Jeremiah 46:22

46:22 Egypt will run away, hissing like a snake, ¹ 

as the enemy comes marching up in force.

They will come against her with axes

as if they were woodsmen chopping down trees.

Jeremiah 49:21

49:21 The people of the earth will quake when they hear of their downfall. ² 

Their cries of anguish will be heard all the way to the Gulf of Aqaba. ³ 

[46:22]  ¹ tn Or “Egypt will rustle away like a snake”; Heb “her sound goes like the snake,” or “her sound [is] like the snake [when] it goes.” The meaning of the simile is debated. Some see a reference to the impotent hiss of a fleeing serpent (F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 382), others the sound of a serpent stealthily crawling away when it is disturbed (H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 297-98). The translation follows the former interpretation because of the irony involved.

[49:21]  ² tn Heb “The earth will quake when at the sound of their downfall.” However, as in many other places “earth” stands here metonymically for the inhabitants or people of the earth (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 578-79, and compare usage in 2 Sam 15:23; Ps 66:4).

[49:21]  ³ tn Heb “the Red Sea,” of which the Gulf of Aqaba formed the northeastern arm. The land of Edom once reached this far according to 1 Kgs 9:26.