Jeremiah 46:1-13
New Catholic Bible
Prophecies against the Nations[a]
Chapter 46
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah in regard to the nations.
Against Egypt.[b] 2 Concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, which was stationed at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah:
3 Prepare your bucklers and
shields and march forth for battle.
4 Harness the horses;
let the riders mount.
Don your helmets
and take your stations.
Sharpen your spears
and put on your breastplates.
5 What is this shameful spectacle I behold?
They fall back in terror.
Their warriors are routed
and are in headlong flight
without glancing back.
There is terror on every side,
says the Lord.
6 The swift cannot flee,
nor can the brave warriors escape.
In the north, by the River Euphrates,
they have stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is this that rises like the Nile,
like rivers of torrential waters?
8 Egypt rises up like the Nile,
like rivers of torrential waters.
I will rise up, Egypt says, and cover the earth;
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.
9 Advance, O horses,
and drive madly, O chariots.
Let the warriors advance:
men from Ethiopia and Put bearing shields,
and men from Lud who draw their bows.
10 This day belongs to the Lord God of hosts,
a day of retribution
and vengeance on his enemies.
The sword will devour and be sated
until drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts
is holding a sacrificial feast
in the land of the north
by the River Euphrates.
11 Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,
O virgin daughter Egypt.
The many medicines you have used
have afforded you no healing.
12 The nations have heard of your shame;
the earth is filled with your cries.
Warrior stumbles against warrior,
and both fall down together.
13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah in regard to the advance of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to attack the land of Egypt:
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 46:1 These threats to the nations are not in their proper place here at the end of the Book. It is thought that they were originally located between verses 1-13 and verses 14-19 of chapter 25, these two sections being respectively an appeal of the prophet to his fellow countrymen and a vision of the cup of the Lord’s wrath. And, in fact, it is at that point that the ancient Greek translation usually inserts the present chapters.
- Jeremiah 46:2 When the Assyrian empire broke up, two powers entered the lists to win control of the Mediterranean East: the kingdoms of Babylon and of Egypt. Shortly before being enthroned as king, Nebuchadnezzar II (605–561 B.C.) defeated the army of Pharaoh Neco (609–593 B.C.) at Carchemish (today Jerablus), an ancient Hittite metropolis on the upper Euphrates. The battle was a historical turning point.
