13. This is the word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the military offensive of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar against the land of Egypt:
14. Tell Egypt, warn Migdol,alert Memphis and Tahpanhes!Say: "Brace yourselves for what’s coming.War is breaking out from every side!"
15. Why have your mighty fallen?Why haven’t they stood their ground?Because the Lord has struck them down.
16. He’s tripped them up;they fall over each other and say,"Let’s get out of hereand go home to our people,where we were born,far away from the oppressor’s sword."
17. There they call Pharaoh, Egypt’s king,Loudmouth—Nothing But Hot Air!
18. As I live, declares the king,whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces,one is comingjust as surely as Tabor is in the mountainsand Carmel is by the sea.
19. Get what you need for deportation,you inhabitants of Egypt.Memphis will be reduced to a wasteland,a ruin with no one left.
20. Egypt is a beautiful, yes, beautiful heifer,but a horsefly from the northis coming to bite her.
21. Even her mercenariesare like well-fed calves;they too will retreat and run for cover;they won’t survive.The day of disaster has come to haunt them,the time of their punishment.