18“As I live,” declares the King
         Whose name is the LORD of hosts,
         “Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the mountains,
         Or like Carmel by the sea.

19“Make your baggage ready for exile,
         O daughter dwelling in Egypt,
         For Memphis will become a desolation;
         It will even be burned down and bereft of inhabitants.

20“Egypt is a pretty heifer,
         But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

21“Also her mercenaries in her midst
         Are like fattened calves,
         For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;
         They did not stand their ground.
         For the day of their calamity has come upon them,
         The time of their punishment.

22“Its sound moves along like a serpent;
         For they move on like an army
         And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

23“They have cut down her forest,” declares the LORD;
         “Surely it will no more be found,
         Even though they are now more numerous than locusts
         And are without number.

24“The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
         Given over to the power of the people of the north.”

      25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26“I shall give them over to the power of those who are seeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his officers. Afterwards, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the LORD.

27“But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear,
         Nor be dismayed, O Israel!
         For, see, I am going to save you from afar,
         And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
         And Jacob will return and be undisturbed
         And secure, with no one making him tremble.

28“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the LORD,
         “For I am with you.
         For I will make a full end of all the nations
         Where I have driven you,
         Yet I will not make a full end of you;
         But I will correct you properly
         And by no means leave you unpunished.”

NASB ©1995