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A final word for Baruch

45 In the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, Baruch was writing in a scroll the words that Jeremiah was dictating to him. Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch, Neriah’s son: This is what the Lord the God of Israel proclaims about you, Baruch: You have said, “I can’t take it anymore! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I’m worn out from groaning and can find no rest.” This is what you should say to him: “The Lord proclaims: I’m breaking down everything I have built up. I’m digging up that which I have planted—the entire land. You seek great things for yourself, but don’t bother. I’m bringing disaster on all humanity, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.”

ORACLES CONCERNING THE NATIONS

46 This is what the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

Prophecy against Egypt

About Egypt! A message for the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king, which was defeated by Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish near the Euphrates River in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son:

Grab your shields
    and prepare for war!
Saddle the horses;
    mount the stallions!
Take your positions
    with helmets on!
Polish your spears;
    put on your armor!
Why do I see them terrified,
    retreating in haste?
Their soldiers are crushed,
    running for cover,
    and they don’t turn back.
Panic lurks at every turn,
        declares the Lord.
The swift can’t flee;
    the mighty can’t escape.
Up north by the Euphrates River,
    they stagger and fall.

Who is this that rises like the Nile,
    whose banks overflow?[a]
It’s Egypt that rises like the Nile,
    whose banks overflow,[b]
        who declares, “I will arise
        and cover the earth
        and destroy cities and inhabitants.”
Charge, you horses;
    advance, you chariots!
Attack, you soldiers
    with your shield in hand,
        you people of Cush and Put[c]
            with your bow drawn,
        you archers from Lud.

10 But that day belongs to the
    Lord God of heavenly forces;
        it’s a day of reckoning,
        settling scores with enemies.
The sword will devour
    until it has had its fill of blood.
The Lord God of heavenly forces
    is preparing a sacrifice in the north
        by the Euphrates River.
11 Go up to Gilead and seek balm,
    virgin Daughter Egypt.
You search out remedies in vain,
    for your disease is incurable.
12 Nations hear of your shame;
    the earth is filled with your sobs.
Soldier stumbles over soldier;
    together they go down.

13 This is the word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the military offensive of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar against the land of Egypt:

14 Tell Egypt, warn Migdol,
    alert Memphis and Tahpanhes!
Say: “Brace yourselves for what’s coming.
    War is breaking out from every side!”
15 Why have your mighty fallen?
    Why haven’t they stood their ground?
        Because the Lord has struck them down.
16 He’s tripped them up;
    they fall over each other and say,
    “Let’s get out of here
        and go home to our people,
        where we were born,
        far away from the oppressor’s sword.”[d]
17 There they call Pharaoh, Egypt’s king,
    Loudmouth—Nothing But Hot Air!
18 As I live, declares the king,
    whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces,
one is coming
    just as surely as Tabor is in the mountains
    and Carmel is by the sea.[e]
19 Get what you need for deportation,
    you inhabitants of Egypt.[f]
Memphis will be reduced to a wasteland,
    a ruin with no one left.
20 Egypt is a beautiful, yes, beautiful heifer,
    but a horsefly from the north
        is coming to bite her.[g]
21 Even her mercenaries
    are like well-fed calves;
        they too will retreat and run for cover;
        they won’t survive.
The day of disaster has come to haunt them,
    the time of their punishment.
22 Like the sound of a snake hissing
    as it slithers away
        is Egypt[h] as armies approach in force;
        they come against her with axes,
            like woodcutters.
23 They destroy her dense forest,
    though it is vast,
        because they outnumber locusts
        and can’t be counted,
            declares the Lord.
24 Daughter Egypt will be humiliated,
    handed over to people from the north.

25 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m going to punish Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, as well as Pharaoh and all who rely on him. 26 I will hand them over to those who seek to kill them, namely Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his servants. But afterward Egypt will dwell like it did a long time ago, declares the Lord.

27 But don’t be afraid, my servant Judah;
    don’t lose heart, Israel.
I will deliver you from a faraway place
    and your children from the land of their exile.
My people Jacob will again be safe and sound,
    with no one harassing them.
28 So don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
    declares the Lord.
I’m with you;
    I will put an end to all the nations
        where I have scattered you.
But I won’t put an end to you.
    I won’t let you avoid punishment;
    I will discipline you as you deserve.

Prophecy against Philistia

47 The Lord’s word to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.

The Lord proclaims:
    Waters are rising from the north
        and turning into a raging flood.
They will engulf the land and everything in it,
    the towns and those living in them.
The people cry out;
    all who live there scream.
At the pounding of the stallions’ hooves,
    at the deafening roar of the chariots’ wheels,
        parents abandon children,
        so paralyzed are they with fear.
Because the time is coming
    for the Philistines’ destruction,
    for cutting off from Tyre and Sidon
        anyone who might try to save Gaza,[i]
    because the Lord will destroy the Philistines,
    the few left from the island of Caphtor.
Mourning[j] will come upon Gaza;
    silence will cover Ashkelon,
        the few left in their valley.
How long will you gash yourselves in grief?[k]
    You sword of the Lord,
    how long until you are silent?
Return to your sheath;
    rest and be still!
How can you be silent
    when the Lord has directed you[l]
        to attack Ashkelon and the coast line?

Prophecy against Moab

48 Concerning Moab:

The Lord of heavenly forces,
    the God of Israel, proclaims:
How awful for Nebo;
    it lies in ruins.
Kirathaim is captured and shamed;
    the fortress is disgraced,
        reduced to rubble.
No one sings Moab’s praise any longer!
    In Heshbon they are hatching
        a plot against her:
    “Come, let’s bring down the nation!”
    You too, Madmen, will be silenced;
        the sword will pursue you.
Listen to the cries for help from Horonaim:
    “Destruction and massive devastation!”
Moab is shattered;
    its young cry for help.
On the way up to Luhith,
        there is uncontrollable weeping.
    On the way down to Horonaim,
        they hear sobs of anguish.
Run for your lives!
    Be like Aroer[m] in the desert.
Because you have relied
        on your own strength and treasures,
    you also will be captured.
Chemosh will go into exile,
    together with his priests and officials.
The destroyer will sweep through every town;
    no town will escape.
The valleys will be ravaged;
    the plateaus will be destroyed,
        because the Lord has declared it so.
Give wings to Moab,
    and it would fly away[n]
        because its towns lie in ruins,
        with no one left in them.

10 Cursed is the one who is halfhearted
    in doing the Lord’s work.
Cursed is the one who restrains
    the sword from bloodshed.
11 From early on Moab has been at ease,
        like wine[o] left to settle on its sediment.
    It hasn’t been poured into jars;
        nor has Moab been taken into exile.
    Therefore, its taste is still pleasant,
        and its aroma is the same.

12 But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will send to him someone to spill it—to pour out his wine and to smash his jars. 13 And Moab will be put to shame on account of Chemosh, just as the people of Israel were put to shame on account of Bethel, in which they trusted.[p]

14 How can you claim,
    “We’re soldiers; we’re war heroes”?
15 Moab is doomed;
    its towns will surrender;[q]
    its elite forces will go down in defeat,
        declares the king whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces.
16 Moab’s destruction is near;
    its downfall approaches rapidly.
17 Grieve for this nation,
    you neighbors of Moab,
    all you who know his name.
Proclaim how its mighty scepter
    and magnificent staff are shattered!

18 Come down from your lofty place
        and sit in the dust,[r]
    you inhabitants of Daughter Dibon;[s]
        because Moab’s destroyer
        has arrived to level your fortresses.
19 Stand by the roads and watch,
    you inhabitants of Aroer.
Ask the men who flee
    and the women who run off,
        “What’s happened?”
20 Moab is shamed and shocked;
    weep and wail!
Tell it by the Arnon River:
    Moab’s been destroyed!

21 Judgment has come to the towns of 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 is cut off;
    its arm is broken,
        declares the Lord.
26 Get Moab drunk,
    because it has exalted itself above the Lord.
Moab will collapse in its vomit
    and become the butt of every joke.
27 Wasn’t Israel the butt of your jokes?
    Didn’t you shake your head
        as if they were thieves
            caught in the act?
28 Leave your towns, head for the cliffs,
        you people of Moab.
Hide like a dove
    that nests in the mouth of a cave.

29 We have heard of Moab’s pride:
    arrogant, puffed up, exalted,
        high and mighty, boastful!
30 I myself know about its arrogance,
    declares the Lord,
        the idle talk, the empty deeds.
31 But I’ll still wail for Moab;
    I’ll cry out for all Moab;
        I’ll[t] sob for the people of Kir-heres.
32             I’ll weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
                more than I would for Jazer.
Though your branches extended to the sea
    and reached the coast of Jazer,
        now the destroyer has come
            to harvest your grapes and summer fruits.
33 Joy and gladness have been taken
    from the orchards and farms of Moab.
    I have stopped making wine in the presses.
    No one shouts with joy
        while treading the grapes.
Though there are shouts,
    they are not shouts of joy![u]
34 Screams are heard from Heshbon
    to Elealeh and Jahaz;
        their cries resound from Zoar
        to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah.
Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
35     I’ll put an end to Moab,
        declares the Lord,
        for making offerings on the shrines,
            and worshipping their gods.

36 Therefore, my heart wails for Moab
        like a mournful[v] flute that plays the dirge;
    my heart wails for the people of Kir-heres,
        like a mournful flute.
        Their abundance is now gone.
37 Every head is shaved,
    every beard is cut off,
    every hand is slashed,
    and everyone wears mourning clothes.
38 On every housetop of Moab
    and in all its streets,
        there’s nothing but mourning.
I have shattered Moab
    like a pottery vessel no one wants,
        declares the Lord.
39 How it’s shattered! Go wail!
How Moab turns away!
    What shame!
Moab has become the butt of every joke,
    horrific to all its neighbors.

40 The Lord proclaims:
    Look! One who soars like an eagle
        and spreads its wings over Moab.
41 The towns will be captured;
    the strongholds will be seized.
On that day, the heart of every soldier from Moab
    will be like that of a woman in the throes of labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed once and for all
    because it has exalted itself above the Lord.

43 Terror, traps, and trackers[w]
    are upon you, people of Moab,
            declares the Lord.
44 Those who flee from terror
        will fall into a pit;
    those who escape the pit
        will be captured by the trap.
I will bring upon Moab
    the year of its punishment,
        declares the Lord.
45 In Heshbon tired refugees seek shelter.
    But fire is raging in Heshbon,
        flames from the house[x] of Sihon.
It has burned up part of Moab,
    including the leader of this rebellious nation.[y]
46 How terrible for you, Moab;
    the people of Chemosh have perished.
Your sons have been carried off;
    your daughters have been taken captive.
47 But in the days to come
    I’ll bring back Moab from captivity,
        declares the Lord.
    Such is the judgment on Moab.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 46:7 Or like rivers whose waters roar
  2. Jeremiah 46:8 Or like rivers whose waters roar
  3. Jeremiah 46:9 Traditionally Ethiopia and Libya
  4. Jeremiah 46:16 Heb uncertain
  5. Jeremiah 46:18 Heb uncertain
  6. Jeremiah 46:19 Or inhabitant, Daughter Egypt
  7. Jeremiah 46:20 Heb uncertain
  8. Jeremiah 46:22 Heb lacks is Egypt.
  9. Jeremiah 47:4 Or a helper
  10. Jeremiah 47:5 Or baldness
  11. Jeremiah 47:5 Heb lacks in grief.
  12. Jeremiah 47:7 Or it
  13. Jeremiah 48:6 Heb uncertain
  14. Jeremiah 48:9 Heb uncertain
  15. Jeremiah 48:11 Heb lacks like wine.
  16. Jeremiah 48:13 Or And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh just as the people of Israel were ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
  17. Jeremiah 48:15 Heb uncertain
  18. Jeremiah 48:18 Or thirst
  19. Jeremiah 48:18 Heb uncertain, or residing Daughter Dibon
  20. Jeremiah 48:31 Or He
  21. Jeremiah 48:33 Heb uncertain
  22. Jeremiah 48:36 Heb lacks mournful.
  23. Jeremiah 48:43 Or terror, pit, and trap
  24. Jeremiah 48:45 Heb manuscripts; MT from among
  25. Jeremiah 48:45 Heb uncertain

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