Bible Study Jeremiah 46
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Jeremiah 46 · WEB

Oracle Against Egypt

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Yahweh's word which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3"Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!
4Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand with your helmets. Polish the spears, put on the coats of mail.
5Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled in haste, and don't look back. Terror is on every side," says Yahweh.
6"Don't let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.
7"Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
8Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. He says, 'I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.'
9Go up, you horses! Rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
10"For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11"Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you.
12The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they have both fallen together."
13The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:
14"Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say, 'Stand ready and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.'
15Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn't stand, because Yahweh pushed them.
16He made many to stumble. Yes, they fell on one another. They said, 'Arise! Let's go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.'
17They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.'
18"'As I live,' says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies, 'surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come.
19You daughter of Egypt who dwells there, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be burned, without inhabitant.
20"Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come, it has come.
21Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn't stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
22"Its sound is like that of the serpent as they go; for they march with an army, and come against her with axes, as woodcutters.
23They will cut down her forest," says Yahweh, "though it can't be searched, because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
24The daughter of Egypt will be disappointed; she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."
25Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.
26I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterward it will be inhabited, as in the days of old," says Yahweh.
27"But don't be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don't be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid.
28Don't be afraid, O Jacob my servant," says Yahweh, "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 I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished."
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Summary

Jeremiah 46 opens the oracles against the nations (chapters 46-51), beginning fittingly with Egypt — the empire that shaped and tempted Judah throughout its history. The chapter contains two distinct oracles. The first (vv. 2-12) is a vivid battle poem recounting Egypt's catastrophic defeat at Carchemish in 605 BC: Egyptian armies rising like the Nile in flood, boasting of conquest, then stumbling and falling in the north. The second oracle (vv. 13-26) looks forward to Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt itself — Memphis will be desolate, Egypt's gods will be punished, Pharaoh is just "noise" who let his moment pass. But the chapter ends with a tender word to Jacob: don't be afraid; I will save you from afar. Nations will be destroyed completely, but Israel will be disciplined and preserved.

Themes

  • The humbling of empires — Egypt's military pride shattered at Carchemish
  • God's sovereignty over all nations — even Egypt's defeat is Yahweh's "sacrifice"
  • Pharaoh as empty noise — royal boasting that amounts to nothing
  • Israel's preservation amid universal judgment — disciplined but not destroyed

Key verses

  • Jer 46:10 — “For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance... the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.”
  • Jer 46:17 — “Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.”
  • Jer 46:27-28 — “Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant... I will make a full end of all the nations... but I will not make a full end of you.”

Context & background

The Battle of Carchemish (605 BC) was one of the ancient world's decisive battles. Carchemish (modern Jerablus, on the Turkey-Syria border along the Euphrates River) was where Nebuchadnezzar routed Pharaoh Neco's Egyptian army, ending Egypt's bid for control of the Near East. Neco had killed Judah's righteous king Josiah at Megiddo in 609 BC (2 Kings 23:29), making Egypt's downfall poetically just. The mercenaries mentioned — Cush (modern Sudan/Ethiopia), Put (modern Libya), and Ludim (possibly Lydia in modern western Turkey) — were African and Mediterranean soldiers in Egypt's hire. "Amon of No" (v. 25) refers to the god Amun worshiped at Thebes (No/No-Amon, modern Luxor, Egypt), Egypt's great religious center in Upper Egypt. Memphis (modern Mit Rahina, south of Cairo) was Egypt's ancient administrative capital. Mount Tabor (v. 18, modern northern Israel, 1,886 feet) and Mount Carmel (modern Haifa coast, Israel) are used as metaphors for Nebuchadnezzar's imposing, unstoppable advance. The promise that Egypt will be "inhabited as in the days of old" (v. 26) indicates judgment is not permanent annihilation.

Cross-references

  • 2 Chronicles 35:20-24 — The detailed account of Josiah's death at Neco's hand
  • 2 Kings 23:29 — Pharaoh Neco killing Josiah at Megiddo, the background to Egypt's judgment
  • Ezekiel 29-32 — Ezekiel's extended oracles against Egypt, the most detailed prophetic treatment
  • Isaiah 19:1-15 — Isaiah's earlier oracle against Egypt, with similar themes of humiliation
  • Nahum 3:8-10 — The fall of Thebes (No-Amon) as a warning, the same city referenced in verse 25

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What two historical events does Jeremiah 46 address?

  2. Observe

    What promise did God make to Jacob/Israel at the end of the chapter?

  3. Interpret

    What does it mean that Egypt's defeat at Carchemish is called "a sacrifice" of Yahweh of Armies?

  4. Interpret

    What does it mean that "Pharaoh is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by" (v. 17)?

  5. Apply

    Where do contemporary patterns of seemingly invincible power resemble Egypt at the rising Nile?

  6. Apply

    How can one hold together the God of universal judgment and the God of tender personal comfort?

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