3“Prepare your shields and bucklers (smaller shields), and march into battle. 4Harness the horses; mount up, you horsemen, and take your positions, with your helmets, polished the spears, and your armor. 5Why do I see the Egyptian army in disarray and retreating? And their warriors are routed and flee without looking back; terror was everywhere”, says the LORD. 6“The swiftest horses cannot provide them escape; they stumble and fall in the north by the river Euphrates. 7Who is this that rises like a flood, like the surging Nile River? 8Egypt rises like the surging Nile River and boasts, ‘I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the cities and their inhabitants.’

9Charge, you horses! Drive your chariots furiously! And let the warriors from Cush and Put, that carry shields; and men of Ludim (Lydia), that handle and bend the bow, march to the attack. 10For this is the day of the LORD God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His adversaries; and the sword shall devour, until it is drunk with the blood of His foes; for the LORD God of hosts will receive a sacrifice in the north country by the Euphrates River. 11Go up to Gilead to get balm (medicine), O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain shall you try many medicines; for there is no cure for you. 12The nations have heard of your shame, and your cries of despair fill the land; for one warrior will stumbled over another; and both will fall together.”

13The message that the LORD gave to Jeremiah, the prophet, about Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, coming to attack Egypt:

14“Publish this in Egypt - in Migdol, Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Stand your ground, and be ready; for the sword claims those around you. 15Why are your warriors swept away? They cannot stand, because the LORD has knocked them down. 16He has caused many to fall, stumbling over one another; and saying, ‘Let us go back to our own people, and to our native land, away from this destroying sword!’ 17There they exclaim: “Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just a noise; he has missed his opportunity”. 18“As surely as I live,” says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts, “Surely one as tall as Tabor among the mountains and like Mount Carmel by the sea is coming! 19O you daughter, dwelling in Egypt, pack up your belongings and prepare to go into captivity; for Memphis shall be waste and devoid of inhabitants. 20Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes out of the north like a horsefly. 21Egypt’s mercenaries in her ranks are like fatted calves; for they will not stand their ground, but will flee from the calamity that comes upon them in the time of their judgment. 22Egypt will hiss like a fleeing snake as their enemy approaches them with battle axes, like wood choppers. 23They shall cut down her people like a forest”, says the LORD, “though they cannot be counted; they are so numerous - like grasshoppers. 24The daughter of Egypt shall be humiliated and captured by the people of the north”. 25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the multitude of Amon No (Thebes), Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings, including Pharaoh, and all those who trust in him; 26And I will turn them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and his servants. But later, it shall again be inhabited, as in the days of old”, says the LORD.

27“But be not afraid, O My servant, Jacob, nor dismayed, O Israel; for I will surely save you from afar, and restore your descendants from the land of their captivity (exile); and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 28Do not fear, O Jacob, My servant,” says the LORD; “for I am with you; for though I totally destroy all the nations to which I have driven you; I will not totally destroy you, but only discipline you with measured corrections; and yet I will not let you go wholly unpunished.”