6 The swift do not flee, nor do the mighty escape, Northward, by the side of the river Phrat, They have stumbled and fallen.
And he turneth back his face to the strongholds of his land, and hath stumbled and fallen, and is not found.
Nations have heard of thy shame, And thy cry hath filled the land, For the mighty on the mighty did stumble, Together they have fallen -- both of them!'
I have seen the Lord standing by the altar, and He saith: `Smite the knob, and the thresholds shake, And cut them off by the head -- all of them, And their posterity with a sword I do slay, Not flee to them doth the fleer, Nor escape to them doth a fugitive. If they dig through into sheol, From thence doth My hand take them, And if they go up the heavens, From thence I cause them to come down. And if they be hid in the top of Carmel, From thence I search out, and have taken them, And if they be hid from Mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, From thence I command the serpent, And it hath bitten them.
And perished hath refuge from the swift, And the strong strengtheneth not his power, And the mighty delivereth not his soul. And the handler of the bow standeth not, And the swift with his feet delivereth not `himself', And the rider of the horse delivereth not his soul.
And stumbled hath pride, And he hath fallen, and hath no raiser up, And I have kindled a fire in his cities, And it hath devoured all round about him.
He hath multiplied the stumbling, Yea one hath fallen upon his neighbour, And they say: Rise, and we turn back to our people, And unto the land of our birth, Because of the oppressing sword.
And that day `is' to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts A day of vengeance, To be avenged of His adversaries, And the sword hath devoured, and been satisfied, And it hath been watered from their blood, For a sacrifice `is' to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, In the land of the north, by the river Phrat.
Lo, I am sending, and have taken all the families of the north -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- even unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and have brought them in against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and have devoted them, and appointed them for an astonishment, and for a hissing, and for wastes age-during.
And Jehovah destroyeth Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the camp, by the mouth of the sword, before Barak, and Sisera cometh down from off the chariot, and fleeth on his feet. And Barak hath pursued after the chariots and after the camp, unto Harosheth of the Goyim, and all the camp of Sisera falleth by the mouth of the sword -- there hath not been left even one. And Sisera hath fled on his feet unto the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, for peace `is' between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite; and Jael goeth out to meet Sisera, and saith unto him, `Turn aside, my lord, turn aside unto me, fear not;' and he turneth aside unto her, into the tent, and she covereth him with a coverlet. And he saith unto her, `Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water, for I am thirsty;' and she openeth the bottle of milk, and giveth him to drink, and covereth him. And he saith unto her, `Stand at the opening of the tent, and it hath been, if any doth come in, and hath asked thee, and said, Is there a man here? that thou hast said, There is not.' And Jael wife of Heber taketh the pin of the tent, and taketh the hammer in her hand, and goeth unto him gently, and striketh the pin into his temples, and it fasteneth in the earth -- and he hath been fast asleep, and is weary -- and he dieth.
Lift up an ensign Zionward, Strengthen yourselves, stand not still, For evil I am bringing in from the north, And a great destruction.
And Jehovah saith unto me, `From the north is the evil loosed against all inhabitants of the land.
And ye say, No, for on a horse we flee? Therefore ye flee, And on the swift we ride! Therefore swift are your pursuers. One thousand because of the rebuke of one, Because of the rebuke of five ye flee, Till ye have been surely left as a pole On the top of the mountain, And as an ensign on the height.
And many among them have stumbled and fallen, And been broken, and snared, and captured.
I have turned so as to see under the sun, that not to the swift `is' the race, nor to the mighty the battle, nor even to the wise bread, nor even to the intelligent wealth, nor even to the skilful grace, for time and chance happen with them all.
The king is not saved by the multitude of a force. A mighty man is not delivered, By abundance of power. A false thing `is' the horse for safety, And by the abundance of his strength He doth not deliver.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 46
Commentary on Jeremiah 46 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 46
How judgment began at the house of God we have found in the foregoing prophecy and history; but now we shall find that it did not end there. In this and the following chapters we have predictions of the desolations of the neighbouring nations, and those brought upon them too mostly by the king of Babylon, till at length Babylon itself comes to be reckoned with. The prophecy against Egypt is here put first and takes up this whole chapter, in which we have,
Jer 46:1-12
The first verse is the title of that part of this book, which relates to the neighbouring nations, and follows here. It is the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles; for God is King and Judge of nations, knows and will call to an account those who know him not nor take any notice of him. Both Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied against these nations that Jeremiah here has a separate saying to, and with reference to the same events. In the Old Testament we have the word of the Lord against the Gentiles; in the New Testament we have the word of the Lord for the Gentiles, that those who were afar off are made nigh.
He begins with Egypt, because they were of old Israel's oppressors and of late their deceivers, when they put confidence in them. In these verses he foretells the overthrow of the army of Pharaoh-necho, by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was so complete a victory to the king of Babylon that thereby he recovered from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt, and so weakened him that he came not again any more out of his land (as we find, 2 Ki. 24:7), and so made him pay dearly for his expedition against the king of Assyria four years before, in which he slew Josiah, 2 Ki. 23:29. This is the event that is here foretold in lofty expressions of triumph over Egypt thus foiled, which Jeremiah would speak of with a particular pleasure, because the death of Josiah, which he had lamented, was now avenged on Pharaoh-necho. Now here,
Jer 46:13-28
In these verses we have,