Jeremiah 46:7
in Jeremiah 46Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
KJV
Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
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This verse in Jeremiah 46
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
In Jer 46:3-6 we saw only a mighty army marshalling for battle, and its hasty flight. In Jer 46:7-12 the prophet tells us at whose defeat we have been present. A flood - the Nile. The metaphor describing the advance of the Egyptian army is naturally drawn from the annual overflow of their own sacred stream. Whose waters are moved ... - literally, his waters toss to and fro as the rivers, the natural branches of the Nile in Lower Egypt.
This site's exposition
Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
on Jeremiah 46:7-12
Egypt pictures herself as the rising Nile flood covering the earth, an image of unstoppable power that the oracle turns back on her as the day of the Lord's vengeance, a sacrifice offered up by the river Euphrates rather than the Nile. The mercenary allies named in verse 9, Ethiopia, Libya and Lydia, fight for a cause already lost, hired strength unable to alter a sentence already passed. Verse 11 sends the daughter of Egypt to Gilead for balm, reversing the plea of 8:22, is there no balm in Gilead, into an ironic verdict on a nation seeking a cure that belongs to someone else and will not work for her.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
A prophecy of the descent which Nebuchadnezzar should make upon the land of Egypt, and his success in it, which was accomplished some years after the destruction of Jerusalem,
): Egypt now rises up like a flood, scorning to keep within its own banks and threatening to overflow all the neighbouring lands. It is a very formidable army that the Egyptians bring into the field upon this occasion.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Who is this that cometh up as a flood,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The figure is appropriate in addressing Egyptians, as the Nile, their great river, yearly overspreads their lands with a turbid, muddy flood. So their army, swelling with arrogance, shall overspread the region south of Euphrates; but it, like the Nile, shall retreat as fast as it advanced.
Who is this that cometh up as a flood - The vast concourse of people is here represented as a river: for instance, the Jordan, suddenly swollen with the rains in harvest, rolling its waters along, and overflowing the whole country. A fine image to represent the incursions of vast armies carrying all before them. Such was the army of Pharaoh-necho in its march to Carchemish.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| זֶ֖ה | zeh | [is] this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| כַּיְאֹ֣ר | kayor | [who] like the River | H2975 → | |
| יַֽעֲלֶ֑ה | yaaleh | he rises | H5927 → | 890 times |
| כַּנְּהָר֕וֹת | kaneharot | like <the> rivers | H5104 → | 119 times |
| יִֽתְגָּעֲשׁ֖וּ | yitgaashu | they surge | H1607 → | 9 times |
| מֵימָֽיו׃ | meimav | waters his | H4325 → | 581 times |
מִי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
זֶ֖ה[is] this
zehH2088 →1180 times
כַּיְאֹ֣ר[who] like the River
kayorH2975 →
יַֽעֲלֶ֑הhe rises
yaalehH5927 →890 times
כַּנְּהָר֕וֹתlike <the> rivers
kaneharotH5104 →119 times
יִֽתְגָּעֲשׁ֖וּthey surge
yitgaashuH1607 →9 times
מֵימָֽיו׃waters his
meimavH4325 →581 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
Isaiah 63:1Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”
it leads to
- Revelation 19:13
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.
- Isaiah 34:5–6
When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
- Psalms 137:7
Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Isaiah 63:2–3
Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
- Revelation 19:13
Through
Daniel 9:26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end…
it leads to
- Isaiah 53:8
By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
- Nahum 1:8
But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
- Luke 24:26
Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”
- Isaiah 53:8
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 8:7–8
the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 8:7–8
About Jeremiah
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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.