Jeremiah 46:21

21 Egypt's hired soldiers are like fattened calves. They will turn and run away together. They won't stand their ground. The day of destruction is coming. At that time they will be punished.

Jeremiah 46:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 46:21

All her hired men [are] in the midst of her like fatted
bullocks
Or, "bullocks of the stall" F11; soldiers of other countries, that were hired into the service of Egypt, and lived so deliciously there, that they were unfit for war, and were like fatted beasts prepared for the slaughter. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it, her princes F12; who had the care of this heifer, and of the feeding of it; these themselves were like that, nourished for the day of slaughter: for they also are turned back, [and] are fled away together;
they turned their backs upon the enemy in battle, and fled in great confusion and precipitancy; see ( Jeremiah 46:15 Jeremiah 46:16 ) ; they did not stand;
and face the enemy, and light him, but fell or fled before him: because the day of their calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of
their visitation;
the time appointed by the Lord to visit and punish them, and bring destruction on them for their sins.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (qbrm ylgek) "velut vituli saginae", Montanus, Cocceius,
F12 So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 50. 2.

Jeremiah 46:21 In-Context

19 Pack your bags, inhabitants of Egypt, because you will be taken away as captives. Memphis will become a dreary wasteland, a pile of rubble where no one lives.
20 "Egypt is like a beautiful cow, but a horsefly from the north will attack it.
21 Egypt's hired soldiers are like fattened calves. They will turn and run away together. They won't stand their ground. The day of destruction is coming. At that time they will be punished.
22 Egypt will hiss like a snake as it slithers away. Its enemies will come with full force. They will attack it with axes like those who chop wood.
23 They will cut down the forest," declares the LORD, "since Egypt can't be found. They are more numerous than locusts; they can't be counted.
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