Day 182 of 365

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

²"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein,

³because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods, that they did not know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

⁴However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, 'Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate.'

⁵But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.

⁶Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.'

⁷Therefore now thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: 'Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the midst of Judah, to leave yourselves none remaining;

⁸in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.'

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.

¹²I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an object of horror, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

¹³For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;

¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.'"

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

¹⁶"As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.

¹⁷But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

¹⁸But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

¹⁹When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?"

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying,

²¹"The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land. Did not the Lord remember them, and did not it come into his mind,

²²so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed? Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day."

²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, "Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt:

²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, "We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her": establish then your vows, and perform your vows.'

²⁶Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: 'Behold, I have sworn by my great name,' says the Lord, 'that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord God lives."

²⁷Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.

²⁸Those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs.

²⁹This shall be the sign to you,' says the Lord, 'that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil':

³⁰Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.'"

¹The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

²"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, Baruch:

³'You said, "Woe is me now! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest."'"

⁴"You shall tell him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land.

⁵Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for, behold, I will bring disaster on all flesh, says the Lord; but your life will I give to you for a reward in all places where you go."'"

¹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

²Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

³"Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!

⁴Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

⁵Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled in haste, and do not look back: terror is on every side," says the Lord.

⁶"Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

⁷Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

⁸Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, 'I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.'

⁹Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For that day is of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

¹¹Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together."

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴"Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, 'Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.'

¹⁵Why are your strong ones swept away? They did not stand, because the Lord pushed them.

¹⁶He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, 'Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.'

¹⁷They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.'"

¹⁸"As I live," says the King, "whose name is the Lord of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

¹⁹You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

²⁰Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come, it has come.

²¹Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.

²²The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.

²³They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."

²⁵"The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him:

²⁶and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old,' says the Lord.

²⁷'But do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

²⁸Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant,' says the Lord; 'for I am with you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.'"

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza.

²"Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers do not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

⁴because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for the Lord will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?

⁶You sword of the Lord, "how long will it be before you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest, and be still."

⁷How can you be quiet, since the Lord has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there has he appointed it.'"