Jeremiah 46:13-28

13Then the Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar’s plans to attack Egypt.

14“Shout it out in Egypt! Publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Mobilize for battle, for the sword will devour everyone around you.

15Why have your warriors fallen? They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down.

16They stumble and fall over each other and say among themselves, ‘Come, let’s go back to our people, to the land of our birth. Let’s get away from the sword of the enemy!’

17There they will say, ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth who missed his opportunity!’

18“As surely as I live,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “one is coming against Egypt who is as tall as Mount Tabor, or as Mount Carmel by the sea!

19Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt! The city of Memphis will be destroyed, without a single inhabitant.

20Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way!

21Egypt’s mercenaries have become like fattened calves. They, too, will turn and run, for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt, a time of great punishment.

22Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away. The invading army marches in; they come against her with axes like woodsmen.

23They will cut down her people like trees,” says the Lord, “for they are more numerous than locusts.

24Egypt will be humiliated; she will be handed over to people from the north.”

25The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him.

26I will hand them over to those who want them killed—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the Lord, have spoken!

27“But do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them.

28Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, for I am with you,” says the Lord. “I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.”