4. Get the horses ready. Soldiers, get on your horses. Go to your places for battle. Put your helmets on. Sharpen your spears. Put your armor on.
5. What do I see? That army is afraid. The soldiers are running away. Their brave soldiers are defeated. They run away in a hurry. They don’t look back. There is danger all around.” This is what the Lord said.
6. “Fast men cannot run away. Strong soldiers cannot escape. They will all stumble and fall. This will happen in the north, by the Euphrates River.
7. Who is coming like the Nile River? Who is coming like that strong, fast river?
8. It is Egypt that comes like the rising Nile River. It is Egypt that comes like that strong, fast river. Egypt says, ‘I will come and cover the earth. I will destroy the cities and the people in them.’
9. Horse soldiers, charge into battle. Chariot drivers, drive fast. March on, brave soldiers. Soldiers from Cush and Put, carry your shields. Soldiers from Lydia, use your bows.
10. “But on that day, the Lord GOD All-Powerful will win. He will give his enemies the punishment they deserve. His sword will kill until it is finished, until it has satisfied its thirst for blood. Yes, the Lord GOD All-Powerful will kill them as a sacrifice in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
11. “Egypt, go to Gilead and get some medicine. You will make up many medicines, but they will not help. You will not be healed.
12. The nations will hear you crying. Your cries will be heard all over the earth. One ‘brave soldier’ will run into another ‘brave soldier.’ And both ‘brave soldiers’ will fall down together.”
13. This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about Nebuchadnezzar coming to attack Egypt.
14. “Announce this message in Egypt. Tell it in the city of Migdol. Tell it in Memphis and Tahpanhes. ‘Get ready for war, because people all around you are being killed with swords.’
15. Egypt, your strong soldiers will be killed. They will not be able to stand because the Lord will push them down.
16. They will stumble again and again. They will fall over each other. They will say, ‘Get up; let’s go back to our own people. Let us go back to our homeland. Our enemy is defeating us. We must get away.’
17. In their homelands, those soldiers will say, ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is only a lot of noise. His time of glory is over.’”