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.
20. “Egypt is like a beautiful cow,but a horsefly from the north will attack it.
21. Egypt’s hired soldiers are like fattened calves.They will turn and run away together.They won’t stand their ground.The day of destruction is coming.At that time they will be punished.
22. Egypt will hiss like a snake as it slithers away.Its enemies will come with full force.They will attack it with axes like those who chop wood.