Prophecies about the overthrow of Pharaoh's army; conquest of Egypt
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¶ The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against
the Gentiles;
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. 3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. |
1 -
Word
of the Lord Dabar Yahweh A phrase Jeremiah used some
fifty times. Dabar means "word" but may mean "law" and other things.
1 - Against the Gentiles Better translated, "concerning the Gentiles." 2 - Carchemiah A city on the western bank of the Euphrates. It was located at a ford (river crossing point) and thus important. 2 - Fourth year 604 BC See je2501. 3 - Order ye Or "prepare," A buckler is a small, perhaps round, shield. The word "shield" here refers to a large shield. 4 - Furbish ... brigandines Or "Polish ... suits of armor. |
| 5 Wherefore have I seen
them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down,
and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith
the LORD.
.6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? 8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. .9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. |
6 -
North
See on je0114.
7 - Flood The Hebrew word ye'or is from the Egyptian word for "river" or "Nile." See ge4101f, ex0122. 9 - Come ... let mighty men come Mercenaries are hired to fight for Egypt. |
| 10 For this is the day
of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of
his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and
made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates.
.11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. 12 ¶ The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together. |
10
- Lord God of hosts See on je0703.
10 - Sword ... devour See ge3426, pr0504. Sword handles may have been a mouth from which the blade protruded. |
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.13 The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 13 - King of Babylon ... smite Egypt Historical evidence is minimal. This was apparently in 568/567. |
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| 14 Declare ye in Egypt,
and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand
fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them. .16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. .17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed. |
15
- Thy valiant men swept away "manuscripts, the Septuagint,
and Vulgate read, 'thy valiant one,' Apis, the bull-shaped Egyptian idol
worshipped at Noph or Memphis. The contrast thus is between the palpable
impotence of the idol and the might attributed to it by the worshippers.
The Hebrew term, 'strong,' or 'valiant,' is applied to bulls (Ps
22:12). Cambyses in his invasion of Egypt destroyed the sacred bull."
(JFB Commentary).
The difference between this and the KJV is from the vowel pointing added after the time of the early church. Hebrew is basically only consonants. |
| 18 As I live, saith
the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the
mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. .20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. 21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation. 22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. |
19
- Noph See on je0216.
20 - Egypt is like ... heifer "wanton, like a fat, untamed heifer (Ho 10:11). Appropriate to Egypt, where Apis was worshipped under the form of a fair bull marked with spots." (JFB Commentary) 20 - Destruction From qeres, meaning "to pinch," "to nip." The text could represent biting insects. "A gadfly from the north has come upon her." (RSV). 20 - Destruction ... out of the north This verse along with v24 connects kings of South and North as they are identified in Dan. 11, da1105. 21 - Hired As in v9 and v16. 21 - Visitation Means being visited as we would normally read it. It also means visitation by the Lord for blessing ge2101, ps08014, and for punishment ex2005; jb3515; ps05905; is2614; je1410. Here God has come for punishment and also a call to good behavior v28. 24 - North See on je0114. |
| .25
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the
multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings;
even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD. 27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. .28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. |
25
- Lord of hosts See on je0703.
25 - Multitude of No Literally, "Amen from No." No is the Egyptian city of Thebes (modern Luxor and Karmak some 300 miles south of Cairo).Amen was the god of Thebes which later became the city of Amon. "No" is a Hebrew transliteralation of the city name Niut or Nieut 'imen. (City of Amen.). 26 - Inhabited God's plan. |
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