But as Jeremiah says later on, addressing the Gentile nations,-- "I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name. Should ye go scot-free? Ye shall not go scot-free." And the prophet puts the cup of God's fury to their lips also, and amongst them, Egypt, the _bête noir_ of Hebrew seers, is most conspicuously marked out for destruction: "Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants and princes and all his people, and all the mixed population of Egypt."[189] Then follows, in epic fashion, a catalogue of "all the nations" as Jeremiah knew them: "All the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines; Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;[190] Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the kings[191] of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of their colonies[192] beyond the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled;[193] and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed populations that dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes." Jeremiah's definite geographical information is apparently exhausted, but he adds by way of summary and conclusion: "And all the kings of the north, far and near, one after the other; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth." There is one notable omission in the list. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant of Jehovah,[194] was the divinely appointed scourge of Judah and its neighbours and allies. Elsewhere[195] the nations are exhorted to submit to him, and here apparently Chaldea is exempted from the general doom, just as Ezekiel passes no formal sentence on Babylon. It is true that "all the kingdoms of the earth" would naturally include Babylon, possibly were even intended to do so. But the Jews were not long content with so veiled a reference to their conquerors and oppressors. Some patriotic scribe added the explanatory note, "And the king of Sheshach (_i.e._ Babylon) shall drink after them."[196] Sheshach is obtained from Babel by the cypher 'Athbash, according to which an alphabet is written out and a reversed alphabet written out underneath it, and the letters of the lower row used for those of the upper and _vice versâ_. Thus Aleph B K L T SH L K