Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
Parallel Translations
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Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
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Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
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Also her mercenaries in the midst of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand; for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 46:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 7:6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.”
- Jeremiah 46:5 Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” says Yahweh.
- Obadiah 1:13 Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.
- 2 Samuel 10:6 When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.
- Psalms 37:13 The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
- Isaiah 34:7 The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.
- Jeremiah 50:27 Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.
- Hosea 9:7 The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.
- Amos 6:4 Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall;
- Micah 7:4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Proverbs 15:17 Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.
- Isaiah 10:3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
- Jeremiah 18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
- Jeremiah 46:9 Go up, you horses! Rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
- Jeremiah 46:15-16 Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them. He made many to stumble. Yes, they fell on one another. They said, ‘Arise! Let’s go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.’
- Jeremiah 50:11 “Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
- Ezekiel 27:10-11 “ ‘ “Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army, your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you. They showed your beauty. The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valiant men were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around. They have perfected your beauty.
- Ezekiel 30:4-6 A sword will come on Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt. They take away her multitude, and her foundations are broken down. “ ‘ “Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the mixed people, Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, will fall with them by the sword.” “ ‘Yahweh says: “They also who uphold Egypt will fall. The pride of her power will come down. They will fall by the sword in it from the tower of Seveneh,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 35:5 “ ‘ “Because you have had a perpetual hostility, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet represents the mercenaries of Egypt, as…
Here the Prophet represents the mercenaries of Egypt, as we have already said, as being foreign soldiers, who had been hired here and there, and from far countries, such as Lydia was. It may yet have been, that there were not many at that time who had come from beyond the sea to the Egyptians; but they had the Ethiopians, for Ezekiel says that many came from Cush, that is, Ethiopia; and then they had some from Libya and the neighboring countries. Then Jeremiah includes them under one name, and says that they were mercenaries. Now, they who hire themselves seem to be more warlike than others; for they who defend their own country do this from necessity; but those who of themselves seek war, and depart from their own borders for the purpose of engaging in war, seem to be men fit for any bold undertaking.
But the Prophet says, also, גם, gam, also mercenaries; that is, not only the Egyptians were accustomed to a delicate and indulgent life, but also the Ethiopians and others who had been hired, They are also in the midst of it as fatted bullocks, that is, they fill themselves with the abundance of Egypt; and hence it was that they became a prey to their enemies; for we know that nothing is more injurious to soldiers than to live delicately and luxuriously. Of all ancient generals, the most celebrated is Hannibal; but how did it happen, that having an invincible army, by which he had terrified all Italy, he afterwards fell? because Campania, with its luxuries, enervated him, for he lived there not like a soldier, but had tables richly furnished for himself and for his army. Hence it was, that they were no more what they had been. So also the Prophet says, “Egypt will ruin its hired soldiers; for she will satiate them with luxuries.” What did at length happen to them? he compares them to bullocks of the stall, מרבק, merebec; some read bullocks of the pasture, but not correctly; for רבק, rebec, is properly to fatten. He then calls them the bullocks of the stall, which are fed that they may become fat and be soon slaughtered. He therefore says, They also shall turn their backs; and then he says, They shall not stand, because the time of calamity is come I cannot finish this subject now.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As verse 9.
As verse 9.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 46:21 Also her hired men [are] in the…
Jer 46:21 Also her hired men [are] in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, [and] are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of their visitation.
Ver. 21. Also her hired men in the midst of her like fatted bullocks.] Heb., Bullocks of the stall, not like to do much good service in respect of their luxury and petulancy; fat Eglon had but sluggish soldiers. Campania with her delicacies marred Hannibal’s forces. These mercenaries carried themselves as if hired non ad militiam sed saginam. not to fight, but to fat themselves
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Also her hired men are in the midst of…
Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; the mercenary soldiers also, which the Egyptians have hired from Cush and Phut, and other parts, are at present in a flourishing, prosperous state.
For they also are turned back, and are fled away together; they did not stand: we have translated כי here ill, it had been better translated but, for that is manifestly the sense. Though they at present lying in garrisons be fat and flourishing, like bullocks in the stalls, yet when it cometh to it they shall not stand, but turn back, and flee as well as the rest. Because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation; because the time is come when God resolveth to punish them, and bring calamity upon them. When the time is come which God hath set in his counsels, wherein he will punish persons or nations, no probabilities to the contrary are much considerable.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain All her hired men are in the midst of…
All her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks,.... Or, "bullocks of the stall" (k); soldiers of other countries, that were hired into the service of Egypt, and lived so deliciously there, that they were unfit for war, and were like fatted beasts prepared for the slaughter. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it, her princes (l); who had the care of this heifer, and of the feeding of it; these themselves were like that, nourished for the day of slaughter:
for they also are turned back, and are fled away together; they turned their backs upon the enemy in battle, and fled in great confusion and precipitancy; see Jer 46:15;
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they did not stand; and face the enemy, and light him, but fell or fled before him:
because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation; the time appointed by the Lord to visit and punish them, and bring destruction on them for their sins.
(k) "velut vituli saginae", Montanus, Cocceius, (l) So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 50. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Are fled away together] Perhaps there is…
Verse 21. Are fled away together] Perhaps there is a reference here to the case of a cow stung with gnats. She runs hither and thither not knowing where to go; so shall it be with this scattered people.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Rather, “Also her hirelings in the midst of her…
Rather, “Also her hirelings in the midst of her are like calves of the stall.” The mercenaries of Egypt - Nubians, Moors, and Lydians Jer 46:9 - were destroyed at the battle of Carchemish, and their place was taken by hirelings from Asia Minor, Carians, and Ionians, whom Hophra took into his pay to the number of 30,000 men. These he settled in the midst of Egypt, in the fertile lands above Bubastis, in the Delta, where, well paid and fed and with great privileges, they became as calves of the stall. Their mutiny cost Hophra his crown.
For they also are turned back ... - literally, “for they also have lurched the back, they flee together, they stand not: for the day of their destruction is come upon them, the time of their visitations.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Hirelings. Apries had thirty thousand Carians, &c., who were…
Hirelings. Apries had thirty thousand Carians, &c., who were defeated by Amasis. (Herodotus ii. 163.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Translate, "Also her hired men (mercenary soldiers, Jer 46:9,…
Translate, "Also her hired men (mercenary soldiers, Jer 46:9, Jer 46:16), who are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, even they also are turned back," that is, shall turn their backs to flee. The same image, "heifer . . . bullocks" (Jer 46:20-21), is applied to Egypt's foreign mercenaries, as to herself. Pampered with the luxuries of Egypt, they become as enervated for battle as the natives themselves.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. Hired men — Mercenary soldiers.
21. Hired men — Mercenary soldiers.
Fatted bullocks — The soldiers mentioned in Jer_46:9, the Ethiopians, Libyans, and Lydians, were allies; but after their destruction in the battle of Carchemish mercenaries were engaged from Asia Minor — Carians and Ionians. As we learn from Herodotus, Pharaoh-hophra took these into his pay to the number of thirty thousand, and they were settled in the fertile lands of the Delta between Bubastis and Pelusium. So pampered were they, that in the war against Cyrene he would not expose them, but sent native soldiers instead, and this cost him his crown. In describing, then, these mercenaries as “fatted bullocks” we have an extraordinary and minute faithfulness to history.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. her hired men] her mercenary troops.
21. her hired men] her mercenary troops.
like calves of the stall] See on Jer_44:30. The reference is to the Ionian and Carian soldiers, who (Herod. II. 163) numbered 30,000, and lived on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile in a fertile district. Hence they seem to have earned the description given of them here, and were useless in war (Herod. II. 152 ff.). Cp. Mal_4:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Her hired men are in the midst of…
(21) Her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks.—Literally, bullocks of the stall. The prophet harps, as it were, on the same image. The mercenaries—Ionians, Carians, and others—in the army of Pharaoh-Hophra, who had their camp at Bubastis (Herod. ii. 152, 163), should be like a drove of terrified cattle, fed to the full, driven to the slaughter-house.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Also her hired men are in the midst of…
Also her hired men are in the midst of her, etc.; rather, also her hirelings in the midst of her are like, etc. These seem to be distinguished from the mercenaries mentioned in ver. 9, the Ethiopians, Libyans, and Arabs, who were never adopted into the midst of the Egyptian people. On the other hand, the description will exactly apply to the Caftans and Ionians in the service of Psammetichus and Apries (Herod., 2:152, 163), who were "for many years" settled "a little below the city of Bubastis, on the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile." In this fertile country, itself comparable to "a very fair heifer" (ver. 20), these pampered and privileged mercenaries became "like calves of the stall." They did not stand, etc.; rather, they have not stood (firm), for the day of their destruction is come upon them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 46:21 Egypt depended on hired mercenaries from other countries…
46:21 Egypt depended on hired mercenaries from other countries who had no interest in dying for Egypt. Under threat, they would turn and run.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.