18“As surely as I live,” declares the King,

whose name is the Lord Almighty,

“one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains,

like Carmel by the sea.

19Pack your belongings for exile,

you who live in Egypt,

for Memphis will be laid waste

and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

20“Egypt is a beautiful heifer,

but a gadfly is coming

against her from the north.

21The mercenaries in her ranks

are like fattened calves.

They too will turn and flee together,

they will not stand their ground,

for the day of disaster is coming upon them,

the time for them to be punished.

22Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent

as the enemy advances in force;

they will come against her with axes,

like men who cut down trees.

23They will chop down her forest,”

declares the Lord,

“dense though it be.

They are more numerous than locusts,

they cannot be counted.

24The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame,

handed over to the people of the north.”

25The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes,^c on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. 26I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the Lord.

27“Do not fear, O Jacob my servant;

do not be dismayed, O Israel.

I will surely save you out of a distant place,

your descendants from the land of their exile.

Jacob will again have peace and security,

and no one will make him afraid.

28Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,

for I am with you,” declares the Lord.

“Though I completely destroy all the nations

among which I scatter you,

I will not completely destroy you.

I will discipline you but only with justice;

I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”