Judgment on Egypt

¹This is the word of the LORD about the nations—the word that came to Jeremiah the prophet

²concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:

³“Deploy your shields, small and large;advance for battle!

⁴Harness the horses; mount the steeds;take your positions with helmets on!Polish your spears;put on armor!

⁵Why am I seeing this?They are terrified,they are retreating;their warriors are defeated,they flee in haste without looking back;terror is on every side!”declares the LORD.

⁶“The swift cannot flee,and the warrior cannot escape!In the north by the River Euphratesthey stumble and fall.

⁷Who is this, rising like the Nile,like rivers whose waters churn?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,and its waters churn like rivers,boasting, ‘I will rise and cover the earth;I will destroy the cities and their people.’

⁹Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots!Let the warriors come forth—Cushand Put carrying their shields,men of Lydia drawing the bow.

¹⁰For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts,a day of vengeance against His foes.The sword will devour until it is satisfied,until it is quenched with their blood.For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrificein the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

¹¹Go up to Gilead for balm,O Virgin Daughter of Egypt!In vain you try many remedies,but for you there is no healing.

¹²The nations have heard of your shame,and your outcry fills the earth,because warrior stumbles over warriorand both of them have fallen together.”

¹³This is the word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;proclaim it in Memphisand Tahpanhes:‘Take your positions and prepare yourself,for the sword devours those around you.’

¹⁵Why have your warriors been laid low?They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.

¹⁶They continue to stumble;indeed, they have fallen over one another.They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our peopleand to the land of our birth,away from the sword of the oppressor.’

¹⁷There they will cry out:‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise;he has let the appointed time pass him by.’

¹⁸As surely as I live, declares the King,whose name is the LORD of Hosts,there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountainsand like Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹Pack your bags for exile,O daughter dwelling in Egypt!For Memphis will be laid waste,destroyed and uninhabited.

²⁰Egypt is a beautiful heifer,but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

²¹Even the mercenaries among herare like fattened calves.They too will turn back;together they will flee, they will not stand their ground,for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.

²²Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent,for the enemy will advance in force;with axes they will come against herlike woodsmen cutting down trees.

²³They will chop down her forest, declares the LORD,dense though it may be,for they are more numerous than locusts;they cannot be counted.

²⁴The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame;she will be delivered into the hands of the people of the north.”

²⁵The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes,along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.

²⁶I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives—of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old, declares the LORD.

²⁷But you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid,and do not be dismayed, O Israel.For I will surely save you out of a distant place,your descendants from the land of their captivity!Jacob will return to quiet and ease,with no one to make him afraid.

²⁸And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid,declares the LORD, for I am with you.Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you,I will not completely destroy you.Yet I will discipline you justly,and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

The Defeat of Arad

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.

²So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”

³And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey

⁵and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

⁶So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

⁷Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.

⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.

The Journey to Moab

¹⁰Then the Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.

¹¹They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.

¹²From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered.

¹³From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory.Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.

¹⁴Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:“Waheb in Suphahand the wadis of the Arnon,

¹⁵even the slopes of the wadisthat extend to the site of Arand lie along the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they went on to Beer,the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people so that I may give them water.”

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song:“Spring up, O well,all of you sing to it!

¹⁸The princes dug the well;the nobles of the people hollowed it outwith their sceptersand with their staffs.”From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

The Defeat of Sihon

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

²²“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz,he fought against Israel.

²⁴And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

²⁶Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷That is why the poets say:“Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt;let the city of Sihon be restored.

²⁸For a fire went out from Heshbon,a blaze from the city of Sihon.It consumed Ar of Moab,the rulers of Arnon’s heights.

²⁹Woe to you, O Moab!You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh!He gave up his sons as refugees,and his daughters into captivityto Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰But we have overthrown them;Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon.We demolished them as far as Nophah,which reaches to Medeba.”

The Defeat of Og

³¹So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

³²After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet them in battle at Edrei.

³⁴But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.

Jephthah Delivers Israel

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.

²And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”

³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.

⁴Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel

⁵and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

⁶“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”

⁷Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”

⁸They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”

¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”

¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”

¹³The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

¹⁵to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.

¹⁶But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Seaand came to Kadesh.

¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

¹⁸Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

¹⁹And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’

²⁰But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

²¹Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,

²²seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?

²⁴Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.

²⁵Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?

²⁶For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?

²⁷I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

²⁸But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

³⁰Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,

³¹then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

³³With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.

³⁴And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.

³⁵As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

³⁶“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”

³⁷She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

³⁸“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months.So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.

³⁹After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man.So it has become a custom in Israel

⁴⁰that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Make a Joyful Noise

¹Make a joyful noise to God,all the earth!

²Sing the glory of His name;make His praise glorious.

³Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds!So great is Your powerthat Your enemies cower before You.

⁴All the earth bows down to You;they sing praise to You;they sing praise to Your name.”Selah

⁵Come and see the works of God;how awesome are His deeds toward mankind.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land;they passed through the waters on foot;there we rejoiced in Him.

⁷He rules forever by His power;His eyes watch the nations.Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves.Selah

⁸Bless our God, O peoples;let the sound of His praise be heard.

⁹He preserves our livesand keeps our feet from slipping.

¹⁰For You, O God, have tested us;You have refined us like silver.

¹¹You led us into the net;You laid burdens on our backs.

¹²You let men ride over our heads;we went through fire and water,but You brought us into abundance.

¹³I will enter Your house with burnt offerings;I will fulfill my vows to You—

¹⁴the vows that my lips promisedand my mouth spoke in my distress.

¹⁵I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings,with the fragrant smoke of rams;I will offer bulls and goats.Selah

¹⁶Come and listen, all you who fear God,and I will declare what He has done for me.

¹⁷I cried out to Him with my mouthand praised Him with my tongue.

¹⁸If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,the Lord would not have listened.

¹⁹But God has surely heard;He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayeror withheld from me His loving devotion!