BOOK X

DOOMS OF THE NATIONS

i

The Battle of Carchemish*

I

Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle;

Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets ;

Furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed,

And are turned backward, and their mighty ones are beaten down,

And are fled apace, and look not back.

Terror is on every side, saith the LORD,

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape : In the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

* Concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

2

Who is this that riseth up like the Nile,

Whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? Egypt riseth up like the Nile,

And his waters toss themselves like the rivers; And he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.

Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth:

Cush and Put, that handle the shield;

And the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.

For that day is a day of the Lord, the LORD of hosts, A day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries :

And the sword shall devour and be satiate,

And shall drink its fill of their blood:

For the Lord, the LORD of hosts hath a sacrifice
In the north country by the river Euphrates.

3

Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of

Egypt:

In vain dost thou use many medicines;

There is no healing for thee.

The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry:

For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, They are fallen both of them together.

ii

Doom of Egypt *

Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol,
And publish in Noph and Tahpanhes:
'Stand forth, and prepare thee;

'For the sword hath devoured round about thee.'

Why are thy strong ones swept away?

They stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

He made many to stumble,

Yea, they fell one upon another.

'Arise, and let us go again to our own people,

'And to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.'

'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise;

'He hath let the appointed time pass by.'

*The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.