11. Go to Gilead, and get medicine, dear people of Egypt.You have used many medicines without results; you can’t be cured.
12. The nations have heard of your shame; your cry fills the earth.One warrior will stumble over another,and both will fall together.”
13. The Lord spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who will defeat Egypt.
14. “Tell this in Egypt; announce this in Migdol.Make it known in Memphis and in Tahpanhes.Say, ‘Take your positions, and get ready.Swords will kill those around you.’
15. Why should your soldiers be cut down?They can’t stand because the Lord will push them down.
16. They have repeatedly stumbled, and now they have fallen.They say to each other,‘Get up! Let’s go back to our people,to the land where we were born,and escape our enemy’s sword.’
17. There they will cry, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is a big windbag.He has missed his chance.’
18. “As I live,” declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies,“someone who is like Mount Tabor among the mountains will come.Someone who is like Mount Carmel by the sea will come.
19. Pack your bags, inhabitants of Egypt,because you will be taken away as captives.Memphis will become a dreary wasteland,a pile of rubble where no one lives.