This haftarah announces that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is coming to strike the land of Egypt, and calls on Egypt's own cities, Migdol, Noph and Tahpanhes, to prepare themselves, since the sword will devour on every side. Jeremiah pictures Egypt's once mighty bull, Apis, fleeing, and Pharaoh described sarcastically as a great noise who has let the appointed time for real action pass him by.
The prophet compares Egypt's coming devastation to a beautiful, well fed heifer visited suddenly by a horsefly from the north, and describes Egyptian mercenaries fleeing rather than standing their ground once the invasion finally arrives, imagery meant to strip away Egypt's reputation for might and expose the coming defeat as inevitable rather than a close contest.
The haftarah closes with reassurance directed at Israel rather than at Egypt, urging Jacob's descendants not to be afraid or dismayed even as this judgment against Egypt unfolds, promising that God will save them from far away and bring their descendants back from captivity, closing a prophecy of Egypt's downfall with a note of comfort for the very people that downfall does not target.
Jeremiah's mocking description of Pharaoh as a great noise who let the appointed moment pass him by echoes the same theme of misplaced royal confidence this account has already traced in the Vaera haftarah's Nile boast, two separate prophets independently puncturing an Egyptian ruler's inflated sense of his own security.