3. “Order the buckler and shield,And draw near to battle!
4. Harness the horses,And mount up, you horsemen!Stand forth with your helmets,Polish the spears,Put on the armor!
5. Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?Their mighty ones are beaten down;They have speedily fled,And did not look back,For fear was all around,” says the Lord.
6. “Do not let the swift flee away,Nor the mighty man escape;They will stumble and fallToward the north, by the River Euphrates.
7. “Who is this coming up like a flood,Whose waters move like the rivers?
8. Egypt rises up like a flood,And its waters move like the rivers;And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
9. Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!And let the mighty men come forth:The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield,And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts,A day of vengeance,That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.The sword shall devour;It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood;For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrificeIn the north country by the River Euphrates.
11. “Go up to Gilead and take balm,O virgin, the daughter of Egypt;In vain you will use many medicines;You shall not be cured.
12. The nations have heard of your shame,And your cry has filled the land;For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty;They both have fallen together.”
13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.
14. “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes;Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves,For the sword devours all around you.’
15. Why are your valiant men swept away?They did not standBecause the Lord drove them away.
16. He made many fall;Yes, one fell upon another.And they said, ‘Arise!Let us go back to our own peopleAnd to the land of our nativityFrom the oppressing sword.’
17. They cried there,‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise.He has passed by the appointed time!’
18. “As I live,” says the King,Whose name is the Lord of hosts,“Surely as Tabor is among the mountainsAnd as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
19. O you daughter dwelling in Egypt,Prepare yourself to go into captivity!For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.
20. “Egypt is a very pretty heifer,But destruction comes, it comes from the north.
21. Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls,For they also are turned back,They have fled away together.They did not stand,For the day of their calamity had come upon them,The time of their punishment.