Judgment on Egypt 3 Brenton Take up arms and spears, and draw nigh to battle; BSB BSB: “Deploy your shields, small and large; advance for battle!
4 Brenton and harness the horses: mount, ye horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the spears, and put on your breast-plates. BSB BSB: Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears; put on armor!
5 Brenton Why do they fear, and turn back? even because their mighty men shall be slain: they have utterly fled, and being hemmed in they have not rallied, saith the Lord. BSB BSB: Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
6 Brenton Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape to the north: the forces at Euphrates are become feeble, and they have fallen. BSB BSB: “The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
7 Brenton Who is this that shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll their waves? BSB BSB: Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn?
8 Brenton The waters of Egypt shall come up like a river: and he said, I will go up, and will cover the earth, and will destroy the dwellers in it. BSB BSB: Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters churn like rivers, boasting, ‘I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy the cities and their people.’
9 Brenton Mount ye the horses, prepare the chariots; go forth, ye warriors of the Ethiopians, and Libyans armed with shields; and mount, ye Lydians, bend the bow. BSB BSB: Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
10 Brenton And that day shall be to the Lord our God a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his enemies: and the sword of the Lord shall devour, and be glutted, and be drunken with their blood: for the Lord has a sacrifice from the land of the north at the river Euphrates. BSB BSB: For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance against His foes. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, until it is quenched with their blood. For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.
11 Brenton Go up to Galaad, and take balm for the virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain hast thou multiplied thy medicines; there is no help in thee. BSB BSB: Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
12 Brenton The nations have heard thy voice, and the land has been filled with thy cry: for the warriors have fainted fighting one against another, and both are fallen together. BSB BSB: The nations have heard of your shame, and your outcry fills the earth, because warrior stumbles over warrior and both of them have fallen together.”
13 Brenton The Words which the Lord spoke by Jeremias, concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt. BSB BSB: This is the word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
14 Brenton Proclaim it at Magdol, and declare it at Memphis: say ye, Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured thy yew-tree. BSB BSB: “Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and prepare yourself, for the sword devours those around you.’
15 Brenton Wherefore has Apis fled from thee? thy choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him. BSB BSB: Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.
16 Brenton And thy multitude has fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbour, Let us arise, and return into our country to our people, from the Grecian sword. BSB BSB: They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.’
17 Brenton Call ye the name of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed. BSB BSB: There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’
18 Brenton As I live, saith the Lord God, he shall come as Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea.BSB BSB: As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Brenton O daughter of Egypt dwelling at home , prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no inhabitants in it. BSB BSB: Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.
20 Brenton Egypt is a fair heifer, but destruction from the north is come upon her. BSB BSB: Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
21 Brenton Also her hired soldiers in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution. BSB BSB: Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.
22 Brenton Their voice is as that of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand; they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood. BSB BSB: Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.
23 Brenton They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, for their number cannot at all be conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable. BSB BSB: They will chop down her forest, declares the LORD, dense though it may be, for they are more numerous than locusts; they cannot be counted.
24 Brenton The daughter of Egypt is confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north. BSB BSB: The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be delivered into the hands of the people of the north.”
25 Brenton Behold, I will avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him. BSB BSB: The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.
27 Brenton But fear not thou, my servant Jacob, neither be thou alarmed, Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at ease, and sleep, and there shall be no one to trouble him. BSB BSB: But you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.
28 Brenton Fear not thou, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; for I am with thee: she that was without fear and in luxury, has been delivered up: for I will make a full end of every nation among whom I have thrust thee forth; but I will not cause thee to fail: yet will I chastise thee in the way of judgment, and will not hold thee entirely guiltless. BSB BSB: And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”