Those who have put their trust in Ethiopia and have boasted about Egypt will be disillusioned, their hopes shattered.

When that time comes, the people who live along the coast of Philistia will say, 'Look at what has happened to the people we relied on to protect us from the emperor of Assyria! How will we ever survive?' "

Those who go to Egypt for help are doomed! They are relying on Egypt's vast military strength---horses, chariots, and soldiers. But they do not rely on the LORD, the holy God of Israel, or ask him for help.

The Egyptians are not gods---they are only human. Their horses are not supernatural. When the LORD acts, the strong nation will crumble, and the weak nation it helped will fall. Both of them will be destroyed.

You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick---it would break and would jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him."

The LORD will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will want to buy you."

But one year Hoshea sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, asking for his help, and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learned of this, he had Hoshea arrested and put in prison.

The Babylonian army had been besieging Jerusalem, but when they heard that the Egyptian army had crossed the Egyptian border, they retreated.

They disobeyed the LORD's command and went into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes.

Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD." The LORD says, "The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick.

When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs.

He will depend on Eleazar the priest, who will learn my will by using the Urim and Thummim. In this way Eleazar will direct Joshua and the whole community of Israel in all their affairs."

The Israelites accepted some food from them, but did not consult the LORD about it.

But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there another prophet through whom we can consult the LORD?"

"Please speak to the LORD for us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army are besieging the city. Maybe the LORD will perform one of his miracles for us and force Nebuchadnezzar to retreat."

and said to me, "Please do what we ask you! Pray to the LORD our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us; but now only a few of us are left, as you can see.

that you are making a fatal mistake. You asked me to pray to the LORD our God for you, and you promised that you would do everything that he commands.

They say to the people of Judah, "Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us.

Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia there is a land where the sound of wings is heard.

The thorn bush answered, 'If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you don't, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.'

They captured the source of our life, the king the LORD had chosen, the one we had trusted to protect us from every invader.