Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’
Parallel Translations
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Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’
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Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
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Egypt is like the Nile that riseth up, and like the rivers whose waters toss themselves; and he saith: 'I will rise up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.'
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 46:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 15:9-10 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’ You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- Isaiah 10:13-16 For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.” Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.
- Isaiah 37:24-26 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.” “ ‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.
- Ezekiel 29:3 Speak and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
- Ezekiel 32:2 ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, “You were likened to a young lion of the nations; yet you are as a monster in the seas. You broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Then he adds, Egypt is like rivers and like…
Then he adds, Egypt is like rivers and like a lake: it made a noise with its forces, as though a river were rolling along its waters. But all this would be nothing, as he afterwards tells us he adds, he hath said, I will ascend, I will cover the land, I will destroy the city, etc. He puts city in the singular instead of the plural number; I will destroy cities, he says, and all who dwell in them. He in short sets forth Pharaoh here as one who triumphed before he fought, because he could cover the land with the multitude of his footmen and horsemen. It now 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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 46:8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and…
Jer 46:8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and [his] waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, [and] will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
Ver. 8. Egypt riseth up like a flood.] Like the Nile. The Egyptians were an ancient, proud, luxurious people.
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And he saith, I will go up and cover the earth.] See the like vain vaunts of this proud people, Exo 15:9-10.
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 The prophet compareth the Egyptians, fleshed with their former…
The prophet compareth the Egyptians, fleshed with their former victory obtained against Josiah at Megiddo, and now preparing to another expedition, to a flood, (with allusion probably to the river Nilus, whose waters used to rise to a great height,) both for the multitude of their soldiers, and for their rage; they were resolved to carry such numbers as should cover the earth, and to take Carchemish, or some other city which their design was against. It should seem both by this text, and that Exo 15:9,10, that the Egyptians were a people much given to vaunt and boast of the great things they would do, boasting when they were putting on their harness as if they were putting it off, not considering how uncertain the events of war were, nor yet that wherein they talked proudly there was one that could be above them.
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 Egypt riseth up as a flood, and his waters…
Egypt riseth up as a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers,.... This is the answer to the above question; that it was Egypt that was seen; the king of Egypt, as the Syriac version; he with his army, as the Targum; and which was so numerous, that it seemed as if the whole country of Egypt, all the inhabitants of it, were come along with him; these rose up like the Nile, and moved like the several sluices of it, with great velocity and force, as if they would carry all before them:
and he saith, I will go up; Pharaohnecho king of Egypt said, I will go up from my own land to the north, to meet the king of Babylon:
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and will cover the earth; with his army: even all, the north country, the whole Babylonish empire; which he affected to be master of, grasping at, universal monarchy:
I will destroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof; which Abarbinel restrains to the city Carchemish, where his army was smitten: but it is better to interpret, the singular by the plural, as the Targum does, "I will destroy cities"; since it was not a single city he came up to take, nor would this satisfy his ambitious temper.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain City; Babylon, and every fort which shall oppose my…
City; Babylon, and every fort which shall oppose my progress. (Calmet)
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 Answer to the question in Jer 46:7.
Answer to the question in Jer 46:7.
waters . . . moved like the rivers--The rise of the Nile is gentle; but at the mouth it, unlike most rivers, is much agitated, owing to the sandbanks impeding its course, and so it rushes into the sea like a cataract.
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 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. and his waters toss themselves like the rivers]…
8. and his waters toss themselves like the rivers] The LXX omit, but, as the v. stands in MT., this clause is wanted for the parallelism.
he saith] viz. Pharaoh, addressing his army.
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the city and] Unless, with LXX, we omit these words, we should probably understand the Hebrew substantive collectively, cities.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Egypt riseth up, etc. The answer to the question…
Egypt riseth up, etc. The answer to the question in ver. 7. The city. The article is not expressed; and there can be no doubt that the word is used collectively of cities in general. (comp. Jer_47:2)
Premature glorying.
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In this verse and in others we have the vain vauntings of Egypt. Thus far the judgments of God have been declared against his people. Now, having begun at the house of God, judgment goes on to the Gentile nations, one after another of whom are told of in the chapters that succeed this, and ending with the judgment on Babylon. Egypt and Babylon were the two great empires between which unhappy Judaea was "like a nut between the forceps," so that when these two drew together it went ill with the little kingdom that lay between. Now, in these chapters Egypt takes the lead and Babylon closes, the lesser nations occupying the central position. The invasion and conquest of Egypt is the subject of this forty-sixth chapter from the thirteenth verse. Its decisive defeat at Carchemish is told of in the previous portion. It was in anticipation of that disastrous battle that Egypt, persuading herself that it would issue so differently, is heard uttering the proud beastings of this eighth verse. At first it seemed as if these boastings were not vain, for at Megiddo, where King Josiah was slain, the Egyptian army did obtain a victory; but, three years after, when they had pushed on to the banks of the Euphrates, Nebuchadnezzar fell upon them there and completely vanquished them. Crestfallen and crushed, they had to make their weary way back to their own land; and shortly after we read, (2Ki_24:7) "the King of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the King of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the King of Egypt." That was what came of all their vauntings, and the history is a noticeable one on many grounds. Now, it recalls to our mind the wise exhortation, "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off". (1Ki_20:11) Let us note
I SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF THIS SPIRIT OF over confidence. The Bible is full of facts which illustrate this spirit. Pharaoh, in the days of Moses, asking, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?" Goliath of Gath striding down the valley in furious pride to meet the stripling David. He swore by all his gods he would give those young limbs as a prey for the vultures to feed upon. Rabshakeh, again, general of the host Of the King of Assyria, terrifying and dismaying the devout Hezekiah with his fearful threatenings. And we know how the distress lasted until Hezekiah took the letter of the haughty heathen and laid it before the Lord. Then, serene and strong, his spirit rose up, and he was able to make fit answer. And we know how Jehovah avenged Judah, her king, and her people upon the vast multitude of their foes who in battle array lay around them. ForLike the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strewn; For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed. And the tents were all silent, the banners alone; The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.
And we think, too, of Haman in his rage at Mordecai, vowing vengeance, and surely reckoning on wreaking it to the full. And Samson, imagining that nothing could deprive him of his great strength, so confident that at any moment he could break through every barrier, but at length enticed, betrayed, overcome, and ruined. And, passing to the region of spiritual things, we think of Israel pledging themselves, as they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, to perfect obedience. Of that rich "fool" of whom our Lord tells, and who made so sure of many years to enjoy his "much goods" laid up in store. And of the many who were candidates for discipleship, avowing themselves ready to follow him everywhere. And of Peter, boasting that, though all men should forsake the Lord, yet would not he. And Judas, who trembled not to take the office of apostleship though so incapable of sustaining it. And in common life how often we see this same spirit! Our Afghan disasters in 1879 were largely awing to it. But in spiritual life there is the same peril. There may not be the uttered words of vain vaunting, but the spirit may be there notwithstanding. For how little there is of the trembling, the watchful, the prayerful spirit lest we should be overcome! How far too much tampering with temptation! How few "pass the time of their sojourning here in fear" lest they should "seem to come short" of eternal life! How many are like the foolish virgins, who, all careless as to the unsupplied condition of their oil vessels, nevertheless contentedly lay down to sleep! How many are at ease in Zion, allowing themselves in a carnal security which too often is but the herald of a fearful awakening!
II INQUIRE WHAT LEADS TO THIS SPIRIT? Some are of a boastful disposition. These Egyptians evidently were. He concerning whom the cautionary words already quoted were used, "Let not him that girdeth on his harness," etc., was another such habitual boaster. And this is human nature. Our pride dies hard, but is puffed up with wonderful ease. Then:
1. False estimates have a great deal to do with it. Underestimating our adversaries", over estimating our own, resources and strength. Hence Benhadad, who thought such scorn of Israel, on the very eve of battle was, we are told, drinking himself drunk in his tent. Hence many are found dallying with danger, fluttering, mothlike, round the flame by which they are sure soon to perish miserably. The jocular way in which the devil is so generally spoken of proves that we do but little believe in him; for what men seriously believe they never joke about. And this false estimate is rendered more credible to us if we have obtained aught of success heretofore. Egypt had at Megiddo; Benhadad had. Hence their estimates.
2. Perversion of God"s truth. We encourage ourselves in this spirit of over confidence by dwelling too exclusively on promises of protection to the neglect of those which command all watchfulness and prayer. Men will read parts of the Bible only those which please them most; and without doubt many have dwelt so much on the promises of God"s upholding grace and his perfecting that which he begins, that they have laid aside their armour that indispensable armour of God. But any reading of God"s Word which leads us thus practically to disobey his command is thereby proved to be a wrong reading. For, just as the chemist"s litmus paper, plunged into a solution containing acid, at once reveals by its turning red the presence of that acid, however invisible and imperceptible it may have been before, so any interpretation of the Scriptures which leads to false security, premature and presumptuous confidence, which makes us red with this sad sin, proves that that interpretation contains the acid of falsehood. It is a sure test. God help us to heed it as we should.
III NOTE WHAT MISCHIEF IT WORKS. These are seen strewn over every pathway along which this spirit hath been; like the bleached bones in the desert show the track of the caravan.
IV Consider, therefore, SOME SAFEGUARDS AGAINST IT. God himself at times undertakes its cure. He did so with Peter. He let him go his way and fall, and in that crash the spirit of boastfulness was forever crushed. But we shall be aided by remembering the words of Christ and his apostles and of all his most faithful servants. They all warn against this spirit, and urge the spirit of watchfulness and prayer. Remember, too, that better men than ourselves have fallen. The very fact that armour is provided shows that we need it. And note that there are chinks in your armour; and that some armour is of very worthless sort.
CONCLUSION. Whilst bidding you boast not, with equal emphasis we say, "Despond not." "The gist of all this is, confide in God, but distrust yourselves. Have done with every glorying except glorying in the Lord There is nothing like full assurance for excellence, and nothing like presumption for worthlessness. Never mistake the one for the other. You cannot trust God too much nor yourself too little. I read a book one day called "Self-Made Men," and in its own sphere it was excellent; but spiritually I should not like to be a self-made man. I should think he would be an awful specimen of humanity. At any rate, a self-made Christian is one of a sort the devil very soon takes, as I have seen a child so take a bran doll and shake it all out. He likes to shake out self-made Christians till there is nothing left of them. But God-made men, these are they that do exploits; and God-made Christians, who fall back upon the eternal strength at all times and confide there, these are the men to hold on their way and to wax stronger and stronger" (Spurgeon). C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.