Prophecies about the nations
46
📚The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles, 46:1 See Jer 1:10; 25:17; 27:3. In chapters 46–51 Jeremiah is engaged in his ministry as prophet to the nations. He records God’s revelation concerning ten places and nations. They were all in a large area from Egypt, southwest of Israel, to Elam east of Israel beyond the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. In these chapters God shows again that He is sovereign over all nations, the great King of the universe (note at Ps 47:2). Throughout history He has been actively working to put down or raise up nation after nation. He still does so.⚜
2 📚against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt 📖, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish 📖, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:
3 📚“Set in array the large shield and
the small shield,
and draw near to battle.
4 📚Harness the horses; and get up,
you horsemen, and stand forth
with your helmets.
Polish the spears, and put on the armour.
5 📚Why have I seen them dismayed
and turning back?
And their mighty ones are beaten down,
and are rapidly fleeing,
and not looking back, because
fear was all around,
says the LORD.
6 📚Do not let the swift run away,
or the mighty man escape;
they will stumble and fall toward
the north at the River Euphrates.
7 📚“Who is this coming up
like a flood, like rivers of surging water?
8 📚Egypt rises up like a flood,
and like rivers of surging water.
And he says, ‘I will go up and
cover the earth.
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
9 📚Come up, you horses, and drive madly,
you chariots, and let the mighty men
come out,
the Ethiopians and the Libyans who
handle the shield,
and the Lydians who handle and
bend the bow.
46:9 Soldiers from these regions were in Egypt’s armies.⚜
10 📚For this day belongs to the Lord God
of hosts; it is a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge himself on his adversaries.
And the sword will devour, and it will be
sated and made drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice
in the north country by the River Euphrates.
46:10 Was the battle at Carchemish merely a matter between Egypt and Babylon? Not at all. Jehovah God, the Lord of hosts, was there working out His purposes. He was punishing Egypt for its sins. See also note on Jer 25:30-38.⚜
11 📚“Go up into Gilead and get balm, O virgin,
the daughter of Egypt.
In vain you will use many medicines,
for you will not be cured.
12 📚The nations have heard of your shame,
and your cry has filled the land,
for the mighty man has stumbled
against the mighty, and
both of them have fallen together”.
46:3-12 This poetical section in vivid symbolic language sets forth Egypt’s crushing defeat.⚜
13 📚The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and attack the land of Egypt:
14 📚“Declare it in Egypt,
and proclaim it in Migdol,
and proclaim it in Noph 📖
and in Tahpanhes;
say, ‘Stand fast, and prepare yourselves’,
for the sword will devour all around you.
15 📚Why are your brave men
swept away? They did not stand,
because the LORD drove them away.
16 📚He made many fall; yes,
one fell on another. And they said,
‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people 📖,
and to the land of our birth,
from the oppressing sword.’
17 📚They cried out there.
Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a noise.
He has passed by the appointed time.
18 📚As I live, says the King,
whose name is the LORD of hosts,
as surely as Tabor is among
the mountains,
and as Carmel is by the sea, so
he will come.
46:18 See what God calls Himself here – He is the King. He is the King of the universe, the real King over all nations. See Ps 47:2. Tabor and Carmel are two mountains in Israel.⚜
19 📚O daughter living in Egypt,
prepare yourself to go into captivity,
for Noph will become a waste and desolate
without an inhabitant.
20 📚“Egypt is like a beautiful heifer,
but destruction is coming.
It is coming out of the north.
21 📚And her mercenaries in her
midst are like fattened bulls,
but they also have turned back and
fled away together.
They did not stand, because the day of
their calamity had come on them,
and the time of their punishment.
22 📚Its sound will move along like
a serpent 📖;
for they will march with an army,
and come against her with axes,
like woodcutters.
23 📚They will cut down her forest, says the LORD, unsearchable though it may be, for they are more than grasshoppers; they are innumerable.
24 📚The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame. She will be delivered into the hands of the northern people”.
25 📚The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will punish the multitude 📖 of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, Pharaoh, and all those who trust in him. 26 📚And I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives, and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants. And afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the LORD.
46:13-26 This took place in 568-567 BC, many years after the battle of Carchemish.⚜
46:26 God did not plan the complete destruction of Egypt.⚜
27 📚“But do not be afraid, O Jacob,
my servant, and do not be dismayed,
O Israel;
for, see, I will save you from a distant place,
and your offspring from the land
of their captivity;
and Jacob will return, and be at rest
and at ease, and no one
will make him afraid.
28 📚Do not be afraid, O Jacob,
my servant, says the LORD,
for I am with you.
For I will make a full end of all the nations
where I have driven you,
but I will not make a full end of you,
but will correct you in measure;
for I will not leave you wholly unpunished”.