⁶ “The swiftest runners won’t get away,
    the strongest soldiers won’t escape.
In the north country, along the River Euphrates,
    they’ll stagger, stumble, and fall.

^7-9 “Who is this like the Nile in flood?
    like its streams torrential?
Why, it’s Egypt like the Nile in flood,
    like its streams torrential,
Saying, ‘I’ll take over the world.
    I’ll wipe out cities and peoples.’
Run, horses!
    Roll, chariots!
Advance, soldiers
    from Cush and Put with your shields,
Soldiers from Lud,
    experts with bow and arrow.

¹⁰ “But it’s not your day. It’s the Master’s, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
    the day when I have it out with my enemies,
The day when Sword puts an end to my enemies,
    when Sword exacts vengeance.
I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    will pile them on an altar—a huge sacrifice!—
In the great north country,
    along the mighty Euphrates.

^11-12 “Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt,
    climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm.
You will vainly collect medicines,
    for nothing will be able to cure what ails you.
The whole world will hear your anguished cries.
    Your wails fill the earth,
As soldier falls against soldier
    and they all go down in a heap.”

^15-19 “Why will your bull-god Apis run off?
    Because God will drive him off.
Your ragtag army will fall to pieces.
    The word is passing through the ranks,
‘Let’s get out of here while we still can.
    Let’s head for home and save our skins.’
When they get home they’ll nickname Pharaoh
    ‘Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.’
As sure as I am the living God”
    —the King’s Decree, God-of-the-Angel-Armies is his name—
“A conqueror is coming: like Tabor, singular among mountains;
    like Carmel, jutting up from the sea!
So pack your bags for exile,
    you coddled daughters of Egypt,
For Memphis will soon be nothing,
    a vacant lot grown over with weeds.

^20-21 “Too bad, Egypt, a beautiful sleek heifer
    attacked by a horsefly from the north!
All her hired soldiers are stationed to defend her—
    like well-fed calves they are.
But when their lives are on the line, they’ll run off,
    cowards every one.
When the going gets tough,
    they’ll take the easy way out.

^22-24 “Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake
    as the enemy army comes in force.
They will rush in, swinging axes
    like lumberjacks cutting down trees.
They’ll level the country”—God’s Decree—“nothing
    and no one standing for as far as you can see.
The invaders will be a swarm of locusts,
    innumerable, past counting.
Daughter Egypt will be ravished,
    raped by vandals from the north.”

⁶ “Oh, Sword of God,
    how long will you keep this up?
Return to your scabbard.
    Haven’t you had enough? Can’t you call it quits?

⁷ “But how can it quit
    when I, God, command the action?
I’ve ordered it to cut down
    Ashkelon and the seacoast.”

Thank God! Pray to him by name!
    Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
    translate his wonders into music!
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
    you who seek God. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
    be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made,
    his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered—
        O seed of Abraham, his servant,
        O child of Jacob, his chosen.

^7-15 He’s God, our God,
    in charge of the whole earth.
And he remembers, remembers his Covenant—
    for a thousand generations he’s been as good as his word.
It’s the Covenant he made with Abraham,
    the same oath he swore to Isaac,
The very statute he established with Jacob,
    the eternal Covenant with Israel,
Namely, “I give you the land.
    Canaan is your hill-country inheritance.”
When they didn’t count for much,
    a mere handful, and strangers at that,
Wandering from country to country,
    drifting from pillar to post,
He permitted no one to abuse them.
    He told kings to keep their hands off:
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on my anointed,
    don’t hurt a hair on the heads of my prophets.”

^16-22 Then he called down a famine on the country,
    he broke every last blade of wheat.
But he sent a man on ahead:
    Joseph, sold as a slave.
They put cruel chains on his ankles,
    an iron collar around his neck,
Until God’s word came to the Pharaoh,
    and God confirmed his promise.
God sent the king to release him.
    The Pharaoh set Joseph free;
He appointed him master of his palace,
    put him in charge of all his business
To personally instruct his princes
    and train his advisors in wisdom.

^23-42 Then Israel entered Egypt,
    Jacob immigrated to the Land of Ham.
God gave his people lots of babies;
    soon their numbers alarmed their foes.
He turned the Egyptians against his people;
    they abused and cheated God’s servants.
Then he sent his servant Moses,
    and Aaron, whom he also chose.
They worked marvels in that spiritual wasteland,
    miracles in the Land of Ham.
He spoke, “Darkness!” and it turned dark—
    they couldn’t see what they were doing.
He turned all their water to blood
    so that all their fish died;
He made frogs swarm through the land,
    even into the king’s bedroom;
He gave the word and flies swarmed,
    gnats filled the air.
He substituted hail for rain,
    he stabbed their land with lightning;
He wasted their vines and fig trees,
    smashed their groves of trees to splinters;
With a word he brought in locusts,
    millions of locusts, armies of locusts;
They consumed every blade of grass in the country
    and picked the ground clean of produce;
He struck down every firstborn in the land,
    the first fruits of their virile powers.
He led Israel out, their arms filled with loot,
    and not one among his tribes even stumbled.
Egypt was glad to have them go—
    they were scared to death of them.
God spread a cloud to keep them cool through the day
    and a fire to light their way through the night;
They prayed and he brought quail,
    filled them with the bread of heaven;
He opened the rock and water poured out;
    it flowed like a river through that desert—
All because he remembered his Covenant,
    his promise to Abraham, his servant.

^43-45 Remember this! He led his people out singing for joy;
    his chosen people marched, singing their hearts out!
He made them a gift of the country they entered,
    helped them seize the wealth of the nations
So they could do everything he told them—
    could follow his instructions to the letter.

Hallelujah!