8. Egypt rears up like the Nile,like rivers, its waters surge.“I will rear up,” it says, “and cover the earth,destroying the city and its people.
9. Forward, horses!charge, chariots!March forth, warriors,Cush and Put, bearing shields,Archers of Lud, stretching bows!”
10. Today belongs to the Lord God of hosts,a day of vengeance, vengeance on his foes!The sword devours and is sated, drunk with their blood:for the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrificein the land of the north, on the River Euphrates.
11. Go up to Gilead, procure balm,Virgin daughter Egypt!No use to multiply remedies;for you there is no healing.
12. The nations hear your cries,your screaming fills the earth.Warrior stumbles against warrior,both collapse together.
13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack the land of Egypt:
14. Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol,announce in Memphis and Tahpanhes!Say: Fall in, get ready,the sword has devoured your neighbors.
15. Why has Apis fled?Your champion did not stand,Because the Lord thrust him down;
16. he stumbled repeatedly then collapsed.They said to each other,“Get up! We must return to our own people,To the land of our birth,away from the destroying sword.”
17. Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name“Braggart-missed-his-chance.”
18. As I live, says the Kingwhose name is Lord of hosts,Like Tabor above mountains,like Carmel above the sea, he comes.
19. Pack your bags for exile,enthroned daughter Egypt;Memphis shall become a wasteland,an empty ruin.
20. Egypt is a beautiful heifer,a horsefly from the north keeps coming.
21. Even the mercenaries in her ranksare like fattened calves;They too turn and flee together—they do not stand their ground,For their day of ruin comes upon them,their time of punishment.
22. Her voice is like a snake!Yes, they come in force;They attack her with axes,like those who fell trees.
23. They cut down her forest—oracle of the Lord—impenetrable though it be;More numerous than locusts,they cannot be counted.
24. Shamed is daughter Egypt,handed over to a people from the north.
25. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: See! I will punish Amon of Thebes and Egypt, gods, kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.