1. The Lord has spoken: “Those who rule Judah are doomed because they rebel against me. They follow plans that I did not make, and sign treaties against my will, piling one sin on another.
2. They go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. They want Egypt to protect them, so they put their trust in Egypt's king.
3. But the king will be powerless to help them, and Egypt's protection will end in disaster.
4. Although their ambassadors have already arrived at the Egyptian cities of Zoan and Hanes,
5. the people of Judah will regret that they ever trusted that unreliable nation, a nation that fails them when they expect help.”
6. This is God's message about the animals of the southern desert: “The ambassadors travel through dangerous country, where lions live and where there are poisonous snakes and flying dragons. They load their donkeys and camels with expensive gifts for a nation that cannot give them any help.
7. The help that Egypt gives is useless. So I have nicknamed Egypt, ‘The Harmless Dragon’ ”.
8. God told me to write down in a book what the people are like, so that there would be a permanent record of how evil they are.