2 Kings 18:21

18:21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.

Deuteronomy 17:16

17:16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, ¹  for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.

Isaiah 31:1

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ² 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ³ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ⁴ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ⁵ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

Isaiah 31:3

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

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ⁶  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ⁷ 

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!

Isaiah 36:9

36:9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 37:7

37:7 “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. ⁹  Tell him, “The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 42:14-18

42:14 You must not say, ‘No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war, ¹¹  or hear the enemy’s trumpet calls, ¹²  or starve for lack of food.’ ¹³  42:15 If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the Lord says. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁴  says, ‘If you are so determined ¹⁵  to go to Egypt that you go and settle there, 42:16 the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to ¹⁶  Egypt. You will die there. ¹⁷  42:17 All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war, starvation, or disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ 42:18 For ¹⁸  the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁹  says, ‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem. ²⁰  You will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ²¹  You will never see this place again.’ ²² 

Ezekiel 17:15

17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ²³  rebelled against the king of Babylon ²⁴  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

Ezekiel 17:17

17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ²⁵  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

[17:16]  ¹ tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).

[31:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

[31:1]  ³ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

[31:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

[31:1]  ⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[36:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?” In vv. 8-9 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 6. His reasoning seems to be as follows: “In your weakened condition you obviously need military strength. Agree to the king’s terms and I will personally give you more horses than you are capable of outfitting. If I, a mere minor official, am capable of giving you such military might, just think what power the king has. There is no way the Egyptians can match our strength. It makes much better sense to deal with us.”

[37:7]  ⁹ tn Or “to ask me what will happen.” The dominant usage of the verb דָּרַשׁ (darash) is to “inquire” in the sense of gaining information about what will happen (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 14:5; 2 Kgs 8:8; 22:7-8) but it is also used in the sense of “seeking help” from (cf., e.g., Isa 31:1; 2 Chr 16:12; 20:3). The latter nuance appears appropriate in Jer 20:2 where Zedekiah is hoping for some miraculous intervention. That nuance also appears appropriate here where Zedekiah has sent messengers to ask Jeremiah to intercede on their behalf. However, it is also possible that the intent of both verbs is to find out from God whether the Egyptian mission will succeed and more permanent relief from the siege will be had.

[37:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will go back to its land, Egypt.”

[42:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “see [or experience] war.”

[42:14]  ¹² tn Heb “hear the sound of the trumpet.” The trumpet was used to gather the troops and to sound the alarm for battle.

[42:14]  ¹³ tn Jer 42:13-14 are a long complex condition (protasis) whose consequence (apodosis) does not begin until v. 15. The Hebrew text of vv. 13-14 reads: 42:13 “But if you say [or continue to say (the form is a participle)], ‘We will not stay in this land’ with the result that you do not obey [or “more literally, do not hearken to the voice of] the Lord your God, 42:14 saying, ‘No, but to the land of Egypt we will go where we…and there we will live,’ 42:15 now therefore hear the word of the Lord…” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to maintain the contingencies and the qualifiers that are in the longer Hebrew original.

[42:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study note on 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title.

[42:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “set your face to.” See Jer 42:17; 44:11; Dan 11:17; 2 Kgs 12:17 (12:18 HT) for parallel usage.

[42:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “will follow you right into Egypt,” or “will dog your steps all the way to Egypt”; Heb “cling after.” This is the only case of this verb with this preposition in the Qal stem. However, it is used with this preposition several times in the Hiphil, all with the meaning of “to pursue closely.” See BDB 180 s.v. דָּבַק Hiph.2 and compare Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2.

[42:16]  ¹⁷ tn The repetition of the adverb “there” in the translation of vv. 14, 16 is to draw attention to the rhetorical emphasis on the locale of Egypt in the original text of both v. 14 and v. 16. In v. 14 they say, “to the land of Egypt we will go…and there we will live.” In v. 16 God says, “wars…there will catch up with you…the hunger…there will follow after you…and there you will die.” God rhetorically denies their focus on Egypt as a place of safety and of relative prosperity. That can only be found in Judah under the protective presence of the Lord (vv. 10-12).

[42:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Indeed.”

[42:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study note on 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title.

[42:18]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[42:18]  ²¹ tn See the study note on 24:9 and the usage in 29:22 for the meaning and significance of this last phrase.

[42:18]  ²² tn Or “land.” The reference is, of course, to the land of Judah.

[17:15]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”