Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations - Volume 4

1The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning all the nations:

2Of Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh-Necho, the king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates, at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah:

3Prepare ye the buckler and shield, And move on to battle;

4Tie the horses, and go up, ye horsemen; Stand in your helmets, Brighten the lances, put on the coats of mail.

5Why have I seen them broken, turned backward! Even their valiants have been smitten, And by flight have they fled and looked not back; Terror is on every side, saith Jehovah;

6Let not the swift flee away, Nor the valiant escape: In the north, on the bank of the river Euphrates, Shall they stumble and fall.

7Who is this that like a river riseth up, Like floods swelling, its waters!

8Egypt like a river riseth up, And like floods swelling, its waters; For he saith, I will go up and cover the land, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.

9Go up, ye horses; toss, ye chariots; Go forth, ye the valiant; The Ethiopians and Lybians, who hold the shield, And the Lydians, who hold and stretch the bow.

10But this is the day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, The day of vengeance, to avenge on his adversaries; And devour shall the sword and be satiated, And inebriated shall it be with their blood; For a sacrifice hath the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, In the land of the north, by the river Euphrates.

11Go up to Gilead, and take rosin, Thou virgin, daughter of Egypt! In vain dost thou multiply medicines; There is no healing for thee.

12Heard have the nations of thy disgrace, And by thine outcry filled is the earth; For the valiant against the valiant has stumbled, And both have fallen together.

13The word which Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet respecting the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to smite the land of Egypt:

14Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, Publish in Noph, in Tahpanhes say, — Stand and prepare thyself, For devoured hath the sword those around thee.

15How scattered are thy valiants! They stood not, for Jehovah hath driven them.

16He hath multiplied; they stumbled, Yea, fell, each on his friend: And they said, “Rise, and let us return To our people, and to the land of our nativity, From the face of the wasting sword.

17They cried there, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, Is a kingof trouble; He hath passed over the set time.

18Live do I, saith the king, Jehovah of hosts is his name; For as Tabor is in the mountains, And as Carmel is by the sea, sowill he come.

19Thy furniture of transmigration prepare, Thou inhabitant of Egypt; For Noph shall be a solitude, Yea, it shall be wasted, without an inhabitant.

20A beautiful heifer is Egypt; Distress from the north cometh, it cometh.

21Her mercenaries also in the midst of her Are like the bullocks of the stall; For these also shall turn their backs, They shall flee together, they shall not stand; For the day of calamity is come upon them, The time of their visitation.

22Her voice shall be like that of the serpent; For with power shall they come, And with axes shall they come against her, Like hewers of wood.

23Cut down shall they thy forest, saith Jehovah, That it may not be investigated; For they have multiplied more than locusts, And they are without number.

24Ashamed is the daughter of Egypt, Delivered into the hand of the north people.

25Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, hath said, Behold, I will visit the multitude of No, Pharaoh also, and Egypt, And her gods and her kings, Even Pharaoh and those who trust in him;

26And I will give them into the hand Of those who seek their life, And into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, The king of Babylon, |And into the hand of his servants: But it shall afterwards be inhabited As in days of old, saith Jehovah.

27But fear not thou, my servant Jacob, Nor be thou, Israel, broken in mind; For behold, I will save thee from far, And thy seed from the land of their captivity: Yea, return shall Jacob, and rest, And be secure, and none will terrify him.

28Fear thou not, my servant Jacob, Saith Jehovah, for I am with thee; For I will make an end of all the nations To which I have driven thee; But of thee will I not make an end: Yet I will chastise thee in moderation, And will not wholly cut thee off.