Jeremiah 2:36

2:36 Why do you constantly go about

changing your political allegiances? ¹ 

You will get no help from Egypt

just as you got no help from Assyria. ² 

Jeremiah 25:19

25:19 I made all of these other people drink it: Pharaoh, king of Egypt; ³  his attendants, his officials, his people,

Jeremiah 41:17

41:17 They set out to go to Egypt to get away from the Babylonians, ⁴  but stopped at Geruth Kimham ⁵  near Bethlehem. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 43:7

43:7 They went on to Egypt ⁷  because they refused to obey the Lord, and came to Tahpanhes. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 44:13

44:13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem.

¹ tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”

² tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”

³ sn See further Jer 46:2-28 for the judgment against Egypt.

⁵ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

⁶ sn Geruth Kimham is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible and its precise location is unknown. Many commentators relate the second part of the name to the name of the son of David’s benefactor when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam 19:38-39) and see this as a reference to an estate that David assigned this son as reward for his father’s largess. Gibeon was about six miles northwest of Jerusalem and Benjamin is approximately the same distance southwest of it. Hence, the people mentioned here had not traveled all that far.

⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

⁷ 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).

⁸ 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.