Jeremiah 46:11

46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹ 

you dear poor people of Egypt. ² 

But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³ 

there will be no healing for you.

Jeremiah 46:19

46:19 Pack your bags for exile,

you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt. ⁴ 

For Memphis will be laid waste.

It will lie in ruins ⁵  and be uninhabited.

Psalms 137:8

137:8 O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! ⁶ 

How blessed will be the one who repays you

for what you dished out to us! ⁷ 

[46:11]  ¹ tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

[46:11]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”

[46:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “inhabitants of daughter Egypt.” Like the phrase “daughter Zion,” “daughter Egypt” is a poetic personification of the land, here perhaps to stress the idea of defenselessness.

[46:19]  ⁵ tn For the verb here see HALOT 675 s.v. II נָצָה Nif and compare the usage in Jer 4:7; 9:11 and 2 Kgs 19:25. BDB derives the verb from יָצַת (so BDB 428 s.v. יָצַת Niph meaning “kindle, burn”) but still give it the meaning “desolate” here and in 2:15 and 9:11.

[137:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “O devastated daughter of Babylon.” The psalmist dramatically anticipates Babylon’s demise.

[137:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “O the happiness of the one who repays you your wage which you paid to us.”