Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 300
288
IMMERSE
•
PROPHETS
46:22–47:3
Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer,
but a horsefly from the north is on its way!
Egypt’s mercenaries have become like fattened calves.
They, too, will turn and run,
for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt,
a time of great punishment.
Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away.
The invading army marches in;
they come against her with axes like woodsmen.
They will cut down her people like trees,” says the Lord,
“for they are more numerous than locusts.
Egypt will be humiliated;
she will be handed over to people from the north.”
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish
Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish
its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him. I will hand them over
to those who want them killed—to King Nebuc hadnezzar of Babylon and
his army. But afterward the land will recover from the ravages of war. I, the
Lord, have spoken!
“But do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;
do not be dismayed, Israel.
For I will bring you home again from distant lands,
and your children will return from their exile.
Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet,
and no one will terrorize them.
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
for I am with you,” says the Lord.
“I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you,
but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you, but with justice;
I cannot let you go unpunished.”
This is the Lord’s message to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Phi
listines of Gaza, before it was captured by the Egyptian army. This is what
the Lord says:
“A flood is coming from the north
to overflow the land.
It will destroy the land and everything in it—
cities and people alike.
