¹⁴ “Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;
    proclaim it also in Memphis^(C) and Tahpanhes:^(D)
‘Take your positions and get ready,
    for the sword devours^(E) those around you.’
¹⁵ Why will your warriors be laid low?
    They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down.^(F)
16 They will stumble^(G) repeatedly;
    they will fall^(H) over each other.
They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back
    to our own people^(I) and our native lands,
    away from the sword of the oppressor.’^(J)
17 There they will exclaim,
    ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise;^(K)
    he has missed his opportunity.^(L)’

¹⁸ “As surely as I live,” declares the King,^(M)
    whose name is the Lord Almighty,
“one will come who is like Tabor^(N) among the mountains,
    like Carmel^(O) by the sea.
¹⁹ Pack your belongings for exile,^(P)
    you who live in Egypt,
for Memphis^(Q) will be laid waste^(R)
    and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

²⁰ “Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
    but a gadfly is coming
    against her from the north.^(S)
21 The mercenaries^(T) in her ranks
    are like fattened calves.^(U)
They too will turn and flee^(V) together,
    they will not stand their ground,
for the day^(W) of disaster is coming upon them,
    the time^(X) for them to be punished.
²² Egypt 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.^(Y)
23 They will chop down her forest,”
declares the Lord,
    “dense though it be.
They are more numerous than locusts,^(Z)
    they cannot be counted.
²⁴ Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,
    given into the hands of the people of the north.^(AA)”