Jeremiah 46:16-26

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 have fled away together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had 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 Nebuchadnezzar 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.

Jeremiah 46:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 46

This chapter contains two prophecies relating to Egypt; one concerning the overthrow of Pharaohnecho, king of it, which was quickly accomplished; and the other concerning the destruction of the land, fulfilled many years after, and both by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and the chapter is concluded with a word of comfort to the people of Israel. It begins with a general title to prophecies in this and the five following chapters, Jer 46:1; then follows a particular prophecy of the route of Pharaoh's army; of the place where, and time when, Jer 46:2; the preparations of the Egyptians for the battle, with a variety of warlike instruments, Jer 46:3,4; the consternation, flight, and destruction of them, Jer 46:5,6; notwithstanding their confidence of getting the victory, Jer 46:7-9; the reason of it, because it was the day of the Lord's vengeance on them, and therefore their ruin was inevitable, Jer 46:10,11; the consequence of which was shame and confusion, Jer 46:12; next follows another prophecy of the destruction of the land itself by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 46:13; the places that should be destroyed, Jer 46:14,19,25; the multitude that should be slain, Jer 46:15-17; a description of the calamity; the instrument, manner, and consequence of it, Jer 46:20-24; the certainty of it, Jer 46:18,25,26; and the whole is closed with a promise of the return of the Jews, and of their salvation; though they should not be without divine corrections, Jer 46:27,28.