“Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.
Parallel Translations
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“Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.
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Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
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The swift cannot flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 46:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 11:19 Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and won’t be found.
- Jeremiah 46:12 The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they both fall together.”
- Judges 4:15-21 Yahweh confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.” He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him. He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ” Then Jael Heber’s wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.
- Psalms 27:2 When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
- Psalms 33:16-17 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power.
- Psalms 147:10-11 He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.
- Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
- Isaiah 8:15 Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”
- Isaiah 30:16-17 but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses;” therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift;” therefore those who pursue you will be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.
- Jeremiah 1:14 Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
- Jeremiah 4:6 Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
- Jeremiah 6:1 “Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction.
- Jeremiah 20:11 But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jeremiah 46:10 For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
- Jeremiah 46:16 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 50:32 The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.”
- Amos 2:14-15 Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;
- Amos 9:1-3 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
- Daniel 11:22 The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He then says first that they would gain power,…
He then says first that they would gain power, but he speaks presently of their fall, unless it be thought that the same thing is repeated: and the beginning of the verse may be read affirmatively, “The swift shall not flee,” etc. But as the particle אל, al, is often used in a prohibitory sense, the verse may be evidently explained as spoken by God, and thus it may be read in connection with the previous verse, Let not the swift flee, nor the brave escape For God here declares authoritatively, that celerity and courage would be of no avail to the Egyptians, because the swiftest would be taken by their enemies, and the bravest would fall.
He says, In the land of the north, on the bank of the river We know that Babylon and Assyria and Chaldea and those countries, were northward with respect to Judea. Whenever then the Prophets speak of the Babylonians, they call them Northlanders; but Egypt was to the south, as it is clear from many parts of Scripture. But as the Prophet here speaks of the Egyptians, he rightly makes Chaldea to be northward. Then he says, On the bank of the river Euphrates they shall stumble, or fall. The meaning is, that the event of war is in the power of God, so that he would tear in pieces and lay prostrate or scatter the Egyptians, however well equipped they might be, and trust in their own strength.
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We must also observe, that whatever subsidies men pro-cum for themselves in order to protect their safety, they are nothing when God is opposed to them. The Prophet indeed mentions only two things; but he means that though men may excel in many things and possess many endowments, they must yet perish, when that is God’s will: flight cannot save the swift, nor strength the valiant. It follows —
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 The Babylonians shall discomfit them at the river Euphrates.
The Babylonians shall discomfit them at the river Euphrates.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 46:6 Let not the swift flee away, nor…
Jer 46:6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
Ver. 6. Let not the swift fly away,] i.e., Think to save themselves by flight.
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Nor the mighty man escape,] i.e., Think to save himself by his might, be he never so stout hearted.
Toward the north,] i.e., Toward Carchemish, the stage of the war, where Pharaohnecho had beaten Nebuchadnezzar the elder, and is now beaten in the same place by Nebuchadnezzar the younger, alterna victoria in another victory. {a}
{a} Herod., lib. ii., αλλοπροσαλλος.
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 That is, it is in vain for the swift…
That is, it is in vain for the swift to flee away, the mighty men shall not escape, but they shall stumble and fall at Carchemish, which was near the river Euphrates, and northward from Egypt.
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 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty…
Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape,.... Those that were swift of foot, like Asahel, or carried but light armour, let not such trust to their swiftness or light carriage; nor let the mighty man think to escape by reason of his great strength, to make his way through the enemy, and get out of his hands. Or this may be rendered as future, "the swift shall not flee away", &c. (t) so the Targum; neither the one nor the other shall escape by the nimbleness of their heels, or the stoutness of their hearts:
they shall stumble and fall toward the north, by the river Euphrates; which lay north of Judea, where the prophet was, to whom this word came; and also was to the north of Egypt, whose destruction is here threatened: the place where this route and slaughter would be made was Carchemish, which was situated by that river; on the north side of which city, according to Abarbinel, the battle was; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi, which the other follows.
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(t) "non fugiet", Pagninus, Montanus; "non effugiet", Munster, Tigurine version.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Let not the swift - It is in vain…
Let not the swift - It is in vain for the swift to flee away, the mighty men shall not escape, but they shall stumble and fall at Carchemish, which was near the river Euphrates, and northward from Egypt.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Let not the swift flee away] Even…
Verse 6. Let not the swift flee away] Even the swiftest shall not be able to escape.
They shall - fall toward the north] By the Euphrates, which was northward of Judea. Here the Egyptian army was routed with great slaughter.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Translate it: “The swift shall not flee away, and…
Translate it: “The swift shall not flee away, and the hero shall not escape: in the north on the bank of the river Euphrates they shall stumble and fall.”
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 Away. It will be in vain. (Calmet) --- Nechao…
Away. It will be in vain. (Calmet) --- Nechao went to defend Charcamis, but lost "many myriads in the battle," and all the country "as far as Pelusium, except Judea." (Josephus, [Antiquities?] x. 7.)
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 Let not--equivalent to the strongest negation. Let not any…
Let not--equivalent to the strongest negation. Let not any of the Egyptian warriors think to escape by swiftness or by might.
toward the north--that is, in respect to Egypt or Judea. In the northward region, by the Euphrates (see Jer 46:2).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Let not the swift flee away. A strong way…
Let not the swift flee away. A strong way of expressing that even the swiftest cannot expect to flee, just as, in Isa_2:9, "forgive them not" means "thou canst not forgive them." Nothing seems to have struck the Jews so much as the unparalleled swiftness of the Chaldean warriors. (Heb_1:6, 8 Jer_4:13) They shall stumble; literally, they have stumbled; it is most probably the prophetic perfect ("they shall certainly fall"), though Ewald denies this, and consequently maintains that the prophecy was written after the battle of Carchemish. Toward the north; i.e. "in the northern region," or, more loosely, "in the north" (comp. ver. 10). Carchemish was, of course, far to the north of Jerusalem.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.