Jeremiahchapter 46
28 verses · BSBJeremiah book hub →
Speaks with:Jeremiah 46×7Jeremiah 1×3Ezekiel 29×3Jeremiah 44×4Jeremiah 51×2Daniel 11×2
Summary
Chapter summary
The oracles against the nations begin, and Egypt goes first. Carchemish by the river Euphrates: harness the horses, furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail. And then the rout, the mighty beaten down, fleeing apace without looking back, terror on every side. A second oracle announces Nebuchadnezzar's coming against Egypt herself: she rises like the Nile and boasts she will cover the earth, but her hired soldiers turn and flee together; Pharaoh is called a noise that has let the appointed time pass. Yet the chapter ends turning homeward: 'Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant… for I am with thee': a full end of the nations, but never a full end of Israel.
Context
Prophecy · Jeremiah — Jeremiah overview
- A. 1–12 Egypt at Carchemish: a River Rising Like a Flood
- B. 13–19 Nebuchadnezzar Comes; Egypt a Fair Heifer Stung from the North
- C. 20–28 Fear Not, O Jacob My Servant
The outline
A.Egypt at Carchemish: a River Rising Like a Floodvv. 1 to 12
Read vv. 1 to 12 →B.Nebuchadnezzar Comes; Egypt a Fair Heifer Stung from the Northvv. 13 to 19
Read vv. 13 to 19 →C.Fear Not, O Jacob My Servantvv. 20 to 28
Read vv. 20 to 28 →
The world behind this chapter
Jeremiah 46The history
Carchemish sat where the main road from Mesopotamia crossed the Euphrates in what is now southern Turkey. In 605 BC the Egyptian army under Pharaoh Neco was destroyed there by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar and pursued all the way back to the border. The Babylonian Chronicle records the rout in a few flat sentences; this chapter gives the same event as a battle scene.
The details are those of a real army of that century. Buckler and shield are prepared, horses harnessed, cavalry mount up, helmets are polished and body armour buckled on, spears are sharpened. The auxiliary troops are named — Cush, Put and Lud, that is Nubian, Libyan and Lydian mercenaries, who really did fill out the Egyptian ranks.
The retreat is described in pictures a river people would use. The Egyptian advance rises like the Nile in flood; the collapse is men slipping, falling over each other and running without looking back. Pharaoh gets a nickname: a loud noise who has let the appointed time pass.
The second oracle looks ahead to Nebuchadnezzar coming into Egypt itself. Amon of Thebes is named — Thebes far up the Nile was the great southern religious centre, and its god Amon the state deity. A defeated nation goes to Gilead for balm, and the medicine does not work.
What it meant to them
For the first hearers this was foreign policy, not geography. Judah's court had spent decades leaning on Egypt, and had done so again under Jehoiakim and would again under Zedekiah. This chapter says the wall they were leaning on had already fallen at Carchemish.
The chapter ends by turning to Israel with a promise in a different tone: do not fear, my servant Jacob, for I am with you; I will save you from far away, and I will make a full end of the nations where I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end.
Sources cited
- The Babylonian Chronicle, in James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament
- Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Jeremiah 46. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.