Jeremias 26:21

21 Also her hired in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution.

Jeremias 26:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 26:21

And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men
Either his courtiers, or his soldiers, or both: and all the princes, heard his words;
the words of the Prophet Urijah; not with their own ears very probably, but from the report of others: the king sought to put him to death;
as being a messenger of bad tidings, tending to dispirit his subjects, and allay the joy of his own mind upon his advancement to the throne: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into
Egypt;
which some understand as a piece of prudence in him; but rather it was the effect of pusillanimity and cowardice: it seems to show want of faith and confidence in the Lord; and the fear of man, which brings a snare; and besides, it was no piece of prudence to go to Egypt, whatever it was to flee; since there was such an alliance between the kings of Egypt and Judah; and the latter, though dependent on the former, yet the king of Egypt would easily gratify him in delivering up a subject of his, and a person of such a character.

Jeremias 26:21 In-Context

19 O daughter of Egypt dwelling , prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no inhabitants in it.

20 Egypt is a fair heifer, destruction from the north is come upon her.

21 Also her hired in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution.

22 Their voice is as of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand; they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood.

23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, for cannot at all be conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable.