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This is the message which the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

"Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol, Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes; Say, 'Take your stand and get yourself ready, For the sword has devoured those around you.'

Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.

"Why have your powerful ones been cut down? They do not stand because the LORD has thrust them away.

Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them.

"They have repeatedly stumbled; Indeed, they have fallen, one against another. Then they said, 'Get up, and let's go back To our own people and our native land, Away from the sword of the oppressor!'

He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

"They shouted there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is nothing but a big noise; He has let the appointed time pass by!'

They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

"As I live," declares the King, Whose name is the LORD of armies, "One certainly shall come who is like Tabor among the mountains, Or like Carmel by the sea.

As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

"Make your baggage ready for exile, Daughter living in Egypt, For Memphis will become a desolation; It will be destroyed and deprived of inhabitants.

O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

"Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

"Also her mercenaries in her midst Are like fattened calves, For they too have turned away and have fled together; They did not stand their ground. For the day of their disaster has come upon them, The time of their punishment.

Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

"Its sound moves along like a serpent; For they move on like an army And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

"They have cut down her forest," declares the LORD; "Certainly it will no longer be found, Even though they are more numerous than locusts And are without number.

They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord , though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

"The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame, Turned over to the power of the people of the north."

The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

The LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, indeed, Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

"I shall hand them over to those who are seeking their lives, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to his officers. Afterward, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old," declares the LORD.

And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord .