1That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

      2To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

3“Line up the shield and buckler,
         And draw near for the battle!

4“Harness the horses,
         And mount the steeds,
         And take your stand with helmets on!
         Polish the spears,
         Put on the scale-armor!

5“Why have I seen it?
         They are terrified,
         They are drawing back,
         And their mighty men are defeated
         And have taken refuge in flight,
         Without facing back;
         Terror is on every side!”
         Declares the LORD.

6Let not the swift man flee,
         Nor the mighty man escape;
         In the north beside the river Euphrates
         They have stumbled and fallen.

7Who is this that rises like the Nile,
         Like the rivers whose waters surge about?

8Egypt rises like the Nile,
         Even like the rivers whose waters surge about;
         And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land;
         I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants.”

9Go up, you horses, and drive madly, you chariots,
         That the mighty men may march forward:
         Ethiopia and Put, that handle the shield,
         And the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

10For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts,
         A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;
         And the sword will devour and be satiated
         And drink its fill of their blood;
         For there will be a slaughter for the Lord GOD of hosts,
         In the land of the north by the river Euphrates.

11Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,
         O virgin daughter of Egypt!
         In vain have you multiplied remedies;
         There is no healing for you.

12The nations have heard of your shame,
         And the earth is full of your cry of distress;
         For one warrior has stumbled over another,
         And both of them have fallen down together.

      13This is the message which the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt:

14“Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol,
         Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
         Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,
         For the sword has devoured those around you.’

15“Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?
         They do not stand because the LORD has thrust them down.

16“They have repeatedly stumbled;
         Indeed, they have fallen one against another.
         Then they said, ‘Get up! And let us go back
         To our own people and our native land
         Away from the sword of the oppressor.’

17“They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a big noise;
         He has let the appointed time pass by!’

18“As I live,” declares the King
         Whose name is the LORD of hosts,
         “Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the mountains,
         Or like Carmel by the sea.

19“Make your baggage ready for exile,
         O daughter dwelling in Egypt,
         For Memphis will become a desolation;
         It will even be burned down and bereft of inhabitants.

20“Egypt is a pretty heifer,
         But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

21“Also her mercenaries in her midst
         Are like fattened calves,
         For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;
         They did not stand their ground.
         For the day of their calamity has come upon them,
         The time of their punishment.

22“Its sound moves along like a serpent;
         For they move on like an army
         And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

23“They have cut down her forest,” declares the LORD;
         “Surely it will no more be found,
         Even though they are now more numerous than locusts
         And are without number.

24“The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
         Given over to the power of the people of the north.”

      25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26“I shall give them over to the power of those who are seeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his officers. Afterwards, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the LORD.

27“But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear,
         Nor be dismayed, O Israel!
         For, see, I am going to save you from afar,
         And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
         And Jacob will return and be undisturbed
         And secure, with no one making him tremble.

28“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the LORD,
         “For I am with you.
         For I will make a full end of all the nations
         Where I have driven you,
         Yet I will not make a full end of you;
         But I will correct you properly
         And by no means leave you unpunished.”

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The LORD spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations.

King James Bible
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

Douay-Rheims Bible
The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles,

Darby Bible Translation
The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

English Revised Version
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

Webster's Bible Translation
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

World English Bible
The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

Young's Literal Translation
That which hath been the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations,

Cross References

Jeremiah 1:10 "See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant."

Jeremiah 25:15 For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

Jeremiah 43:11 "He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 46

How judgment began at the house of God we have found in the foregoing prophecy and history; but now we shall find that it did not end there. In this and the following chapters we have predictions of the desolations of the neighbouring nations, and those brought upon them too mostly by the king of Babylon, till at length Babylon itself comes to be reckoned with. The prophecy against Egypt is here put first and takes up this whole chapter, in which we have, I. A prophecy of the defeat of Pharaoh-necho's army by the Chaldean forces at Carchemish, which was accomplished soon after, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (v. 1-12) II. A prophecy of the descent which Nebuchadnezzar should make upon the land of Egypt, and his success in it, which was accomplished some years after the destruction of Jerusalem (v. 13-26). III. A word of comfort to the Israel of God in the midst of those calamities (v. 27, 28).

Verses 1-12

The first verse is the title of that part of this book, which relates to the neighbouring nations, and follows here. It is the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles; for God is King and Judge of nations, knows and will call to an account those who know him not nor take any notice of him. Both Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied against these nations that Jeremiah here has a separate saying to, and with reference to the same events. In the Old Testament we have the word of the Lord against the Gentiles; in the New Testament we have the word of the Lord for the Gentiles, that those who were afar off are made nigh.

He begins with Egypt, because they were of old Israel's oppressors and of late their deceivers, when they put confidence in them. In these verses he foretells the overthrow of the army of Pharaoh-necho, by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was so complete a victory to the king of Babylon that thereby he recovered from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt, and so weakened him that he came not again any more out of his land (as we find, 2 Ki. 24:7), and so made him pay dearly for his expedition against the king of Assyria four years before, in which he slew Josiah, 2 Ki. 23:29. This is the event that is here foretold in lofty expressions of triumph over Egypt thus foiled, which Jeremiah would speak of with a particular pleasure, because the death of Josiah, which he had lamented, was now avenged on Pharaoh-necho. Now here,

I. The Egyptians are upbraided with the mighty preparations they made for this expedition, in which the prophet calls to them to do their utmost, for so they would: "Come then, order the buckler, let the weapons of war be got ready," v. 3. Egypt was famous for horses-let them be harnessed and the cavalry well mounted: Get up, you horsemen, and stand forth, etc., v. 4. See what preparations the children of men make, with abundance of care and trouble and at a vast expense, to kill one another, as if they did not die fast enough of themselves. He compares their marching out upon this expedition to the rising of their river Nile (v. 7, 8): Egypt now rises up like a flood, scorning to keep within its own banks and threatening to overflow all the neighbouring lands. It is a very formidable army that the Egyptians bring into the field upon this occasion. The prophet summons them (v. 9): Come up, you horses; rage, you chariots. He challenges them to bring all their confederate troops together, the Ethiopians, that descended from the same stock with the Egyptians (Gen. 10:6), and were their neighbours and allies, the Libyans and Lydians, both seated in Africa, to the west of Egypt, and from them the Egyptians fetched their auxiliary forces. Let them strengthen themselves with all the art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain; they shall be shamefully defeated notwithstanding, for God will fight against them, and against him there is no wisdom nor counsel, Prov. 21:30, 31. It concerns those that go forth to war not only to order the buckler, and harness the horses, but to repent of their sins, and pray to God for his presence with them, and that they may have it to keep themselves from every wicked thing.

II. They are upbraided with the great expectations they had from this expedition, which were quite contrary to what God intended in bringing them together. They knew their own thoughts, and God knew them, and sat in heaven and laughed at them,; but they knew not the thoughts of the Lord, for he gathers them as sheaves into the floor, Mic. 4:11, 12. Egypt saith (v. 8): I will go up; I will cover the earth, and none shall hinder me; I will destroy the city, whatever city it is that stands in my way. Like Pharaoh of old, I will pursue, I will overtake. The Egyptians say that they shall have a day of it, but God saith that it shall be his day: The is the day of the Lord God of hosts (v. 10), the day in which he will be exalted in the overthrow of the Egyptians. They meant one thing, but God meant another; they designed it for the advancement of their dignity and the enlargement of their dominion, but God designed it for the great abasement and weakening of their kingdom. It is a day of vengeance for Josiah's death; it is a day of sacrifice to divine justice, to which multitudes of the sinners of Egypt shall fall as victims. Note, When men think to magnify themselves by pushing on unrighteous enterprises, let them expect that God will glorify himself by blasting them and cutting them off.

III. They are upbraided with their cowardice and inglorious flight when they come to an engagement (v. 5, 6): "Wherefore have I seen them, notwithstanding all these mighty and vast preparations and all these expressions of bravery and resolution, when the Chaldean army faces them, dismayed, turned back, quite disheartened, and no spirit left in them." 1. They make a shameful retreat. Even their mighty ones, who, one would think, should have stood their ground, flee a flight, flee by consent, make the best of their way, flee in confusion and with the utmost precipitation; they have neither time nor heart to look back, but fear is round about them, for they apprehend it so. And yet, 2. They cannot make their escape. They have the shame of flying, and yet not the satisfaction of saving themselves by flight; they might as well have stood their ground and died upon the spot; for even the swift shall not flee away. The lightness of their heels shall fail them when it comes to the trial, as well as the stoutness of their hearts; the mighty shall not escape, nay, they are beaten down and broken to pieces. They shall stumble in their flight, and fall towards the north, towards their enemy's country; for such confusion were they in when they took to their feet that instead of making homeward, as men usually do in that case, they made forward. Note, The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Valiant men are not always victorious.

IV. They are upbraided with their utter inability ever to recover this blow, which should be fatal to their nation, v. 11, 12. The damsel, the daughter of Egypt, that lived in great pomp and state, is sorely wounded by this defeat. Let her now seek for balm in Gilead and physicians there; let her use all the medicines her wise men can prescribe for the healing of this hurt, and the repairing of the loss sustained by this defeat; but all in vain; no cure shall be to them; they shall never be able to bring such a powerful army as this into the field again. "The nations that rang of thy glory and strength have now heard of thy shame, how shamefully thou wast routed and how thou are weakened by it." It needs not be spread by the triumphs of the conquerors, the shrieks and outcries of the conquered will proclaim it: Thy cry hath filled the country about. For, when they fled several ways, one mighty man stumbled upon another and dashed against another, such confusion were they in, so that both together became a pray to the pursuers, an easy prey. A thousand such dreadful accidents there should be, which should fill the country with the cry of those that were overcome. Let not the mighty man therefore glory in his might, for the time may come when it will stand him in no stead.

Calvin's Commentary

1. The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

1. Qui fuit sermo Jehovae (ita ad verbum) ad Jeremiam Prophetam super cunctas Gentes:

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.

2. Quantum ad Aegyptum, contra exercitum Pharaonis Necho, regis Aegypti qui erat super flumen Euphratem in Charchamis, quem percussit Nabuchadnezer, rex Babylonis, anno quarto Jehoiakim, filii Josiae, regis Jehudah.

Jeremiah begins here to prophesy against foreign nations, and continues to do so to the last chapter but one, not that he then for the first time began to announce these oracles, but as I have already said, a volume was at length formed, including his prophecies, the order of time being not everywhere observed; for we see in the 25th chapter that he threatened heathen nations with the punishments they had deserved before Jehoiakim was made king. But as I have said, the prophecies respecting heathen nations have been separated, though as to time Jeremiah had predicted what afterwards happened.

He then says that he had prophesied of the destruction of the Egyptian army which King Nebuchadnezzar overthrew in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah had then foretold before this time what was to be. It might have been that before Pharaoh-necho prepared his army, Jeremiah predicted what would take place; but it is probable that this prophecy was announced at the time when Pharaoh-necho went forth against the Chaldeans, for he was fighting then for the Assyrians. As they were not equal to the Chaldeans they made a treaty with the Egyptians. They then had come for a subsidy to drive away the Babylonians, and thus to defend the Assyrians against their forces. But at first the expedition met with success; yet at last what had been predicted by the Prophet was fulfilled.

It is not known whether or not the design was to alleviate the sorrow of the people by this prophecy; and yet I am disposed to receive what the greater part of interpreters have held, that as at that time the people were in the greatest trouble, this prophecy was given in order that the faithful might know that God had not ceased to care for his people. But we must especially attend to the truth of history, for when Pharaoh-necho was induced, as it has been said, by the Assyrians, to lead his army to the Euphrates, the pious king Josiah met him, and he was then a confederate with the Babylonians, because there had been a friendly intercourse between the Chaldeans and the Jews since the reign of Hezekiah. As then Josiah wished to render service to a king who was his friend, he opposed the army of Pharaoh; but he was conquered and slain. Now the expedition of Pharaoh was fortunate and successful for a time, but when he began to boast of victory he was suddenly cast down; for King Nebuchadnezzar not only checked his audacity, but having routed his army, compelled him to return into Egypt, and occupied the whole country from the Euphrates to Palusium. That country had not yet been exposed to those continual changes which afterwards happened, that is, when those robbers who had succeeded Alexander the Great boasted that they were the kings of kings, and when every one strove to draw all things to himself. For hence it happened that now Egyptian kings, and then Asiatic kings, often shook that land as far as they could. This had not yet happened when Jeremiah prophesied, nor had Alexander been yet born, but it yet appears that these regions were even then subject to changes, so that there was nothing fixed or permanent connected with them. We must then bear in mind that the events of wars were dubious, so that, one while, the Egyptians forcibly seized a portion of Asia, and at another time the Assyrians diminished their power, and again the Chaldeans. Pharaoh-necho was then so repulsed that he never dared again to come forth, as sacred history testifies in 2 Kings 24:7.

Let us now come to the Prophecy of Jeremiah. He says that he prophesied against the army of Pharaoh-necho, when it was at Euphrates, that is when he fought there and thought that he would be a conqueror, as he had far and wide desolated a hostile land, and brought under his authority many cities. When therefore he had met with great successes, Jeremiah was then bidden to prophesy against his army, so that the Jews might know that the death of pious Josiah would not go unpunished, because God had purposed to destroy that great army by which Josiah had been killed, and so to break down and lay prostrate the power of Egypt, that King Pharaoh would hereafter remain as shut up in prison as it afterwards happened. The rest to-morrow. PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast been pleased to call us to the spiritual warfare, we may never be wearied; and that, as our weakness is so great that we are unequal to our conflicts, grant, that being supported by the power of thy Spirit, we may persevere in the course of thy holy calling, and never be broken down by anything that may happen to us, but learn so to break through all dangers as to commit our life into thy hands, and be in the meantime prepared to live or to die, until thou gatherest us into that blessed rest which is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. -- Amen.

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A Clearing-Up Storm in the Realm
(Revelation, Chapters vi.-viii.) "God Almighty! King of nations! earth Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne! Thine the greatness, power, and glory, Thine the kingdom, Lord, alone! Life and death are in Thy keeping, and Thy will ordaineth all: From the armies of Thy heavens to an unseen insect's fall. "Reigning, guiding, all-commanding, ruling myriad worlds of light; Now exalting, now abasing, none can stay Thy hand of might! Working all things by Thy power, by the counsel of Thy will. Thou art God! …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament