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The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.
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"Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, 'Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.'
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Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand Because the Lord drove them away.
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He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, 'Arise! Let us go back to our own people And to the land of our nativity From the oppressing sword.'
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They cried there, 'Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!'
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"As I live," says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts, "Surely as Tabor is among the mountains And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
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O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, Prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.
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"Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.
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Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, For they also are turned back, They have fled away together. They did not stand, For the day of their calamity had come upon them, The time of their punishment.
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Her noise shall go like a serpent, For they shall march with an army And come against her with axes, Like those who chop wood.
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"They shall cut down her forest," says the Lord, "Though it cannot be searched, Because they are innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers.