Major Prophets · Chapter 46 of 52
Jeremiah 46
This begins Jeremiah's oracles against the nations, opening with Egypt. God pictures Egypt's proud army advancing like the Nile in flood, then shattered and fleeing at Carchemish by the Euphrates. A second oracle foretells Nebuchadnezzar striking Egypt itself, its cities laid waste. Yet the chapter closes with tender reassurance to Jacob: though God judges the nations, he will not make a full end of his own people but save and restore them.
What happens in Jeremiah 46
The word of the LORD against the nations begins with Egypt. The first oracle concerns Pharaoh Necho's army defeated at Carchemish by the Euphrates in Jehoiakim's fourth year. God mockingly summons Egypt to arm for battle, then asks why its mighty men are beaten down and fleeing in terror. Egypt rises like the Nile in flood, boasting it will cover the earth, but the day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance; the sword devours by the Euphrates.
The virgin daughter of Egypt seeks healing balm in vain. A second oracle announces Nebuchadnezzar coming to strike the land of Egypt itself; its mercenaries flee, its cities like Noph become waste, and its proud Pharaoh is exposed as mere noise. Yet God ends with comfort for Jacob his servant: do not fear, for God will save him from afar, bringing his offspring home, disciplining in measure but never destroying them utterly.
Jeremiah 46 in context
Chapters forty six through fifty one collect Jeremiah's prophecies against foreign nations, and Egypt comes first. Carchemish, in 605 BC, was the decisive battle where Babylon crushed Egypt and became the dominant power, a turning point Jeremiah interprets theologically.
Egypt was the refuge Judah trusted against Babylon, so its defeat exposed the folly of that trust. The closing words to Jacob offer hope that God's judgment of the nations serves the preservation of his own people.
Main themes of Jeremiah 46
Jeremiah 46 (KJV)
1The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; 2Against 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. 3Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. 5Wherefore 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. 6Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? 8Egypt 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. 9Come 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. 10For 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. 11Go 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. 12The 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. 13The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 14Declare 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. 15Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them. 16He 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. 17They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed. 18As 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. 19O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. 20Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. 21Also 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. 22The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable. 24The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25The 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: 26And 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. 27But 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. 28Fear 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.
Verses to carry from Jeremiah 46
“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.”Jeremiah 46:10
“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.”Jeremiah 46:11
“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.”Jeremiah 46:28
Thematic connection
How Jeremiah 46 points to Jesus
The chapter's closing promise, fear not, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you and will save you and not make a full end of you, breathes the assurance that reaches its fullness in Christ. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, through whom God finally saves his people from afar and gathers his scattered children home, never letting his own be utterly destroyed. The vain search for healing balm in Gilead for the daughter of Egypt also stands behind the gospel's answer, for the true balm and healer of the nations is Christ, who binds up the broken.
And the day of the LORD, a day of vengeance announced here against Egypt, points forward to the greater day when God's judgment and salvation converge at the cross and the return of the Lord. The connection is thematic.
Questions about Jeremiah 46
Why does the book of Jeremiah turn to prophecies against foreign nations here?
Because the LORD is not merely the God of Judah but the ruler of all nations, holding them accountable. Egypt comes first because Judah had trusted it as a refuge against Babylon. By announcing Egypt's defeat, God shows the folly of relying on any power other than himself. The oracles against the nations declare that God governs all of history and that no empire lies outside his judgment or his sovereign purpose.
How does the chapter's ending offer comfort after so much judgment?
After pronouncing doom on proud Egypt, God turns to his own people: fear not, for I am with you. He promises to save Jacob from distant captivity and bring his descendants home, and though he disciplines them in measure, he will not make a complete end of them. This distinguishes the destruction of the nations from the correcting love God reserves for his people, so judgment is not his final word.
Reflection
Egypt boasted it would cover the earth, then fled in terror when God's day came. The powers we fear or trust are fragile before the Lord. Where are you placing confidence in something as mighty and as passing as Egypt? Hear instead the word to Jacob: fear not, for I am with you.
Let God's presence, not any earthly power, steady your heart.
A prayer from Jeremiah 46
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