Jeremiah 46:20
in Jeremiah 46Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
KJV
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
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This verse in Jeremiah 46
Commentary
7 notes on this verseEgypt is like a very fair heifer,.... Like a heifer that has never been under a yoke, it having never been conquered, and brought under the power of another; and like a beautiful, fat, and well fed one, abounding in wealth and riches, in pleasures and delights, in wantonness and luxury, and fit for slaughter, and ready for it. The Targum is, "Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.'' Some think there is an illusion to the gods of Egypt, Apis and Mnevis, which were heifers or oxen, very beautiful, that had fine spots and marks upon them.
This site's exposition
Egypt is like a very fair heifer
on Jeremiah 46:20-26
Egypt is called a fair heifer with destruction already coming out of the north, and her hired soldiers, likened to fatted bullocks that flee rather than fight, cannot stand because their day of calamity has arrived. Her army is pictured as a forest cut down by axes, an image of a force that looked impenetrable and was felled all the same. The judgment falls by name on No, on Pharaoh, and on Amon of No, Thebes and its god both named together, yet verse 26 closes with a promise that the land shall afterward be inhabited as in the days of old, the same mercy extended to a judged nation that the book gives Moab and others in these chapters.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
), fat and shining, and not accustomed to the yoke of subjection, wanton as a heifer that is well fed, and very sportful. Some think here is an allusion to Apis, the bull or calf which the Egyptians worshipped, from whom the children of Israel learned to worship the golden calf.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Egypt is like a very fair heifer - Fruitful and useful; but destruction cometh out of the north, from Chaldea. It may be that there is an allusion here to Isis, worshipped in Egypt under the form of a beautiful cow.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
heifer--wanton, like a fat, untamed heifer (Ho 10:11). Appropriate to Egypt, where Apis was worshipped under the form of a fair bull marked with spots. destruction--that is, a destroyer: Nebuchadnezzar. Vulgate translates, "a goader," answering to the metaphor, "one who will goad the heifer" and tame her.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Is like - Or, is. Her god was the steer Apis Jer 46:15, and she is the spouse. But destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north - More probably, “a gadfly from the north has come upon her.” This is a sort of insect which stings the oxen and drives them to madness. Compare Isa 7:18.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֶגְלָ֥ה | ʾeglah | [is] a heifer | H5697 → | 14 times |
| יְפֵֽה־ | yefeh- | beautifully | H3304 → | |
| פִיָּ֖ה | fiyah | beautiful | H3304 → | |
| מִצְרָ֑יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| קֶ֥רֶץ | keretz | a gadfly | H7171 → | |
| מִצָּפ֖וֹן | mitzafon | from [the] north | H6828 → | 153 times |
| בָּ֥א | ba' | [is] about to come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בָֽא׃ | va' | [is] about to come | H935 → | 2568 times |
עֶגְלָ֥ה[is] a heifer
ʾeglahH5697 →14 times
יְפֵֽה־beautifully
yefeh-H3304 →
פִיָּ֖הbeautiful
fiyahH3304 →
מִצְרָ֑יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
קֶ֥רֶץa gadfly
keretzH7171 →
מִצָּפ֖וֹןfrom [the] north
mitzafonH6828 →153 times
בָּ֥א[is] about to come
ba'H935 →2568 times
בָֽא׃[is] about to come
va'H935 →2568 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 46:6“The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
it leads to
- Daniel 11:19
After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be no more.
- Jeremiah 46:12
The nations have heard of your shame, and your outcry fills the earth, because warrior stumbles over warrior and both of them have fallen together.”
- Daniel 11:19
Through
Hosea 10:11Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.
it leads to
- Hosea 4:16
For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer. Can the LORD now shepherd them like lambs in an open meadow?
- Hosea 4:16
Through
Jeremiah 1:14Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:25
I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who…
- Jeremiah 4:6
Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.
- Jeremiah 10:22
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- Isaiah 41:25
Through
Jeremiah 50:11“Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,
it leads to
- Isaiah 47:6
I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Isaiah 47:6
Through
Jeremiah 47:2This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The…
it leads to
- Isaiah 15:2–5
Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.
- Isaiah 15:2–5
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.