9. Command the horses to goand the chariots to roll!Send out the soldiers:men from Ethiopia and Libya, carrying shields,and skilled archers from Lydia.’ ”
10. This is the day of the Sovereign Lord Almighty:today he will take revenge;today he will punish his enemies.His sword will eat them until it is full,and drink their blood until it is satisfied.Today the Almighty sacrifices his victimsin the north, by the Euphrates.
11. People of Egypt, go to Gileadand look for medicine!All your medicine has proved useless;nothing can heal you.
12. Nations have heard of your shame;everyone has heard you cry.One soldier trips over another,and both of them fall to the ground.
13. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came to attack Egypt, the Lord spoke to me. He said,
14. “Proclaim it in the towns of Egypt,in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes:‘Get ready to defend yourselves;all you have will be destroyed in war!
15. Why has your mighty god Apis fallen?The Lord has struck him down!’
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.”