Prophecies concerning Egypt

461 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about the nations. 2 Of Egypt: about the army of Pharaoh-neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, overcame in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. 3 Get out the breastplate and body-cover, and come together to the fight. 4 Make the horses ready, and get up, you horsemen, and take your places with your head-dresses; make the spears sharp and put on the breastplates. 5 What have I seen? they are overcome with fear and turned back; their men of war are broken and have gone in flight, not looking back: fear is on every side, says the Lord. 6 Let not the quick-footed go in flight, or the man of war get away; on the north, by the river Euphrates, they are slipping and falling. 7 Who is this coming up like the Nile, whose waters are lifting their heads like the rivers? 8 Egypt is coming up like the Nile, and his waters are lifting their heads like the rivers, and he says, I will go up, covering the earth; I will send destruction on the town and its people. 9 Go up, you horses; go rushing on, you carriages of war; go out, you men of war: Cush and Put, gripping the body-cover, and the Ludim, with bent bows. 10 But that day is the day of the Lord, the Lord of armies, a day of punishment when he will take payment from his haters: and the sword will have all its desire, drinking their blood in full measure: for there is an offering to the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go up to Gilead and take sweet oil, O virgin daughter of Egypt: there is no help in all your medical arts; nothing will make you well.

12 Your shame has come to the ears of the nations, and the earth is full of your cry: for the strong man is falling against the strong, they have come down together. 13 The word which the Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet, of how Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, would come and make war on the land of Egypt. 14 Give the news in Migdol, make it public in Noph: say, Take up your positions and make yourselves ready; for on every side of you the sword has made destruction. 15 Why has Apis, your strong one, gone in flight? he was not able to keep his place, because the Lord was forcing him down with strength. 16 ... are stopped in their going, they are falling; and they say one to another, Let us get up and go back to our people, to the land of our birth, away from the cruel sword. 17 Give a name to Pharaoh, king of Egypt: A noise who has let the time go by. 18 By my life, says the King, whose name is the Lord of armies, truly, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so will he come. 19 O daughter living in Egypt, make ready the vessels of a prisoner: for Noph will become a waste, it will be burned up and become unpeopled. 20 Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north. 21 And those who were her fighters for payment are like fat oxen; for they are turned back, they have gone in flight together, they do not keep their place: for the day of their fate has come on them, the time of their punishment. 22 She makes a sound like the hiss of a snake when they come on with strength; they go against her with axes, like wood-cutters. 23 They will be cutting down her woods, for they may not be searched out; because they are like locusts, more than may be numbered. 24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be given up into the hands of the people of the north. 25 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send punishment on Amon of No and on Pharaoh and on those who put their faith in him; 26 And I will give them up into the hands of those who will take their lives, and into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants: and later, it will be peopled as in the past, says the Lord. 27 But have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, and do not be troubled, O Israel: for see, I will make you come back from far away, and your seed from the land where they are prisoners; and Jacob will come back, and will be quiet and in peace, and no one will give him cause for fear. 28 Have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord; for I am with you: for I will put an end to all the nations where I have sent you, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite without punishment.

The Prophecy concerning the Philistines

471 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines, before Pharaoh's attack on Gaza. 2 This is what the Lord has said: See, waters are coming up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, overflowing the land and everything in it, the town and those who are living in it; and men will give a cry, and all the people of the land will be crying out in pain. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the feet of his war-horses, at the rushing of his carriages and the thunder of his wheels, fathers will give no thought to their children, because their hands are feeble; 4 Because of the day which is coming with destruction on all the Philistines, cutting off from Tyre and Zidon the last of their helpers: for the Lord will send destruction on the Philistines, the rest of the sea-land of Caphtor. 5 The hair is cut off from the head of Gaza; Ashkelon has come to nothing; the last of the Anakim are deeply wounding themselves. 6 O sword of the Lord, how long will you have no rest? put yourself back into your cover; be at peace, be quiet. 7 How is it possible for it to be quiet, seeing that the Lord has given it orders? against Ashkelon and against the sea-land he has given it directions.

61 For this reason let us go on from the first things about Christ to full growth; not building again that on which it is based, that is, the turning of the heart from dead works, and faith in God, 2 The teaching of baptisms, and of the putting on of hands, and of the future life of the dead, and of the judging on the last day. 3 Now we will do this, if God lets us. 4 As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit, 5 With knowledge of the good word of God, and of the powers of the coming time, 6 And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him. 7 For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God: 8 But if it sends up thorns and evil plants, it is of no use and is ready to be cursed; its only end is to be burned.

9 But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation; 10 For God is true, and will not put away from him the memory of your work and of your love for his name, in the help which you gave and still give to the saints. 11 And it is our desire that you may all keep the same high purpose in certain hope to the end: 12 So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting. 13 For when God made his oath to Abraham, because there was no greater oath, he made it by himself, 14 Saying, Be certain that I will give you my blessing, and make your numbers very great. 15 And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect. 16 For men at all times make their oaths by what is greater; and any argument is ended by the decision of the oath. 17 So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath; 18 So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false; 19 And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil; 20 Where Jesus has gone before us, as a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.