Isaiah 20:5-6

20:5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. ¹  20:6 At that time ²  those who live on this coast ³  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Isaiah 31:1-3

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ⁴ 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ⁵ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ⁶ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ⁷ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

31:2 Yet he too is wise ⁸  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ⁹ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ¹⁰ 

and the nation that helps ¹¹  those who commit sin. ¹² 

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ¹³  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 36:6

36:6 Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Deuteronomy 28:68

28:68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Deuteronomy 28:2

28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ¹⁵  if you obey the Lord your God:

Deuteronomy 17:4

17:4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing ¹⁶  is being done in Israel,

Jeremiah 37:5

37:5 At that time the Babylonian forces ¹⁷  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ¹⁸  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ¹⁹ )

Jeremiah 43:7

43:7 They went on to Egypt ²⁰  because they refused to obey the Lord, and came to Tahpanhes. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 29:6-7

29:6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord

because they were a reed staff ²²  for the house of Israel;

29:7 when they grasped you with their hand, ²³  you broke and tore ²⁴  their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady. ²⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “and they will be afraid and embarrassed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their beauty.”

² tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

³ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

⁵ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

⁶ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

⁸ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

⁹ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

¹¹ sn That is, Egypt.

¹² tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

¹³ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “an abomination” (תּוֹעֵבָה); see note on the word “offensive” in v. 1.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.

¹⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁹ tn Heb “And the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt and the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard a report about them and they went up from besieging them.” The sentence has been restructured and reworded to give greater emphasis to the most pertinent fact, i.e., that the siege had been temporarily lifted. The word “temporarily” is not in the text but is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation here to better show that the information in vv. 4-5 is all parenthetical, providing a background for the oracle that will follow. For the meaning “given up their siege against” (Heb “had taken themselves away from against”) see BDB 749 s.v. עָלָה Niph.1.c(2); 759 s.v. עַל IV.2.b.

²⁰ sn This had been their intention all along (41:17). Though they consulted the Lord and promised to do what he told them whether they agreed with it or not (42:5-6), it is clear that they had no intention of doing so. Jeremiah could see that (42:19-22). They refused to believe that the Lord had really said what Jeremiah told them (43:4) and feared reprisal from the Babylonians more than any potential destruction from the Lord (43:3).

²¹ sn Tahpanhes was an important fortress city on the northern border of Egypt in the northeastern Nile delta. It is generally equated with the Greek city of Daphne. It has already been mentioned in 2:16 in conjunction with Memphis (the Hebrew name is “Noph”) as a source of soldiers who did violence to the Israelites in the past.

²² sn Compare Isa 36:6.

²³ tn The Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) has “by your hand,” but the marginal reading (Qere) has simply “by the hand.” The LXX reads “with their hand.”

²⁴ tn Or perhaps “dislocated.”

²⁵ tn Heb “you caused to stand for them all their hips.” An emendation which switches two letters but is supported by the LXX yields the reading “you caused all their hips to shake.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:103. In 2 Kgs 18:21 and Isa 36:6 trusting in the Pharaoh is compared to leaning on a staff. The oracle may reflect Hophra’s attempt to aid Jerusalem (Jer 37:5-8).