Day 234 - Jeremiah 46-48

Jeremiah 46

A Message About Egypt

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:

² Concerning Egypt:
This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

³ "Prepare your shields, both large and small,
and march out for battle!

⁴ Harness the horses,
mount the steeds!
Take your positions
with helmets on!
Polish your spears,
put on your armor!

⁵ What do I see?
They are terrified,
they are retreating,
their warriors are defeated.
They flee in haste
without looking back,
and there is terror on every side,"
declares the LORD.

⁶ "The swift cannot flee
nor the strong escape.
In the north by the River Euphrates
they stumble and fall.

⁷ "Who is this that rises like the Nile,
like rivers of surging waters?

⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers of surging waters.
She says, 'I will rise and cover the earth;
I will destroy cities and their people.'

⁹ Charge, O horses!
Drive furiously, O charioteers!
March on, O warriors—
men of Cush ^a]">[a] and Put who carry shields,
men of Lydia who draw the bow.

¹⁰ But that day belongs to the LORD, the Lord Almighty—
a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes.
The sword will devour till it is satisfied,
till it has quenched its thirst with blood.
For the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will offer sacrifice
in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

¹¹ "Go up to Gilead and get balm,
O Virgin Daughter of Egypt.
But you multiply remedies in vain;
there is no healing for you.

¹² The nations will hear of your shame;
your cries will fill the earth.
One warrior will stumble over another;
both will fall down together."

¹³ This is the message the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:

¹⁴ "Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;
proclaim it also in Memphis ^b]">[b] and Tahpanhes:
'Take your positions and get ready,
for the sword devours those around you.'

¹⁵ Why will your warriors be laid low?
They cannot stand, for the LORD will push them down.

¹⁶ They will stumble repeatedly;
they will fall over each other.
They will say, 'Get up, let us go back
to our own people and our native lands,
away from the sword of the oppressor.'

¹⁷ There they will exclaim,
'Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise;
he has missed his opportunity.'

¹⁸ "As surely as I live," declares the King,
whose name is the LORD Almighty,
"one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains,
like Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹ Pack your belongings for exile,
you who live in Egypt,
for Memphis will be laid waste
and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

²⁰ "Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
but a gadfly is coming
against her from the north.

²¹ The mercenaries in her ranks
are like fattened calves.
They too will turn and flee together,
they will not stand their ground,
for the day of disaster is coming upon them,
the time for them to be punished.

²² Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent
as the enemy advances in force;
they will come against her with axes,
like men who cut down trees.

²³ They will chop down her forest,"
declares the LORD,
"dense though it be.
They are more numerous than locusts,
they cannot be counted.

²⁴ The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame,
handed over to the people of the north."

²⁵ The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, ^c]">[c] on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. ²⁶ I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past," declares the LORD.

²⁷ "Do not fear, O Jacob my servant;
do not be dismayed, O Israel.
I will surely save you out of a distant place,
your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
and no one will make him afraid.

²⁸ Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,
for I am with you," declares the LORD.
"Though I completely destroy all the nations
among which I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only with justice;
I will not let you go entirely unpunished."

Jeremiah 47

A Message About the Philistines

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:

² This is what the LORD says:
"See how the waters are rising in the north;
they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
all who dwell in the land will wail

³ at the sound of the hoofs of galloping steeds,
at the noise of enemy chariots
and the rumble of their wheels.
Fathers will not turn to help their children;
their hands will hang limp.

⁴ For the day has come
to destroy all the Philistines
and to cut off all survivors
who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines,
the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor. ^d]">[d]

⁵ Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
Ashkelon will be silenced.
O remnant on the plain,
how long will you cut yourselves?

⁶ " 'Ah, sword of the LORD,' you cry,
'how long till you rest?
Return to your scabbard;
cease and be still.'

⁷ But how can it rest
when the LORD has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
to attack Ashkelon and the coast?"

Jeremiah 48

A Message About Moab

¹ Concerning Moab:
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined.
Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured;
the stronghold ^e]">[e] will be disgraced and shattered.

² Moab will be praised no more;
in Heshbon ^f]">[f] men will plot her downfall:
'Come, let us put an end to that nation.'
You too, O Madmen, ^g]">[g] will be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.

³ Listen to the cries from Horonaim,
cries of great havoc and destruction.

⁴ Moab will be broken;
her little ones will cry out. ^h]">[h]

⁵ They go up the way to Luhith,
weeping bitterly as they go;
on the road down to Horonaim
anguished cries over the destruction are heard.

⁶ Flee! Run for your lives;
become like a bush ^i]">[i] in the desert.

⁷ Since you trust in your deeds and riches,
you too will be taken captive,
and Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.

⁸ The destroyer will come against every town,
and not a town will escape.
The valley will be ruined
and the plateau destroyed,
because the LORD has spoken.

⁹ Put salt on Moab,
for she will be laid waste ^j]">[j] ;
her towns will become desolate,
with no one to live in them.

¹⁰ "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work!
A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!

¹¹ "Moab has been at rest from youth,
like wine left on its dregs,
not poured from one jar to another—
she has not gone into exile.
So she tastes as she did,
and her aroma is unchanged.

¹² But days are coming,"
declares the LORD,
"when I will send men who pour from jars,
and they will pour her out;
they will empty her jars
and smash her jugs.

¹³ Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
when they trusted in Bethel.

¹⁴ "How can you say, 'We are warriors,
men valiant in battle'?

¹⁵ Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded;
her finest young men will go down in the slaughter,"
declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

¹⁶ "The fall of Moab is at hand;
her calamity will come quickly.

¹⁷ Mourn for her, all who live around her,
all who know her fame;
say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter,
how broken the glorious staff!'

¹⁸ "Come down from your glory
and sit on the parched ground,
O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon,
for he who destroys Moab
will come up against you
and ruin your fortified cities.

¹⁹ Stand by the road and watch,
you who live in Aroer.
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping,
ask them, 'What has happened?'

²⁰ Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered.
Wail and cry out!
Announce by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.

²¹ Judgment has come to the plateau—
to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,

²² to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,

²³ to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,

²⁴ to Kerioth and Bozrah—
to all the towns of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ Moab's horn ^k]">[k] is cut off;
her arm is broken,"
declares the LORD.

²⁶ "Make her drunk,
for she has defied the LORD.
Let Moab wallow in her vomit;
let her be an object of ridicule.

²⁷ Was not Israel the object of your ridicule?
Was she caught among thieves,
that you shake your head in scorn
whenever you speak of her?

²⁸ Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks,
you who live in Moab.
Be like a dove that makes its nest
at the mouth of a cave.

²⁹ "We have heard of Moab's pride—
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and arrogance
and the haughtiness of her heart.

³⁰ I know her insolence but it is futile,"
declares the LORD,
"and her boasts accomplish nothing.

³¹ Therefore I wail over Moab,
for all Moab I cry out,
I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.

³² I weep for you, as Jazer weeps,
O vines of Sibmah.
Your branches spread as far as the sea;
they reached as far as the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen
on your ripened fruit and grapes.

³³ Joy and gladness are gone
from the orchards and fields of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy.
Although there are shouts,
they are not shouts of joy.

³⁴ "The sound of their cry rises
from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz,
from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah,
for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.

³⁵ In Moab I will put an end
to those who make offerings on the high places
and burn incense to their gods,"
declares the LORD.

³⁶ "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute;
it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth.
The wealth they acquired is gone.

³⁷ Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off;
every hand is slashed
and every waist is covered with sackcloth.

³⁸ On all the roofs in Moab
and in the public squares
there is nothing but mourning,
for I have broken Moab
like a jar that no one wants,"
declares the LORD.

³⁹ "How shattered she is! How they wail!
How Moab turns her back in shame!
Moab has become an object of ridicule,
an object of horror to all those around her."

⁴⁰ This is what the LORD says:
"Look! An eagle is swooping down,
spreading its wings over Moab.

⁴¹ Kerioth ^l]">[l] will be captured
and the strongholds taken.
In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴² Moab will be destroyed as a nation
because she defied the LORD.

⁴³ Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of Moab,"
declares the LORD.

⁴⁴ "Whoever flees from the terror
will fall into a pit,
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare;
for I will bring upon Moab
the year of her punishment,"
declares the LORD.

⁴⁵ "In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives stand helpless,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the midst of Sihon;
it burns the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of the noisy boasters.

⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are destroyed;
your sons are taken into exile
and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in days to come,"
declares the LORD.
Here ends the judgment on Moab.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 46:9 That is, the upper Nile region
2. Jeremiah 46:14 Hebrew Noph ; also in verse 19
3. Jeremiah 46:25 Hebrew No
4. Jeremiah 47:4 That is, Crete
5. Jeremiah 48:1 Or / Misgab
6. Jeremiah 48:2 The Hebrew for Heshbon sounds like the Hebrew for plot .
7. Jeremiah 48:2 The name of the Moabite town Madmen sounds like the Hebrew for be silenced .
8. Jeremiah 48:4 Hebrew; Septuagint / proclaim it to Zoar
9. Jeremiah 48:6 Or like Aroer
10. Jeremiah 48:9 Or Give wings to Moab, / for she will fly away
11. Jeremiah 48:25 Horn here symbolizes strength.
12. Jeremiah 48:41 Or The cities