Jeremiah 46:11

Context

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.

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

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