¹⁴ Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol!^(B)
Proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes!
Say, “Take positions! Prepare yourself,
for the sword devours all around you.”^(C)
15 Why have your strong ones been swept away?
Each has not stood,
for the Lord has thrust him down.
¹⁶ He continues to stumble.^(D)
Indeed, each falls over the other.
They say, “Get up! Let’s return to our people
and to our native land,
away from the oppressor’s sword.”^(E)
17 There they will cry out,
“Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise;
he let the opportune moment pass.”
¹⁸ As I live—
this is the King’s declaration;
the Lord of Armies is his name^(F)—
the king of Babylon^[a] will come like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ Get your bags ready for exile,
inhabitant of Daughter Egypt!^(G)
For Memphis will become a desolation,
uninhabited ruins.
²⁰ Egypt is a beautiful young cow,^(H)
but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.^[b](I)
21 Even her mercenaries among her
are like stall-fed calves.
They too will turn back;
together they will flee;
they will not take their stand,
for the day of their calamity is coming on them,
the time of their punishment.^(J)
22 Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake,^[c]
for the enemy will come with an army;
with axes they will come against her
like those who cut trees.^(K)
23 They will cut down her forest—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
though it is dense,
for they are more numerous than locusts;
they cannot be counted.^(L)
24 Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,
handed over to a northern people.^(M)