud, and Libya, served in your army. They were your mighty soldiers. Their helmets and shields adorned your barracks walls, and they won battle decorations for you.

³ The shields deployed by Israel’s elite forces are scarlet, their valiant men are clothed in crimson. When they are prepared, the polished armament on their chariots will shine, and lances will be brandished about ferociously. ⁴ Their chariots storm through the streets, jostling each other along broad avenues. They look like torches, as they dart around like lightning.

⁹ Sudan was her source of strength, along with Egypt— there were no limits. Put and the Libyans were her allies.

¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the district of Libya near Cyrene, Jewish and proselyte visitors from Rome,

⁸ He will keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the Day of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

⁴² I’ll make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword will devour flesh, along with the blood of the slain, and I’ll take their enemy leaders captive.’

⁷ The king of Egypt did not leave his territory again, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

⁶ The Day of the LORDWail out loud, because the Day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty!

⁵ For my sword will be seen in the heavens. Look! It descends in judgment on Edom, on the people I have doomed to destruction. ⁶ The LORD has a sword bathed in blood; it’s covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with fat from the kidneys of rams.”
Judgment on Bozrah and Edom “For the LORD holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷ Wild oxen will fall together with them— young steers and mighty bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be swollen with fat. ⁸ For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for Zion’s cause.

² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

⁴ “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come.

² Prophecies against Egypt: Its Defeat at CarchemishTo Egypt: Concerning the army of King Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, which was encamped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

⁶ “The swift cannot flee, nor can the strong escape. In the north, beside the Euphrates River, they stumble and fall.

¹⁵ Raise a battle cry against her on every side. She has surrendered, her pillars have fallen, her walls are thrown down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.

⁶ Flee from Babylon, and each of you, escape with your life! Don’t be destroyed because of her guilt, for it’s time for the LORD’s vengeance. He is paying back what is due to her.

¹⁷ An Invitation to Dine on Human Flesh“Now as for you, Son of Man, this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ‘Tell all of the birds and wild beasts, “Come! Gather together and participate in the sacrifice that I’m going to make for you. This great sacrifice will take place on the mountains of Israel, where you’ll be eating flesh and drinking blood. ¹⁸ You’ll eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the world’s princes, drinking the blood of these rams, lambs, goats, bulls, all of them fattened as if they’re from Bashan, fit for slaughter! ¹⁹ You’ll eat until you’re fat and satiated. You’ll drink blood until you’re drunk from the sacrifice that I’m going to make for all of you. ²⁰ You’ll be fully satiated at my table, dining on horse flesh, horsemen, elite soldiers, and every kind of warrior,” declares the Lord GOD. ²¹ ‘I’m going to display my glory among the people, and every nation will see the judgment that I administer by my own hand among them.

¹⁵ A Lament about the Day of the LORDOh, no! For the Day of the LORD approaches, and like destruction from the Almighty, it will come!

¹ The Warning of God “Sound the ram’s horn in Zion! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Tremble, all of you inhabitants of the land, because the Day of the LORD is coming. Oh, how near it is!

⁷ Remain silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, because the Day of the LORD approaches, and because the LORD has prepared a sacrifice for those whom he has invited to be consecrated. ⁸ “It will come about during the LORD’s sacrifice that I’ll punish the officials, the royal descendants, and all who wear foreign clothing.

¹⁴ “The great Day of the LORD approaches— How it comes, hurrying faster and faster! The sound of the Day of the LORD there includes the bitter cry of the mighty soldier. ¹⁵ That day will be filled with wrath, a day of trouble and tribulation, a day of desolation and devastation, a day of doom and gloom, a day of clouds and shadows,

²² because these are the days of vengeance when all that is written will be fulfilled.

¹⁷ The Vision of the Angel’s InvitationThen I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, “Come! Gather for the great supper of God. ¹⁸ Eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of warriors, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, both unimportant and important.”
¹⁹ The Vision of the Judgment of the Beast and False ProphetThen I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ The beast was captured, along with the false prophet who had performed signs on its behalf. By these signs the false prophet had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. ²¹ The rest were killed by the sword that belonged to the rider on the horse and that came from his mouth, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.

²⁵ After this, while they were seated, eating their food, they looked around and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with camels carrying spices, balm, and myrrh for sale down in Egypt.

¹¹ Jacob Gives Instructions for the Trip“If that’s the way it has to be,” their father Israel replied, “then do this: take some of the best produce of the land in your containers and take them to the man as a gift—some resin ointment, some honey, fragrant resins, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.

¹ The Fall of Babylon “Come down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a chair, Daughter of the Chaldeans! For no longer will they call you tender and attractive.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why is there no healing for my people?

¹⁷ “And deliver this message to them: ‘Let tears run down my face, night and day, and don’t let them stop, because my virgin daughter—my people— will be broken with a powerful blow, with a severe wound.

¹² The Healing of Zion’s Wounds“For this is what the LORD says: ‘Your injury won’t heal; your wound is severe. ¹³ There is no one to plead your cause. There is no medicine for your sore; no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you. Indeed, I’ve struck you down with the blow of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel foe because your wickedness is great, and your sins are numerous. ¹⁵ Why do you cry out because of your injury? Your wound won’t heal. Because your wickedness is severe, and your sins are numerous, I’ve done all these things to you.

⁸ Suddenly, Babylon fell down and was shattered. Wail for her! Bring balm for her wound, perhaps she will be healed.

¹⁷ The territories of Judah and Israel were your clients, too. They traded wheat from their distribution centers, baked goods, honey, oil, and ointments for your merchandise.

²¹ “Son of Man, I’ve broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Look! It hasn’t been set in a splint for healing or wrapped with a bandage so it could be strong enough to hold a sword! ²² Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says:
‘I’m coming to attack Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I’m going to break both of his arms, the strong one and the wounded one. That will make him drop his sword. ²³ I’m going to scatter Egypt throughout the surrounding nations and disperse them throughout the world. ²⁴ I’m going to strengthen the military might of the king of Babylon, put my own sword in his hand, and break Pharaoh’s strength. Then Pharaoh will groan like a dying man right in front of the king of Babylon. ²⁵ When I strengthen the military might of Babylon, the military might of Pharaoh will fail, and then they will learn that I am the LORD when I place my own sword in the hand of the king of Babylon. He will attack the land of Egypt.

⁹ For Samaria’s injury is fatal, reaching all the way to Judah, extending even to the gate of my people—to Jerusalem.”

¹⁹ There is no healing for your injury— your wound is fatal. Everyone who hears about you will applaud, because who hasn’t escaped your endless evil?”

²⁶ I tell you with certainty, you will not get out of there until you pay back the last dollar!”

⁴³ A woman was there who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. Although she had spent all she had on doctors, no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel of his garment, and her bleeding stopped at once.

¹² The people who did not die were afflicted with tumors of the groin, and the cry of the town went up to heaven.

⁴ so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? “Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”

⁵ My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent to Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction. ⁶ The Nimrim waters are desolate; the grass is withered, its vegetation gone; there is no foliage left. ⁷ Therefore the wealth they have acquired and what they have stored up— they carry them away over the Arab Wadi. ⁸ For the cry has gone out along the border of Moab; her wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, her wailing reaches as far as Beer-elim.

² I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and everyone will fight against his brother, everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

² “Judah mourns, and her gates languish. The people mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

³⁴ “From the cry of Heshbon, to Elealeh, to Jahaz they have lifted up their voice. From Zoar to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah, even the waters of Nimrim will become a desolate place.

²¹ The earth will quake at the sound of their fall. A cry—it’s her voice—is heard at the Reed Sea.

⁵⁴ “The sound of a cry is coming from Babylon, great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.

⁹ “‘I’ll bring distress to the hearts of many nations when I destroy you among nations whose territories you have not known. ¹⁰ I’ll make many nations be appalled at you, and their kings will be terrified because of you when I brandish my sword right in their face. They will all tremble from fear for their own safety on the day that you fall!’
¹¹ “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘The army of the king of Babylon will attack you. ¹² I’m going to make your gangs die using the weapons of valiant warriors, all of whom are ruthless people. ‘They will devastate the majesty of Egypt, destroying all of its hordes.

⁸ Thebes: an Example of God’s Justice“Are you any better than Thebes, which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water? The sea was her defense, the waters her wall of protection. ⁹ Sudan was her source of strength, along with Egypt— there were no limits. Put and the Libyans were her allies. ¹⁰ But she, too, was exiled— she went into captivity! Her young children were dashed to pieces at every crossroad of their streets, and her famous citizens were sold by lottery, while all of her aristocrats were put in chains.

¹⁰ When all of this happens,” declares the LORD, “a loud shriek will come from the Fish Gate, and howling from the Mishneh Quarter, along with great destruction from the hills.”
Divine Judgment on the Business Community

¹ A Rebuke to EgyptA message about Egypt: “Watch out! The LORD rides on a swift cloud, and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them. ² I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and everyone will fight against his brother, everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³ The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage, and I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult idols and spirits of the dead, and mediums and spiritists. ⁴ I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.
⁵ A Rebuke to Egypt’s Ecology and Industry“The water sources of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will become dry and parched. ⁶ The canals will stink, and the tributaries of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. Reeds and rushes will wither away. ⁷ And the bulrushes along the Nile, along the mouth of the Nile, will wither away. All the sown fields of the Nile will become parched, and they will be blown away; there will be nothing left. ⁸ The fishermen will groan, and all who cast hooks into the Nile will lament; those who spread nets upon the water will become weaker and weaker. ⁹ The workers in combed flax and the weavers of white linen will be in despair. ¹⁰ Egypt’s workers in cloth will be crushed, and all who work for wages will be sick at heart.”
¹¹ A Rebuke to Egypt’s LeadersZoan’s princes are nothing but fools; the wisest advisors of Pharaoh give stupid advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I’m a descendant of wise men, a descendant of ancient kings”? ¹² Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you, let them make known what the LORD has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis deluded; the leaders of its tribes have led Egypt astray. ¹⁴ The LORD has mixed within them a spirit of confusion; so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does, like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit. ¹⁵ As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.
¹⁶ Egypt and Syria Will Worship GodAt that time, the Egyptians will be like women—they will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid, because of the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies that is turning in their direction.
¹⁸ At that time, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
¹⁹ At that time, there will be an altar to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies in the heart of the land of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. ²⁰ It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior, and he will come down and rescue them. ²¹ So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the LORD.
At that time, they will worship with sacrifices and offerings, and they will make vows to the LORD and carry them out. ²² The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague, striking but then healing. Then they will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
²³ At that time, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and they will worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ At that time, Israel will be in a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria; they will be a blessing in the midst of the earth. ²⁵ The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

¹ Judgment is Coming to Jerusalem “How terrible it will be for you, Aruel, Aruel, the city where David encamped! Year after year, let your festivals run their cycle. ² Then I’ll besiege Aruel, and there will be sorrow and mourning; she will become to me like an altar fireplace. ³ Then I’ll encamp against you like David, and I’ll lay siege to you with towers, raise siege works against you, ⁴ and you will be brought down. You will speak from the ground, and your speech will mumble from the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust. ⁵ “But the hordes of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the hordes of tyrants like flying chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, ⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies— with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire. ⁷ Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel, all that attack her and her fortification and besiege her, will become like a dream, with its visions in the night— ⁸ as when a hungry man dreams— he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams— he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
⁹ Blind to God’s Words“Act stupid! Be astonished! Act blind, and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger around, but not from strong drink. ¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep— he has closed your eyes, you prophets, he has covered your heads, you seers!”
¹¹ “And this entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book. When people give it to someone who can read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he answers, ‘I cannot, because it is sealed.’ ¹² Or when they give the book to someone who cannot read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he answers, ‘I don’t know how to read.’”
¹³ A Rebuke of Hypocritical WorshipThen the Lord said: “Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings. ¹⁴ Therefore, watch out! “As for me, I will once again do amazing things with this people, wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the insights of their discerning men will stay hidden.”
¹⁵ A Rebuke to the Deceptive“How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, ‘Who can see us? Who has recognized us?’ ¹⁶ He has turned the tables on you— as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, ‘He did not make me?’ Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, ‘He has no skill?’ ¹⁷ “In a very little while, will not Lebanon be turned into a garden of fruit, and the garden of fruit seem like a forest? ¹⁸ On that day the deaf will hear the words of a scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. ¹⁹ The humble will again experience joy in the LORD, and the poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰ For the ruthless will vanish, and mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down— ²¹ those who make a person appear to be the offender in a lawsuit, who set a trap for someone who is making his defense in court, and push aside the innocent with specious arguments. ²² “Therefore, this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: ‘No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale. ²³ For when he sees in his midst his children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. ²⁴ Moreover, those who go astray in spirit will gain understanding, and those who complain will accept instruction.’”

¹⁰ Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I’m going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I’ll take him and set his throne over these stones that I’ve buried, and he will spread his canopy over them. ¹¹ He will come and attack the land of Egypt—those meant for death will be put to death, those meant for captivity will be taken captive, and those meant for the sword will be put to the sword. ¹² He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their idols and take them captive. He will wrap himself with the land of Egypt like a shepherd wraps himself with a garment, and then he will leave from there in peace. ¹³ He will shatter the pillars of Heliopolis in the land of Egypt and will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.”’”

³⁰ This is what the LORD says: “Look, I’m going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those seeking his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking his life.”

² “Tell the Israelis that they are to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it by the sea.

²⁶ Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the battle sword keep on devouring forever? Don’t you realize that the end result is bitterness? How long will it take for you to order your army to stop pursuing their own relatives?”

²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel, you’ll be devoured by the sword, because the LORD has spoken.”

⁸ “Then Assyria will fall by a sword that is not from human beings only— a sword not wielded by mortal beings will devour them. They will flee from the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

⁶ The LORD has a sword bathed in blood; it’s covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with fat from the kidneys of rams.”
Judgment on Bozrah and Edom “For the LORD holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

³⁰ “I’ve punished your children with no results, they have accepted no discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.”

¹ The Enemy Besieges Jerusalem “Flee to safety, you people of Benjamin, leave Jerusalem. Sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem! For calamity and terrible destruction are turning toward you from the north. ² I’ll destroy the lovely and delicate Daughter of Zion. ³ Shepherds and their flocks will come against her. They’ll pitch their tents all around her, and every one will tend his flock in his own place. ⁴ Prepare for war against her. Get ready, let’s attack at noon! How terrible for us that the day is coming to an end, and that the evening shadows are lengthening. ⁵ Get ready, let’s attack at night, and destroy her fortresses.”

¹² On all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will come. Indeed, a sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other. There will be no peace for any person.

⁸ Nebuchadnezzar’s Invasion of Egypt PredictedThen this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ “Take large stones in your hands, and, in the sight of the men of Judah, bury them in the mortar of the brickwork at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes.

¹ Jeremiah Warns the Refugees in EgyptThis is the message that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,

³ “Prepare buckler and shield, and advance into the battle! ⁴ Harness the horses! Riders, mount up! Take your positions with your helmets! Polish lances, and put on armor!

¹⁶ I’ll set fire to Egypt, and Aswan will writhe in agony. Thebes will be demolished, and Memphis will face daily distress. ¹⁷ The young men of On and Pi-beseth will die violently, and their cities will be taken captive. ¹⁸ It will be a dark day for Tahpanhes when I break the yokes of Egypt. That’s when her arrogant power will come to an end. She’ll be covered by a cloud, and her citizens will go into captivity.

⁹ The LORD’s Call to Judgment“Declare this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up your elite forces! Let all the soldiers draw near! Call them up! ¹⁰ Beat your plow blades into swords, and your pruning knives into spears! Let the frail say, “I am strong!” ¹¹ Hurry and come, all you gentiles! Gather yourselves together!’” “LORD, cause your mighty army to come down. ¹² “Let the nations be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; because I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

¹³ “I am against you,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I will send your chariots up in smoke. A sword will devour your young lions, I will eliminate your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

¹ God Promises to Deliver IsraelThe LORD told Moses, “Now you’re about to see what I’ll do to Pharaoh. Indeed, he’ll send them out under compulsion and he’ll drive them out of his land violently.”

²³ then the LORD will dispossess all these nations before you and you’ll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you.

²⁰ The stars fought from heaven; they fought against Sisera from their orbits. ²¹ The current of the Kishon River swept them downstream, that ancient current, the Kishon’s current! March on strongly, my soul!

¹⁴ He shot his arrows and scattered them; with many lightning bolts he frightened them.

³⁹ You clothed me with strength for war; you will subdue under me those who rise up against me.

² With your hand you expelled the nations and established our ancestors. You afflicted nations and cast them out.

² As smoke is driven away, so you drive them away. As wax melts in the presence of fire, so the wicked die in the presence of God.

² Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his place of dominion. ³ The sea saw this and fled, the Jordan River ran backwards, ⁴ the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs. ⁵ What happened to you, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you ran backwards? ⁶ Mountains, that you skipped like rams? and you hills, that you skipped like lambs? ⁷ Tremble then, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

¹⁵ “Take notice! The LORD will come with fire, and his chariot will be like a whirlwind, to pay back his anger—yes, his anger!— in fury, and his menacing rebukes in flames of fire. ¹⁶ For with fire and with his sword the LORD will proceed to judgment on all humanity, and those slain by the LORD will be many.”

⁵ Why am I seeing this? They’re terrified, they have turned back. Their warriors are crushed, and they take flight. They don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” declares the LORD.

³⁶ “As for the remnants among you, I’ll bring despair in their hearts in the land of their enemies so that even the sound of a blown leaf will chase them and they flee as though pursued by the sword and fall when no one is pursuing. ³⁷ They’ll stumble over each other as though fleeing before the sword, even though no one is pursuing.
“You won’t have power to resist your enemies.

¹⁶ Eliminate from Babylon the one who plants seeds and the one who uses the sickle at harvest time. Because of the oppressor’s sword, let each one turn toward his own people and flee to his own land.”

⁹ We tried to heal Babylon, but she wouldn’t be healed. Leave her, and let each of us go to his own country. For her judgment has reached to the heavens, and is lifted up to the sky.

⁹ “The enemy said, ‘I’ll pursue them, I’ll overtake them, I’ll divide the spoil. I’ll satisfy my anger on them, I’ll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.’

¹⁰ Beh-hadad sent this message back: “May the gods do so to me, and more than that also, if the dust that remains of Samaria is enough to fill up a few handfuls for all of the armies at my disposal.”

¹⁸ “Take them alive, whether they’ve come in peace or not,” he ordered.

¹¹ A Rebuke to Egypt’s LeadersZoan’s princes are nothing but fools; the wisest advisors of Pharaoh give stupid advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I’m a descendant of wise men, a descendant of ancient kings”? ¹² Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you, let them make known what the LORD has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis deluded; the leaders of its tribes have led Egypt astray. ¹⁴ The LORD has mixed within them a spirit of confusion; so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does, like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit. ¹⁵ As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.
¹⁶ Egypt and Syria Will Worship GodAt that time, the Egyptians will be like women—they will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.

³ The Egyptians are men, not God, and their horses are physical, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, anyone who assists will stumble, and the one who is helped will fall; and they will all perish together.”

²⁷ Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They’ve become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings— and how you’ve become enraged at me. ²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.

¹⁸ So tell me now, which of the trees of Eden compares to you in glory or greatness? Nevertheless, you’ll be brought down, along with those trees of Eden, to the earth below. You’ll lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who have been killed in war. Pharaoh and all his gang will be just like this!’ declares the Lord GOD.”

²² with the boundary including Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh. The boundary terminated at the Jordan River, for a total of sixteen towns and villages.

⁶ She sent word to Abinoam’s son Barak from Kedesh-naphtali, summoning him. She asked him, “The LORD God of Israel has commanded you, hasn’t he? He told you, ‘Go out, march to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men with you from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun.

⁴² So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees.
⁴³ Then he told his young servant, “Go and look toward the sea.”
So he went and looked out to sea. “Nothing there,” he said.
But Elijah told him to go back seven times.

¹² The north and south—you created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

⁴ “Our Redeemer— the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.

² For they name themselves after the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel— the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

¹⁰ The LORD is the true God; he’s the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

²⁶ But listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. ‘Look, I’ve sworn by my great name’, says the LORD, ‘my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of any person in the entire land of Egypt, as he says, “As surely as the Lord GOD lives…”

¹⁵ Moab will be destroyed, and the enemy will come up against her cities. Her finest young men will go down to slaughter,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁷ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his own idols, for his images are false, and there is no life in them.

¹⁴ “Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and my name is feared among the Gentiles.”

³⁵ nor by the earth, because it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the Great King.

¹⁷ Now to the King Eternal—the immortal, invisible, and only God—be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

⁴ so the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and exiles from Cush, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot—with even their buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be without an inhabitant?” Then all the people gathered around Jeremiah at the LORD’s Temple.

²² Look, I’m in command of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I’ll bring them back to this city. They’ll capture it and burn it with fire, and I’ll turn the towns of Judah into desolate places without inhabitants.’”

¹⁸ “Come down from glory, and sit on parched ground, O woman who lives in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab will come up against you to destroy you. He will destroy your strongholds.

²⁹ The land quakes and writhes because the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand firm, to make the land of Babylon a waste without inhabitants. ³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their strongholds; their strength is dried up; they have become like women. Her buildings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.

³ “So now, Son of Man, you are to prepare your luggage for a trip into exile, and then you are to leave during the daytime so they see you leaving. Leave from your place to another while they’re watching. Then perhaps they’ll realize that they’re a rebellious house.
⁴ “Bring out your luggage, like you’re packing to go into exile, and do this during the daytime while they’re watching you. Later that evening, leave while they’re watching you like someone heading into exile. ⁵ While they continue to watch, dig a hole for yourself in the wall and enter through it.
⁶ “While they’re watching, carry your luggage on your shoulder and go out in total darkness. Cover your face so that you won’t see the land, because I’m using you as a sign to Israel’s house.”
⁷ I did just as I was commanded. I brought out the luggage as if it were luggage for exile. I did this during the day. Then in the evening I dug a hole in the wall with my hand and brought the luggage out in total darkness and carried it out on my shoulder while they were watching.
⁸ The Meaning of the MessageThe next morning, this message came to me from the LORD: ⁹ “Son of Man, didn’t the house of Israel, that rebellious house, ask you, ‘What are you doing?’ ¹⁰ Answer them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “This oracle concerns the prince of Jerusalem and the whole of Israel’s house that is in their midst. ¹¹ Tell them, ‘I’m a sign for you. Just as I enacted it, it’s going to happen to them. They’ll go into exile and captivity. ¹² Then the prince, who will be one of them, will carry his luggage on his shoulder in the dark and will go out. They’ll dig a hole in the wall for him to go through. His face will be covered so that he won’t be able to see the land with his eyes.

¹³ Destruction of Egypt’s Gods“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images that come from Memphis. There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will terrify the land of Egypt.

⁵ Woe to those who live along the coast, the people of Philistia! This message from the LORD is being spoken against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: ‘I’ll destroy you until no one lives there!’

²⁴ The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame, she will be given into the hands of the people from the north.”

¹¹ “Though you rejoice, though you exult, you plunderers of my inheritance, though you skip around like a heifer in the grass and neigh like stallions,

¹¹ Israel Urged to Sow in Righteousness“Ephraim, the well-trained heifer, loves to thresh grain, so I will spare her neck. I will turn Ephraim into a pack animal. Judah will pull the plow, and Jacob will turn up the fallow ground.

¹⁵ Israel’s RebellionJacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation.

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had created quite a stink with David, they hired 20,000 Aramean mercenaries from Beth-rehob and Zobah, along with the king of Maacah and 1,000 men, and 12,000 men from Tob.

⁶ The LORD had made the Aramean army hear the sounds of chariots, horses, and a large army, so they told one another, “Look! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians to come attack us!”

¹³ But the Lord laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming!

¹⁷ A vegetarian meal served with love is better than a big, thick steak with a plateful of animosity.

³ What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

⁷ Wild oxen will fall together with them— young steers and mighty bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be swollen with fat.

¹⁷ ‘Like the east wind, I’ll scatter them before the enemy. I’ll show them my back and not my face, on the day of their downfall.’”

⁹ Horses, get up! Chariots, drive furiously! Let the warriors go forward, Ethiopia and Put, who carry shields, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁵ Why are your warriors prostrate? They don’t stand because the LORD has brought them down. ¹⁶ They repeatedly stumble and fall. They say to each other, ‘Get up! Let’s go back to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressor’s sword.’

²⁷ Put all her bulls to the sword, let them go down to the slaughter. How terrible for them because their day has come, the time of their judgment.

¹⁰ Tyre’s International Makeup“Soldiers from Persia, Lud, and Libya, served in your army. They were your mighty soldiers. Their helmets and shields adorned your barracks walls, and they won battle decorations for you. ¹¹ Mercenaries from Arvad and Helech stood guard duty on your walls, while brave men manned your towers. They hung their shields all around your walls— just the right touch to perfect your interior decorating!”

⁴ War will come to Egypt, and Ethiopia will be in anguish when the slain fall in Egypt, when her wealth is carried off, and her foundations are demolished.
⁵ “Ethiopia, Libya, descendants of Lud, all those who have mixed themselves, and Libya—along with everyone in the land of Israel who is in league with them—will die violently.”’”
⁶ Continued Judgment on Egypt“This is what the LORD says: ‘Those who are supporting Egypt will fall; her majestic strength that she brought from the Aswan fortress will collapse by the sword that invades her,’ declares the Lord GOD.

⁵ “Because of your undying hatred, you kept on making the Israelis experience abuse during the time of their calamity, even when they were in their final stages of punishment,

⁷ The time for your judgment has now come; payday is here— and Israel knows it. The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is insane. Because of your great sin, the hatred against you is great.

⁴ lying on ivory beds, stretching out on your couches, eating lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall,

¹³ “You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. Also, you should not have gloated over Judah’s misfortune on the day of his disaster, nor should you have plundered his wealth on the day of his disaster.

⁴ The best of them is like a thorn, and their most upright like a hedge of thorns. The day announced by your watchmen— and by your own calculations—approaches. Now it’s your time to be confused!

¹⁵ “Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

³³ Behold, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will lop off its boughs with terrifying power; the tallest in height will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. ³⁴ He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.”

⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Now that you’ve been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

⁴ and you will be brought down. You will speak from the ground, and your speech will mumble from the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust.

²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests.

²⁰ The LORD’s Instrument of Judgment“You are my war-club and weapons of war. I’ll smash nations with you and destroy kingdoms with you. ²¹ I’ll smash the horse and its rider with you. I’ll smash the chariot and its rider with you. ²² I’ll smash man and woman with you. I’ll smash old man and young boy with you. I’ll smash young man and young woman with you. ²³ I’ll smash the shepherd and his flock with you. I’ll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you. I’ll smash governors and officials with you.

⁸ The Coming Destruction“Therefore I will cry out and grieve loudly; I will walk around stripped and naked. I will cry out like a jackal and mourn like a company of ostriches.

¹⁶ The nations will look on and will be ashamed in spite of all their power; they will cup their hands over their mouths, and their ears will be deaf.

² Wail, cypress tree, for the cedar has fallen while the stately trees are destroyed. Wail, oak trees of Bashan, for the old growth forest has been cut down.

⁵ They would invade with their livestock and tents, swooping in as numerous as locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels—and they came into the land to destroy it.

¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups from the east lay encamped in the valley, as thick as locusts. The number of their camels couldn’t be calculated—they seemed as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

¹⁸ The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy— both soul and body— and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away.

⁴⁶ “Son of Man, turn to the south and oppose it, talking toward the south.

²⁵ “Then I will restore to you the years that the locust swarm devoured, as did the young locust, the other locusts, and the ravaging locust, that great army of mine that I sent among you.

² It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor’s crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like lions’ teeth. ⁹ They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.

⁸ Daughter of Babylon! You devastator! How blessed will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.

¹⁵ because I’m about to summon all the families and kingdoms from the north,” declares the LORD. “They’ll come and each one will set up his seat at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all of its surrounding walls, and against all of the towns of Judah.

¹¹ Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you multiply remedies, but there is no healing for you.

¹⁹ Prepare your baggage for exile, daughter living in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolate place. It will become a ruin without inhabitant. ²⁰ Egypt is a beautiful calf, but a horsefly from the north is surely coming.

¹² I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I’ll execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

¹ A Rebuke to EgyptA message about Egypt: “Watch out! The LORD rides on a swift cloud, and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

⁵ Then they will be dismayed and put to shame because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their jewel. ⁶ At that time, the inhabitants of this coastland will say, ‘See, this is what has happened to those on whom we counted and relied for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How, then, can we escape?’”

² They set out to go down to Egypt, without asking my advice; taking refuge in Pharaoh’s protection, and seeking shelter in Egypt’s shadow. ³ But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and sheltering in Egypt’s shadow your longing.

¹ Only the LORD can Help “How terrible it will be for those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the chariot, because there are so many, and in charioteers, because they are so strong— but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the LORD! ² Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity. ³ The Egyptians are men, not God, and their horses are physical, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, anyone who assists will stumble, and the one who is helped will fall; and they will all perish together.”

⁵ Two Ways ContrastedThis is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind, who makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. ⁶ He will be like a bush in the desert, and he won’t see when good comes. He will dwell in parched places in the wilderness, a land of salt, without inhabitants.

¹⁴ and you also say, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we won’t see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or hunger for bread, and there we will stay,” ¹⁵ then hear this message from the LORD, remnant of Judah: ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “If you are really determined to go into Egypt, and you go there to settle, ¹⁶ the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you dread will pursue you into Egypt, and there you will die.

¹³ Destruction of Egypt’s Gods“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images that come from Memphis. There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will terrify the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ I’m going to turn Pathros into a desolation, set fire to Zoan, and judge Thebes. ¹⁵ I’ll pour out my anger on Sin, Egypt’s strong fortress, and I’ll eliminate the gangs in Thebes. ¹⁶ I’ll set fire to Egypt, and Aswan will writhe in agony. Thebes will be demolished, and Memphis will face daily distress.

⁶ ‘I’m also going to incinerate Magog, along with those who are settled down and at home in the islands. That’s when they’ll learn that I am the LORD. ⁷ I’ll make my holiness and reputation known in the midst of my people Israel, and I won’t let my holiness be profaned anymore. The nations will learn that I, the LORD, am holy in the midst of Israel.

⁸ Thebes: an Example of God’s Justice“Are you any better than Thebes, which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water? The sea was her defense, the waters her wall of protection. ⁹ Sudan was her source of strength, along with Egypt— there were no limits. Put and the Libyans were her allies.

¹¹ The LORD will incite them to terror, because he will cause all the gods of the earth to waste away. They will worship him, every person in his own home, including even the coastlands of the nations.”
The LORD’s Rebuke to Cush and Nineveh

⁴⁷ But I’ll restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days,” declares the LORD. This concludes the judgment on Moab.

³⁹ “But in the latter days I’ll restore the fortunes of Elam,” declares the LORD.

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Look out! I’m bringing violent death in your direction! I’m going to kill every person and animal, ⁹ and the land of Egypt will be turned into a desolate ruin. Then you will know that I am the LORD. Because Egypt said, “The Nile is mine. I made it!” ¹⁰ therefore watch out! I’m coming to get you! I’m going to attack your waterways, and then I’m going to make the land of Egypt a total wasteland from the Aswan fortress to the border of Ethiopia! ¹¹ Neither man nor beast will walk through that area. It won’t even be inhabited for 40 years. ¹² I’ll see to it that Egypt becomes a devastated land in the midst of devastated lands. Her cities deep inside her territories will be laid waste and desolate for 40 years. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the land.’”
¹³ Restoration of Egypt after Judgment“Because this is what the LORD says: ‘At the end of 40 years I’ll gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they have been scattered. ¹⁴ I’ll restore the economy of Egypt and return them to the land of Pathros, from which they originated, and there they will remain an insignificant kingdom,

¹¹ “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘The army of the king of Babylon will attack you.

¹¹ At that time, the LORD will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.
¹³ Israel’s Victory over Its EnemiesEphraim’s jealousy will vanish, and those who are hostile to Judah will be eliminated; Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west, and they will plunder the people to the east. They’ll lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. ¹⁵ The LORD will totally destroy the gulf of the Sea of Egypt. He will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River with a violent wind, breaking it up into seven streams, and making a way for people to cross on foot. ¹⁶ And there will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

¹³ A Call to Courage“For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I’ll help you. ¹⁴ Don’t be afraid, you little worm Jacob, and you insects of Israel! I myself will help you,’ declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

¹ The Future Redemption of Israel But now this is what the LORD says, the one who created you, Jacob, the one who formed you, Israel: “Do not be afraid, because I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called you by name; you are mine.

⁵ The Regathering of Israel“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you; I’ll bring your children from the east, and gather you from the west.

² This what the LORD says, the one who made you, formed you from the womb, and who will help you: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant, and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

³ “I’ll gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I’ve driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they’ll be fruitful and increase in numbers. ⁴ I’ll raise up shepherds over them, and they’ll shepherd them. My flock will no longer be afraid or terrified, and none will be missing,” declares the LORD.

⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

¹⁴ I’ll be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I’ll restore your security and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I’ve driven you,’ declares the LORD. ‘I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’

¹⁰ ‘My servant Jacob, don’t be afraid,’ declares the LORD, ‘and Israel, don’t be dismayed. For I’ll deliver you from a distant place and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return. He will be undisturbed and secure, and no one will cause him to fear. ¹¹ For I’ll be with you to save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I’ll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you. I’ll discipline you justly, but I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.’

⁸ Look, I’m bringing them from the northern region, and I’ll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here. ⁹ They’ll come crying, and I’ll lead them as they pray for mercy. I’ll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won’t stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” ¹⁰ Nations, listen to this message from the LORD, and declare it in the distant coastlands. Say, “The one who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.” ¹¹ For the LORD will deliver Jacob and redeem him from the hand of one stronger than he.

³⁷ I’m about to gather my people from all the lands where I’ve driven them in my anger, wrath, and great indignation. I’ll bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

¹⁶ At that time Judah will be delivered and Jerusalem will dwell in safety. And this is the name people will call it, “The LORD is Our Righteousness.”’

¹⁹ I’ll bring Israel back to his pasture. He will graze on Carmel, on Bashan, on Mt. Ephraim, and on Gilead—his hunger will be satisfied.

¹⁰ ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Watch out, I’m coming after you shepherds! I’m going to demand my sheep back from them and fire them as shepherds. The shepherds won’t be shepherds anymore when I snatch my flock right out of their mouths so they can’t be eaten by them anymore.”’”
¹¹ The Coming True Shepherd“This is what the LORD says: ‘Watch me! I’m going to search for my flock. I’ll watch over them myself. ¹² Just as a shepherd looks after his flock during the day time while he is with them, so also I’m going to watch over my sheep, delivering them from every place where they’ve been scattered during the times of gloom and doom. ¹³ I’m going to bring them out from foreign nations and from foreign lands. Then I’ll bring them to their own land and feed them in Israel—on the mountains, in their valleys, and in all of their settlements throughout the land. ¹⁴ I’ll feed them in excellent pastures, and even the very heights of Israel’s mountains will serve as verdant pastures for them in which they’ll rest and feed—yes, even on the fertile mountains of Israel!

²⁵ “I’m going to enter into a covenant with them, one of peace, and I’ll eliminate wild beasts from the land so they can live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests. ²⁶ I’m going to make them and everything that surrounds my hill a blessing. I’ll send down the rain! At the appropriate time there will be a rainstorm of blessing!

²⁴ I’m going to remove you from the nations, gather you from all of the territories, and bring you all back to your own land.

²¹ Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Watch me take the Israelis out of the nations where they’ve gone and return them from every direction. I’m going to bring them back into their own land. ²² I’m going to make them a united people in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and I’ll set a single king to rule over them. They’ll never again be two separate people. They’ll never again be divided into two kingdoms.

²⁵ The Final Restoration of Israel“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ‘I’m going to restore the resources of Jacob and show mercy to the entire house of Israel. I’ll be zealous for my own reputation and for my holiness.

¹⁴ I will surely restore my people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them. They will plant gardens and eat the fruit from them.

¹¹ A Word of RestorationWhen the time comes for rebuilding your walls, that time will surely be extended. ¹² At that time armies will invade you from Assyria, from Egyptian cities to the Euphrates River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. ¹³ The land will become desolate because of its inhabitants, and as a result of their behavior. ¹⁴ Use your rod to shepherd your people, the flock that belongs to you, that lives alone in the forest of Carmel. Let them find pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago. ¹⁵ As I did when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show you awesome things. ¹⁶ The nations will look on and will be ashamed in spite of all their power; they will cup their hands over their mouths, and their ears will be deaf.

⁵ No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I’ll be with you just like I was with Moses—I’ll neither fail you nor abandon you.

⁹ I’ve commanded you, haven’t I? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

⁷ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; our refuge is the God of Jacob. Interlude

¹¹ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Interlude

⁷ Has the LORD struck them down, just as he struck down those who struck them? Or have they been killed, just as their killers were killed?

⁹ By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full harvest that comes from the removal of his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalkstones, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you; don’t be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I’m truly helping you. I’m surely upholding you with my victorious right hand.”

² When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you. when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze.

²³ Every Knee will BowBy myself I have sworn— from my mouth has gone out integrity, a promise that won’t be revoked: ‘To me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear. ’

¹⁹ They’ll fight against you, but they won’t prevail against you, because I am with you,” declares the LORD, “to deliver you.”

²⁷ For this is what the LORD says: “The entire land will be devastated, but I won’t completely destroy it.

¹⁰ The People Reject God’s Warning“Go through her rows of vines and destroy them, but don’t completely destroy them. Strip away her branches, because they aren’t the LORD’s.

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I won’t destroy you completely.

²⁴ LORD, correct me, but with justice, not with anger. Otherwise, you’ll bring me to nothing.

²⁰ I’ll make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They’ll fight against you, but they won’t prevail against you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you,”

¹¹ For I’ll be with you to save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I’ll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you. I’ll discipline you justly, but I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.’

⁴² “Indeed, this is what the LORD says: ‘Just as I’m bringing all this great disaster on this people, so I’ll bring on them all the good things that I’m promising concerning them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land about which you will say, “It is a desolate place without people or animals. It is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ People will buy fields for money, sign deeds, seal them, and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the areas around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah, the towns of the hill country, the towns of the Shephelah, and the towns of the Negev, for I’ll restore their fortunes,’ declares the LORD.”

²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have been saying?—‘The LORD rejected the two families that he had chosen!’ They have contempt for my people and no longer consider them a nation. ²⁵ This is what the LORD says: ‘If I had not established my covenant for day and night and the laws that govern the heavens and earth, ²⁶ then I might reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I’ll restore their fortunes, and I’ll have compassion on them.’”

³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together and became like chaff from a summer threshing floor that the breeze carries away without leaving a trace. Then the rock that struck the statue grew into a huge mountain and filled the entire earth.

⁸ Look! The eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “Look! I’m giving the order: I will sift the house of Israel throughout all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a single kernel will reach the ground!

² LORD, as I listen to what has been said about you, I am afraid. LORD, revive your work throughout all of our lives— reveal yourself throughout all of our lives— when you are angry, remember compassion.

²³ “See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,”
which means, “God with us.”

²⁰ teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age.”

¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you or harm you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹⁵ For if their rejection results in reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance bring but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
¹⁷ Now if some of the branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree,

³² Now, while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so we won’t be condemned along with the world.

¹⁷ However, the Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles could hear it. I was rescued out of a lion’s mouth.

⁵ You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by him. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he punishes every son he accepts.” ⁷ What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God’s sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we? ¹⁰ For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but God does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness.

¹⁹ I correct and discipline those whom I love, so be serious and repent!