Jeremiah 46:20
18 As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
21 Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them— the time of their punishment.
22 Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
- KJV
- Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
- WEB
- “Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come.
- ASV
- Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
- DARBY
- Egypt is a very fair heifer; the gad-fly cometh, it cometh from the north.
- BLB
- A heifer very beautiful [is] Egypt, a biting fly from the north is coming against her!
- ÅB
- En herlig kvige er Egypt - kleggen fra nord kommer, den kommer.
- OTB
- Egypt er som en vakker kvige, men en klegg kommer mot henne fra nord.
- B1930
- En herlig kvige er Egypten - kleggen fra nord kommer, den kommer.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Hosea 10:11
Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.
Read in contextJeremiah 47:2
This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and all who dwell in the land will wail
Read in contextJeremiah 46:6
“The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
Read in contextJeremiah 46:10
For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance against His foes. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, until it is quenched with their blood. For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.
Read in contextJeremiah 1:14
Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.
Read in contextJeremiah 25:9
behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
Read in contextJeremiah 50:11
“Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph— you who plunder My inheritance— because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,
Read in contextJeremiah 46:24
The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be delivered into the hands of the people of the north.”
Read in context