Jeremiah Chapter 46

At a Glance

  • Jeremiah 46 opens a string of prophetic oracles directed against Gentile nations, beginning with Egypt.
  • Historica & Literary Context.
  • This chapter belongs to the later portion of Jeremiah (late 7th–early 6th century BCE) as the prophet voices God’s judgments against nations surrounding Judah as well as against Judah itself.
  • - Divine sovereignty over nations: God’s authority reaches beyond Israel and influences the rise and fall of great powers, including Egypt.
  • - Judgment as corrective, not merely punitive: Egypt’s fall is presented as a divine discipline that humbles proud oppression and idolatrous confidence.

CHAPTER 46

Chapter Overview

Jeremiah 46 opens a string of prophetic oracles directed against Gentile nations, beginning with Egypt. The chapter presents a dramatic, cinematic scene: a commanders’ briefing from the Lord to the people of Judah as if Egypt’s army were a target and a threat to be countered. The text uses martial imagery—bucklers, shields, horses, helmets, spears, brigandines—to dramatize the coming judgment and to underscore that divine sovereignty reaches beyond Israel’s borders. The word announces that Nebuchadnezzar’s offensive in the north toward the Euphrates will reverberate, and Egypt’s powerful forces will be routed: “they shall stumble, and fall.” Yet this is not merely a geopolitical report; it functions as a theologically charged act of judgment. The day of the Lord will purge enemy powers and reveal the hollow confidence of earthly kings and armies. The chapter anticipates the broader arc of Jeremiah’s prophecies: God’s people face exile and defeat, not because of political fate alone, but because of covenant faithfulness (or the lack thereof) and because God will redeem history through radical acts of judgment and restoration.

Historica & Literary Context

This chapter belongs to the later portion of Jeremiah (late 7th–early 6th century BCE) as the prophet voices God’s judgments against nations surrounding Judah as well as against Judah itself. It is part of a larger corpus of oracles against the nations (oracles against the nations, or “oracles against foreign nations” in many scholarly editions). The genre is prophetic oracular speech: a combination of direct divine addresses, vivid imagery, and narrativized threats that function as both condemnation and exhortation. In Jeremiah 46, the genre blends courtroom-like pronouncements with epic martial imagery, signaling the universal scope of God’s sovereignty. The chapter’s placement—within the series of oracles to the nations—frames Israel’s exile not as an isolated incident but as part of a divine plan that reorganizes power among nations. The “forth year of Jehoiakim” dating anchors the chapter in the historical conflict with Babylon and the shifting balance of power in the Near East.

Key Themes

- Divine sovereignty over nations: God’s authority reaches beyond Israel and influences the rise and fall of great powers, including Egypt.

- Judgment as corrective, not merely punitive: Egypt’s fall is presented as a divine discipline that humbles proud oppression and idolatrous confidence.

- The day of the Lord as decisive intervention: a moment when divine justice is exerted against adversaries and their wrath is consumed.

- Fear, futility, and divine purpose: human bravado collapses before the Lord’s plan, warning against trusting in military might.

- Covenant memory and obedience: the surrounding prophetic violence is inseparable from the larger call to fidelity to the God of Israel, even when facing exile.

Modern Application

Jeremiah 46 invites readers to evaluate where we place our ultimate trust. In contemporary life, nations and leaders still posture with “buckler and shield,” seeking security in military power, economic clout, or technological prowess. The chapter challenges us to discern: where do we put our confidence? Is it in weapons, wealth, or worldly alliances, or in the God who orders history? The text also speaks into the fear and displacement that accompany collapse of power, offering a pastoral reminder that judgment can become a pathway to correction and renewal. For communities facing upheaval, this chapter can foster humility, urging believers to seek alignment with God’s purposes rather than seeking merely to preserve national or personal advantage. It also invites readers to consider how to respond to “the day of the Lord” in personal life: repentance, recalibrated loyalties, and active pursuit of justice and mercy. The prophetic call invites courage directed toward faithful witness rather than self-preservation.

Cross-References: Jeremiah 25; Jeremiah 50–51; Ezekiel 26–28; Isaiah 13; Habakkuk 1–2.

Recommended Personas: Moses (for leadership under divine instruction and intercession), Jesus (for discerning true security and upending reliance on power), Paul (for understanding God’s sovereignty in a global, multi-ethnic mission).

Chapter Text

1

The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

2

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.

3

Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

4

Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.

5

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.

6

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

7

Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

8

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.

9

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.

10

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.

11

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.

12

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.

13

The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

14

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.

15

Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

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 are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was 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 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.

27

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.

28

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.

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