Jeremiah 46

Chapter context

What is happening in Jeremiah 46?

judgmenttearsnew covenantfalse worship

Jeremiah 46 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as fall of Jerusalem and later appendices. Jeremiah combines fierce warning, autobiographical anguish, symbolic action, the promise of a new covenant, and the trauma of Jerusalem’s fall. Read this chapter with the wider themes of judgment, tears, and new covenant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ 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. 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. 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. ¹³ The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 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. 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. 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.

Study helps

Glossary

Jeremiah Person v. 1, 13: Raised up or appointed by Jehovah. (1. ) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness ( 1 Chr. 12:10 ). (2. ) A Gadite warrior ( 1 Chr. 12:13 ). (3. ) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag ( 1 Chr. 12:4 ).
Babylon Place v. 2, 13, 18, 26: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Babylon.
Carchemish Place v. 2: Fortress of Chemosh, a city on the west bank of the Euphrates. Modern identification: Jerabis.
Egypt Place v. 2, 8-9, 11, 13-14, 17-26: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Euphrates Place v. 2, 6, 10: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Jehoiakim Person v. 2: He whom Jehovah has set up, the second son of Josiah, and eighteenth king of Judah, which he ruled over for eleven years (B. C. 610-599). His original name was Eliakim (q. v. ).
Josiah Person v. 2: Healed by Jehovah, or Jehovah will support. The son of Amon, and his successor on the throne of Judah ( 2 Kings 22:1 ; 2 Chr. 34:1 ). His history is contained in 2 Kings 22, 23.
Nile Place v. 7-8: Biblical river. Modern identification: Nile River.
City People v. 8: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Bow Tribe v. 9: The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase ( Gen. 21:20 ; 27:3 ; 48:22 ). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow ( 1 Chr. 8:40 ; 12:2 ; 2 Chr. 14:8 ; 17:17 ); so also were the Elamites.
Cush Place v. 9: Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered. Modern identification: Meroe.
Lud Place v. 9: Biblical region. Modern identification: Sardis.
Put Place v. 9: Biblical region. Modern identification: Cyrene.
Gilead Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tell edh Dhahab esh Sherqiyeh.
Memphis Place v. 14, 19: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Memphis.
Migdol Place v. 14: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell el Herr.
Tahpanhes Place v. 14: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell Defenneh.
Mount Carmel Place v. 18: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Carmel.
Mount Tabor Place v. 18: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Jebel et Tur.
Thebes Place v. 25: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Thebes.