Discovery BoxJeremiah 46:10-12
Context46:10 But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. 1
It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. 2
His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!
It will drink their blood until it is full! 3
For the Lord God who rules over all 4 will offer them up as a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, 5
you dear poor people of Egypt. 6
But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; 7
there will be no healing for you.
46:12 The nations will hear of your devastating defeat. 8
your cries of distress will echo throughout the earth.
In the panic of their flight one soldier will trip over another
and both of them will fall down defeated.” 9
[46:10] 1 tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.
[46:10] 2 sn Most commentators think that this is a reference to the
[46:10] 3 tn Or more paraphrastically, “he will kill them/ until he has exacted full vengeance”; Heb “The sword will eat and be sated; it will drink its fill of their blood.”
[46:10] 4 tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.
[46:11] 5 tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.
[46:11] 6 sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.
[46:11] 7 tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”
[46:12] 9 tn Heb “of your shame.” The “shame,” however, applies to the devastating defeat they will suffer.
[46:12] 10 tn The words “In the panic of their flight” and “defeated” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor for the average reader. The verbs in this verse are all in the tense that emphasizes that the action is viewed as already having been accomplished (i.e., the Hebrew prophetic perfect). This is consistent with the vav consecutive perfects in v. 10 which look to the future.
