44.30 Hophra (Aphries), king of Egypt 589–570 BCE (see 37.5). He was assassinated by Amasis (570–526), a former court official who ruled as coregent for three years before killing Hophra.
JEREMIAH 45
A Word of Comfort to Baruch
1The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: 2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3You said, “Woe is me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” 4Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the LORD: I am going to break down what I have built, and pluck up what I have planted—that is, the whole land. 5And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the LORD; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.”
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45.1–5 An oracle of salvation addressed to Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary and companion (see note on 36.1–32). Set in 605 BCE, when Baruch wrote down the judgment oracles of Jeremiah (see ch. 36), Jeremiah’s words promise the scribe that his own life will be spared when the disasters against Judah and Jerusalem take place.
45.3 The oracle refers to Baruch’s lament. Cf. Jeremiah’s laments in 11.18–20.18 (see note on 11.18–23).
45.4 See 1.10; 18.7–9; 24.6.
45.5 What Baruch sought for himself is not clear. However, he does seem to have held an important position in government (see note on 36.1–32). For one’s life as a prize of war, cf. 21.9; 38.2; 39.18.
JEREMIAH 46
Judgment on Egypt
1The word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.
2Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
3Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!
4Harness the horses;
mount the steeds!
Take your stations with your helmets,
whet your lances,
put on your coats of mail!
5Why do I see them terrified?
They have fallen back;
their warriors are beaten down,
and have fled in haste.
They do not look back—
terror is all around!
says the LORD.
6The swift cannot flee away,
nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the river Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.
7Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?
8Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
It said, Let me rise, let me cover the earth,
let me destroy cities and their inhabitants.
9Advance, O horses,
and dash madly, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
Ethiopiaa and Put who carry the shield,
the Ludim, who drawb the bow.
10That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts,
a day of retribution,
to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated,
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the river Euphrates.
11Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
12The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry;
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
both have fallen together.
Babylonia Will Strike Egypt
13The word that the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:
14Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, “Take your stations and be ready,
for the sword shall devour those around you.”
15Why has Apis fled?c
Why did your bull not stand?
—because the LORD thrust him down.
16Your multitude stumbledd and fell,
and one said to another,e
“Come, let us go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
because of the destroying sword.”
17Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
“Braggart who missed his chance.”
18As I live, says the King,
whose name is the LORD of hosts,
one is coming
like Tabor among the mountains,
and like Carmel by the sea.
19Pack your bags for exile,
sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.
20A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
a gadfly from the north lights upon her.
21Even her mercenaries in her midst
are like fatted calves;
they too have turned and fled together,
they did not stand;
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
the time of their punishment.
22She makes a sound like a snake gliding away;
for her enemies march in force,
and come against her with axes,
like those who fell trees.
23They shall cut down her forest,
says the LORD,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
than locusts;
they are without number.
24Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
she shall be handed over to a people from the north.
25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26I will hand them over to those who seek their life, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the LORD.
God Will Save Israel
27But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.
28As for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
says the LORD,
for I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
among which I have banished you,
but I will not make an end of you!
I will chastise you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
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a Or Nubia; Heb Cush
b Cn: Heb who grasp, who draw
c Gk: Heb Why was it swept away
d Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
e Gk: Heb and fell one to another and they said
46.1–51.58 Oracles against the nations. This collection of oracles, with its own superscription (46.1), had its own history of transmission before being included in the growing corpus that became the book of Jeremiah. The location of this collection in the Septuagint (after 25.13a) is probably original (see the similar positioning of oracles concerning foreign nations in Isa 13–23; Ezek 25–32, where they follow oracles of judgment against Judah and precede oracles of salvation and hope). The question of the authorship of these o
racles is greatly debated by scholars. Some of the oracles may have been original to Jeremiah (e.g., the oracle against Egypt in 46.3–12); others are by later prophets and editors.
46.2–26 Two oracles of judgment are against Egypt: the defeat at Carchemish, vv. 2–12, and the approach of Nebuchadrezzar, vv. 13–26.
46.2 The defeat of Neco II by Nebuchadrezzar, first at Carchemish, and then near Hamath, opened the way to Syro-Palestine for the expanding Babylonian Empire. By 604 or 603 BCE, Judah became a vassal to the Babylonians. The oracle either predicts or celebrates the Egyptian defeat.
46.9 Ethiopia, Put (probably a region in Libya), and Ludim (a group of people in North Africa), three nations fighting with the Egyptians.
46.11 Gilead. See note on 8.22.
46.13–26 This oracle supposes Jeremiah predicted an invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar. Although Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt, he did not conquer the country (see Ezek. 29.19–21; notes on Jer 43.8–13; 48.13).
46.14 Migdol. See note on 44.1. Memphis, Tahpanhes. See note on 2.16.
46.15 Apis, an Egyptian god of fertility worshiped in Memphis as a sacred bull.
46.25–26 A later commentary on the two oracles. Amon, an Egyptian sun god whose cult center was the temple of Karnak in Thebes.
46.27–28 An oracle of salvation for Israel found also in 30.10–11.
JEREMIAH 47
Judgment on the Philistines
1The word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
2Thus says the LORD:
See, waters are rising out of the north
and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
so feeble are their hands,
4because of the day that is coming
to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every helper that remains.
For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,
the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5Baldness has come upon Gaza,
Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of their power!a
How long will you gash yourselves?
6Ah, sword of the LORD!
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard,
rest and be still!
7How can itb be quiet,
when the LORD has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
there he has appointed it.
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a Gk: Heb their valley
b Gk Vg: Heb you
47.1–7 The prose introduction points to an imminent attack on Gaza, one of the major Philistine cities, by an unidentified pharaoh as the occasion for this judgment oracle. Herodotus (History 2.159) indicates that, after the battle of Megiddo (609 BCE), Neco II conquered Kadytis (Gaza). However, the waters…rising out of the north and the reference to Ashkelon suggest Nebuchadrezzar’s invasion of Philistia in 604 BCE after he defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish.
47.4 Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician cities presumably allied with the Philistines. Caphtor, the island of Crete (see Am 9.7), one of the places from which the Philistines came.
47.5 Gaza, taken by Neco II after 609 BCE, came within the Babylonian orbit along with the other cities of Philistia after the battle of Carchemish. Ashkelon, destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar in late 604.
JEREMIAH 48
Judgment on Moab
1Concerning Moab.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
Alas for Nebo, it is laid waste!
Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame and broken down;
2the renown of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they planned evil against her:
“Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!”
You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;a
the sword shall pursue you.
3Hark! a cry from Horonaim,
“Desolation and great destruction!”
4“Moab is destroyed!”
her little ones cry out.
5For at the ascent of Luhith
they gob up weeping bitterly;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the distressing cry of anguish.
6Flee! Save yourselves!
Be like a wild assc in the desert!
7Surely, because you trusted in your strongholdsd and your treasures,
you also shall be taken;
Chemosh shall go out into exile,
with his priests and his attendants.
8The destroyer shall come upon every town,
and no town shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
and the plain shall be destroyed,
as the LORD has spoken.
9Set aside salt for Moab,
for she will surely fall;
her towns shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.
10Accursed is the one who is slack in doing the work of the LORD; and accursed is the one who keeps back the sword from bloodshed.
11Moab has been at ease from his youth,
settled like winee on its dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into exile;
therefore his flavor has remained
and his aroma is unspoiled.
12Therefore, the time is surely coming, says the LORD, when I shall send to him decanters to decant him, and empty his vessels, and break hisf jars in pieces. 13Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14How can you say, “We are heroes
and mighty warriors”?
15The destroyer of Moab and his towns has come up,
and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16The calamity of Moab is near at hand
and his doom approaches swiftly.
17Mourn over him, all you his neighbors,
and all who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!”
18Come down from glory,
and sit on the parched ground,
enthroned daughter Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
19Stand by the road and watch,
you inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping;
say, “What has happened?”
20Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down;
wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon,
that Moab is laid waste.
21Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Bethmeon, 24and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the LORD.
26Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD; let Moab wallow in his vomit; he too shall become a laughingstock. 27Israel was a laughingstock for you, though he was not caught among thieves; but whenever you spoke of him you shook your head!
28Leave the towns, and live on the rock,
O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
on the s
ides of the mouth of a gorge.
29We have heard of the pride of Moab—
he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30I myself know his insolence, says the LORD;
his boasts are false,
his deeds are false.
31Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.
32More than for Jazer I weep for you,
O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches crossed over the sea,
reached as far as Jazer;g
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.
33Gladness and joy have been taken away
from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have stopped the wine from the wine presses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
the shouting is not the shout of joy.
34Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;h as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate. 35And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the LORD, those who offer sacrifice at a high place and make offerings to their gods. 36Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the people of Kir-heres; for the riches they gained have perished.
37For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands there are gashes, and on the loins sackcloth. 38On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel that no one wants, says the LORD. 39How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all his neighbors.
40For thus says the LORD:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle,
and spread his wings against Moab;
41the townsi shall be taken
and the strongholds seized.
The hearts of the warriors of Moab, on that day,
shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
because he magnified himself against the LORD.
43Terror, pit, and trap
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