Prophecies concerning Egypt

46¹ The following messages were given to Jeremiah the prophet from the Lord concerning foreign nations. ² This message concerning Egypt was given in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, the king of Judah, on the occasion of the battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. ³ "Prepare your shields, and advance into battle! ⁴ Harness the horses, and mount the stallions. Take your positions. Put on your helmets. Sharpen your spears, and prepare your armor. ⁵ But what do I see? The Egyptian army flees in terror. The bravest of its fighting men run without a backward glance. They are terrorized at every turn," says the Lord . ⁶ "The swiftest runners cannot flee; the mightiest warriors cannot escape. By the Euphrates River to the north, they stumble and fall. ⁷ "Who is this, rising like the Nile at floodtime, overflowing all the land? ⁸ It is the Egyptian army, overflowing all the land, boasting that it will cover the earth like a flood, destroying cities and their people. ⁹ Charge, you horses and chariots; attack, you mighty warriors of Egypt! Come, all you allies from Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia who are skilled with the shield and bow! ¹⁰ For this is the day of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, a day of vengeance on his enemies. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, yes, until it is drunk with your blood! The Lord, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, will receive a sacrifice today in the north country beside the Euphrates River. ¹¹ "Go up to Gilead to get medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! But your many treatments will bring you no healing.

¹² The nations have heard of your shame. The earth is filled with your cries of despair. Your mightiest warriors will run into each other and fall down together." ¹³ Then 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. ¹⁵ Why have your warriors fallen? They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down. ¹⁶ They 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!' ¹⁷ There 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! ¹⁹ Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt! The city of Memphis will be destroyed, without a single inhabitant. ²⁰ Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way! ²¹ Egypt'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. ²² Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away. The invading army marches in; they come against her with axes like woodsmen. ²³ They will cut down her people like trees," says the Lord, "for they are more numerous than locusts. ²⁴ Egypt will be humiliated; she will be handed over to people from the north." ²⁵ The 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. ²⁶ I 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. ²⁸ Do 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."

The Prophecy concerning the Philistines

47¹ This is the Lord 's message to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before it was captured by the Egyptian army. ² This is what the Lord says: "A flood is coming from the north to overflow the land. It will destroy the land and everything in it- cities and people alike. People will scream in terror, and everyone in the land will wail. ³ Hear the clatter of stallions' hooves and the rumble of wheels as the chariots rush by. Terrified fathers run madly, without a backward glance at their helpless children. ⁴ "The time has come for the Philistines to be destroyed, along with their allies from Tyre and Sidon. Yes, the Lord is destroying the remnant of the Philistines, those colonists from the island of Crete. ⁵ Gaza will be humiliated, its head shaved bald; Ashkelon will lie silent. You remnant from the Mediterranean coast, how long will you cut yourselves in mourning? ⁶ "Now, O sword of the Lord, when will you be at rest again? Go back into your sheath; rest and be still. ⁷ "But how can it be still when the Lord has sent it on a mission? For the city of Ashkelon and the people living along the sea must be destroyed."

6¹ So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. ² You don't need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. ⁴ For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened-those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come- ⁶ and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. ⁷ When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God's blessing. ⁸ But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

⁹ Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don't believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. ¹¹ Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. ¹² Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. ¹³ For example, there was God's promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: ¹⁴ "I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number." ¹⁵ Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. ¹⁶ Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. ¹⁷ God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. ¹⁸ So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. ¹⁹ This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.