The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; Ver. 1. _The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles._] God had at first set him over the nations and over the kingdoms - as a plenipotentiary - "to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. Ver. 2. _Against Egypt._] First, That the Jews might not rely on that broken ree... [ Continue Reading ]
Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Ver. 3. _Order ye the buckler and shield._] So Pharaoh is brought in bespeaking his forces, when he was going to fight against Nebuchadnezzar. Or so the prophet bespeaketh the Egyptians ironically, _a_ and by way of scoff; q.d., Do so, but a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with [your] helmets; furbish the spears, [and] put on the brigandines._ Ver. 4. _Harness the horses._] Those warlike creatures, but yet vain things for safety. Psa 33:17 Pro 21:31 Egypt was famous for the best horses; Deuteronomy 17:16 _... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: [for] fear [was] round about, saith the LORD. Ver. 5. _Wherefore have I seen them dismayed?_] Surprised with a panic terror. _ And are fled apace._] Heb., Fled... [ Continue Reading ]
Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. Ver. 6. _Let not the swift fly away,_] _i.e., _ Think to save themselves by flight. _ Nor the mighty man escape,_] _i.e., _ Think to save himself by his might, be he never... [ Continue Reading ]
Who [is] this [that] cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Ver. 7. _Who is this that cometh up like a flood?_] Pharaoh with his forces is here notably described, _vivo sermonum colore,_ and compared to an impetuous river, that threateneth to overflow and swallow up all. See Is... [ Continue Reading ]
Egypt riseth up like a flood, and [his] waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, [and] will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Ver. 8. _Egypt riseth up like a flood._] Like the Nile. The Egyptians were an ancient, proud, luxurious people. _ A... [ Continue Reading ]
Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle [and] bend the bow. Ver. 9. _Come up, ye horses,_] _i.e., _ Ye horsemen, all the cavalry of Egypt. _as _ Exo 14:7 _ And rage._] Or, Bes... [ Continue Reading ]
For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Ver. 10. _For t... [ Continue Reading ]
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured. Ver. 11. _Go up unto Gilead, and take balm._] See Jer 8:22 cf. Genesis 37:25; q.d., Thy calamity is no less incurable than ignominious.... [ Continue Reading ]
The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, [and] they are fallen both together. Ver. 12. _The nations have heard of thy shame._] Of the shameful defeat given thee; so that thou who wast once a terror to them art now a... [ Continue Reading ]
The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come [and] smite the land of Egypt. Ver. 13. _The word that the Lord spake._] Another prophecy, but against Egypt also. God had yet a further quarrel to that country for the death of good Josiah; their d... [ Continue Reading ]
Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. Ver. 14. _Publish in Noph, and in Tahpanhes._] See Jeremiah 44:1 . _ For the sword shall devour roundabout thee._] Egypt was no whit... [ Continue Reading ]
Why are thy valiant [men] swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them. Ver. 15. _They stood not, because the Lord did drive them._] He struck a panic terror into them; and then no wonder that men flee at the noise of a shaken leaf.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 16. _Yea, one fell upon another._] See Jeremiah 46:12. In a confused flight it is wont so to be. _ And they said._] The au... [ Continue Reading ]
They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise; he hath passed the time appointed. Ver. 17. _Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise,_] _a_ A mere flash, one that vaunteth and vapoureth, and that is all. So of Charles VIII, King of France, Guicciardini saith, that in his expedition to Napl... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 46:18 [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. Ver. 18. _As I live._] _Formula iurandi elliptica, et Deo propria._ Let none presume to swear in that sort. _ Surely as Tabor is am... [ Continue Reading ]
O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. Ver. 19. _O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt._] But not likely to dwell long there. _ Furnish thyself to go into captivity._] Heb., Make thee instruments or implement... [ Continue Reading ]
Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. Ver. 20. _Egypt is like a very fair heifer._] _Vitula elegans,_ a trim bullock; _a_ worshipping Apis the bull and Mnevis the cow, and unaccustomed to the yoke of subjection, _as _ Hos 10:11 but I shall bring h... [ Continue Reading ]
Also her hired men [are] in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, [and] are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of their visitation. Ver. 21. _Also her hired men in the midst of her like fatted... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 22. The voice thereof (of Egypt) shall go like a serpent.] _a_ _Submissa voce loquetur._ She shall hiss and whisper, as being daunted and damped, scarce able to mutt... [ Continue Reading ]
They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and [are] innumerable. Ver. 23. _They shall cut down her forest,_] _i.e., _ Her many cities. Herodotus telleth of one thousand and twenty cities that were in the land of Egypt... [ Continue Reading ]
The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. Ver. 24. _The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded._] This is, in plain terms, the sum of all that had been said before. _a_ a _Subiungit epiphonema._... [ Continue Reading ]
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: Ver. 25. _The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith._] And shall he say and not do? Num 23:19 Shall the... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar 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. Ver. 26. _Behold, I will punish the multitude of No._] Called pop... [ Continue Reading ]
But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make [him] afraid. Ver. 27. _But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob._]... [ Continue Reading ]
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. Ver. 28. _Fear thou not, O Jacob, &c._... [ Continue Reading ]