Jeremia 46:17

17 Daar riepen zij: Farao, de koning van Egypte, is maar een gedruis; hij heeft den gezetten tijd laten voorbijgaan.

Jeremia 46:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 46:17

They did cry there
Not the Chaldeans, deriding Pharaoh and his army, and mocking them, saying the following words, as some; nor the Egyptians in Egypt, as Kimchi, complaining of their king; much less in Carchemish, as others; since this prophecy refers to another event, time, and place; but the auxiliaries of Egypt in the field of battle; these did cry out aloud, as follows: Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise;
he boasted and bragged of great things he would do, and does nothing; he promised to bring a large army into the field, and talked big of attacking the enemy with great ardour and fury, and hectored and blustered as if he feared him not, and was sure of victory; but when it came to the push, his courage failed him; and it may be said of him what the man said of his nightingale, "vox et praeterea nihil", a voice, and nothing else. This was not Pharaohnecho, as the Septuagint have wrongly inserted, but Pharaohhophra, ( Jeremiah 44:30 ) ; or it may be supplied thus, "Pharaoh king of Egypt [is a king of] noise" {l}; a noisy, big, and blusterous king in words, but in deeds nothing: he hath passed the time appointed;
to join his auxiliaries, in order to give the enemy battle; and so left them in the lurch, of which they complain; or through his dilatoriness lost the proper opportunity of attacking him. Some indeed understand it, not of the king of Egypt, but of the king of Babylon; as if the sense was this, the Egyptians cried aloud, and encouraged themselves and their allies against the king of Babylon; saying, what Jeremiah the prophet said concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and his destruction is all mere noise; there is nothing in it; for the time set by him for that event is passed and over: others, because the word has sometimes the signification of a solemn meeting or festival, take the meaning to be, that Pharaoh king of Egypt being brought to utter destruction, as the word for noise may signify, or being a noisy tumultuous prince, who brought ruin on himself and others, has thereby caused the solemn feasts to pass away ^F13, or the festivals to cease; whether in a civil or a religious way; but the first sense seems best.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (Nwav Myrum Klm) "rex Aegypti, [rex] tumultus", Munster, Vatablus; "rex perturbationis", Calvin; so Ben Melech; "rex Aegypti, [vir] strepertus est", Piscator, Junius & Tremellius.
F13 (dewmh rybeh) "transire fecit solennitatem", De Dieu.

Jeremia 46:17 In-Context

15 Waarom zijn uw sterken weggeveegd? Zij stonden niet, omdat hen de HEERE voortdreef.

16 Hij maakte der struikelenden veel; ja, de een viel op den ander; zodat zij zeiden: Staat op en laat ons wederkeren tot ons volk, en tot het land onzer geboorte, vanwege het verdrukkende zwaard.

17 Daar riepen zij: Farao, de koning van Egypte, is maar een gedruis; hij heeft den gezetten tijd laten voorbijgaan.

18 Zo waarachtig als Ik leef, spreekt de Koning, Wiens Naam is HEERE der heirscharen; hij zal voorzeker, als Thabor onder de bergen, en als Karmel bij de zee, aankomen!

19 Maak voor u gereedschap der gevankelijke wegvoering, gij inwoneres, gij dochter van Egypte! want Nof zal ter verwoesting worden, en zal verbrand worden, dat er niemand in wone.