16. Your soldiers have stumbled and fallen;each one says to the other,‘Hurry! Let's go home to our peopleand escape the enemy's sword!’
17. “Give the king of Egypt a new name —‘Noisy Braggart who Missed his Chance’.
18. I, the Lord Almighty, am king.I am the living God.As Mount Tabor towers above the mountainsand Mount Carmel stands high above the sea,so will be the strength of the one who attacks you.
19. Get ready to be taken prisoner,you people of Egypt!Memphis will be made a desert,a ruin where no one lives.
20. Egypt is like a splendid cow,attacked by a stinging fly from the north.
21. Even her hired soldiersare helpless as calves.They did not stand and fight;all of them turned and ran.The day of their doom had arrived,the time of their destruction.
22. Egypt runs away, hissing like a snake,as the enemy's army approaches.They attack her with axes,like men cutting down trees
23. and destroying a thick forest.Their men are too many to count;their soldiers outnumber the locusts.
24. The people of Egypt are put to shame;they are conquered by the people of the north.I, the Lord, have spoken.”
25. The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, “I am going to punish Amon, the god of Thebes, together with Egypt and its gods and kings. I am going to take the king of Egypt and all who put their trust in him,
26. and hand them over to those who want to kill them, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army. But later on, people will live in Egypt again, as they did in times past. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
27. “My people, do not be afraid,people of Israel, do not be terrified.I will rescue you from that distant land,from the land where you are prisoners.You will come back home and live in peace;you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid.
28. I will come to you and save you.I will destroy all the nationswhere I have scattered you,but I will not destroy you.I will not let you go unpunished;but when I punish you, I will be fair.I, the Lord, have spoken.”