Jeremiah 46:5

5 Why do I see them terrified? [They are] turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled [to] a place of refuge and they do not turn [back]. Terror [is] from all around," {declares} Yahweh.

Jeremiah 46:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 46:5

Wherefore have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back?
&c.] The Egyptians, after all this preparation for war, and seeming ardent to engage in battle; and yet, when they came to it, were seized with a panic, and thrown into the utmost consternation, and turned their backs upon their enemy: these are either the words of the prophet, who had a view by a spirit of prophecy, of the consternation, confusion, and flight of the Egyptian army; or of the Lord, who foresaw all this, and represents it as if it was done because of the certainty of it; upbraiding the Egyptians with their pusillanimity and cowardice: and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not
back;
or, "their mighty ones are broken" ^F19; their valiant soldiers and officers, their best troops were broken to pieces, their ranks and files, and thrown into the utmost disorder; and therefore made all the haste they could to escape the fury of the enemy, and fled with the utmost precipitation, and never stopped to look back upon their pursuers; so great their fear: [for] fear [was] round about, saith the Lord;
from whence it came; it was he that put it into them, took away their courage, and made them a "magormissabib", or "fear round about", the word here used; see ( Jeremiah 20:3 ) . The Targum is,

``they looked not back to resist them that slay with the sword, who are gathered against them round about, saith the Lord;''

their enemies surrounded them, and that was the reason fear was round about them, and both were from the Lord; or as he had said, determined, and foretold it should be.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wtky Mhyrwbgw) "et fortes corum contusi sunt, vel coutunduntur", Schmidt, Cocceius, Piscator; "contriti sunt", Vatablus.

Jeremiah 46:5 In-Context

3 "Prepare small shield and shield, and approach for the battle!

4 Harness the horses and mount the steeds! And take your stand with helmets! Polish the spears! Put on the body armor!

5 Why do I see them terrified? [They are] turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled [to] a place of refuge and they do not turn [back]. Terror [is] from all around," {declares} Yahweh.

6 The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape. They have stumbled and they have fallen, by the bank of the Euphrates River.

7 Who [is] this that rises like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters surge?

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "a declaration of"