17. There at home they will say, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is just a big noise!He has let the most opportune moment pass by.’
18. I the King, whose name is the Lord who rules over all, swear this:I swear as surely as I live that a conqueror is coming.He will be as imposing as Mount Tabor is among the mountains,as Mount Carmel is against the backdrop of the sea.
19. Pack your bags for exile,you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt.For Memphis will be laid waste.It will lie in ruins and be uninhabited.
20. Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies.
21. Even her mercenarieswill prove to be like pampered, well-fed calves.For they too will turn and run away.They will not stand their ground when the time for them to be destroyed comes,the time for them to be punished.
22. Egypt will run away, hissing like a snake,as the enemy comes marching up in force.They will come against her with axesas if they were woodsmen chopping down trees.
23. The population of Egypt is like a vast, impenetrable forest.But I, the Lord, affirm that the enemy will cut them down.For those who chop them down will be more numerous than locusts.They will be too numerous to count.