At that time there will be five cities in Egypt where people speak Hebrew. One of these cities will be named “Destruction City.” The people in these cities will promise to follow the Lord All-Powerful.
Then Pharaoh gave Joseph another name, Zaphenath Paneah. He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of On. So Joseph became the governor over the whole country of Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar will start a fire in the temples of the false gods of Egypt. He will burn the temples and he will take the idols away. Shepherds pick the bugs and thorns off their clothes to make them clean. In the same way Nebuchadnezzar will pick Egypt clean. Then he will safely leave Egypt.
Jeremiah received a message from the Lord for all the people of Judah living in Egypt. The message was for the people of Judah living in the towns of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and southern Egypt. This was the message:
The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, “Very soon I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and I will punish Pharaoh, Egypt, and her gods. I will punish the kings of Egypt, and I will punish the people who depend on Pharaoh.
The king of Babylon will come riding through your city. His horses’ hoofs will come pounding over your streets. He will kill your people with swords. The strong columns in your city will fall to the ground.
He will take their gods and their metal idols and their expensive things made from silver and gold. He will take those things away to Egypt. Then he will not bother the northern king for a few years.
A message about Egypt: Look, the Lord is coming on a fast cloud. He will enter Egypt, and all the false gods of Egypt will shake with fear. Egypt’s courage will melt away like hot wax.
This is what the Lord GOD says: “I will also destroy the idols in Egypt. I will take the statues away from Memphis. There will no longer be a leader in the land of Egypt. I will put fear there instead.