The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

  About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

    “Prepare buckler and shield,
        and advance for battle!
    Harness the horses;
        mount, O horsemen!
    Take your stations with your helmets,
        polish your spears,
        put on your armor!
    Why have I seen it?
    They are dismayed
        and have turned backward.
    Their warriors are beaten down
        and have fled in haste;
    they look not back—
        terror on every side!
                                            declares the LORD.
    
    
    “The swift cannot flee away,
        nor the warrior escape;
    in the north by the river Euphrates
        they have stumbled and fallen.
    
    
    “Who is this, rising like the Nile,
        like rivers whose waters surge?
    Egypt rises like the Nile,
        like rivers whose waters surge.
    He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,
        I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
    Advance, O horses,
        and rage, O chariots!
    Let the warriors go out:
        men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,
        men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
    That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts,
        a day of vengeance,
        to avenge himself on his foes.
    The sword shall devour and be sated
        and drink its fill of their blood.
    For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
        in the north country by the river Euphrates.
    Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
        O virgin daughter of Egypt!
    In vain you have used many medicines;
        there is no healing for you.
    The nations have heard of your shame,
        and the earth is full of your cry;
    for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
        they have both fallen together.”
    
    
      The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

    “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
        proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
    say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,
        for the sword shall devour around you.’
    Why are your mighty ones face down?
        They do not stand
        because the LORD thrust them down.
    He made many stumble, and they fell,
        and they said one to another,
    ‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people
        and to the land of our birth,
        because of the sword of the oppressor.’
    Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
        ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’
    
    
    “As I live, declares the King,
        whose name is the LORD of hosts,
    like Tabor among the mountains
        and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
    Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
        O inhabitants of Egypt!
    For Memphis shall become a waste,
        a ruin, without inhabitant.
    
    
    “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
        but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
    Even her hired soldiers in her midst
        are like fattened calves;
    yes, they have turned and fled together;
        they did not stand,
    for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
        the time of their punishment.
    
    
    “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;
        for her enemies march in force
    and come against her with axes
        like those who fell trees.
    They shall cut down her forest,
                                            declares the LORD,
        though it is impenetrable,
    because they are more numerous than locusts;
        they are without number.
    The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
        she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.”
    
    
      The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD.

    “But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
        nor be dismayed, O Israel,
    for behold, I will save you from far away,
        and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
    Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
        and none shall make him afraid.
    Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
                                            declares the LORD,
        for I am with you.
    I will make a full end of all the nations
        to which I have driven you,
        but of you I will not make a full end.
    I will discipline you in just measure,
        and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
    
    
      The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

    “Thus says the LORD:
    Behold, waters are rising out of the north,
        and shall become an overflowing torrent;
    they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
        the city and those who dwell in it.
    Men shall cry out,
        and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
    At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
        at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
    the fathers look not back to their children,
        so feeble are their hands,
    because of the day that is coming to destroy
        all the Philistines,
    to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
        every helper that remains.
    For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,
        the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
    Baldness has come upon Gaza;
        Ashkelon has perished.
    O remnant of their valley,
        how long will you gash yourselves?
    Ah, sword of the LORD!
        How long till you are quiet?
    Put yourself into your scabbard;
        rest and be still!
    How can it be quiet
        when the LORD has given it a charge?
    Against Ashkelon and against the seashore
        he has appointed it.” (ESV)

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

  As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

    “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
        a cornerstone chosen and precious,
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
    
    
      So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

    “The stone that the builders rejected
        has become the cornerstone,”
    
    
      and

    “A stone of stumbling,
        and a rock of offense.”
    
    
      They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

  Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

  Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (ESV)