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Jeremias 46

BLIVRE · Chapter 46/52

1Palavra do SENHOR que veio ao profeta Jeremias, contra as nações.

2Quanto ao Egito: contra o exército de Faraó Neco, rei do Egito, que estava junto ao rio Eufrates em Carquemis, ao qual Nabucodonosor rei da Babilônia feriu no quarto ano de Jeoaquim filho de Josias, rei de Judá.

3Preparai os escudos maior e o menor, e vinde à guerra.

4Selai os cavalos, e subi, vós os cavaleiros, e apresentai-vos com capacetes; limpai as lanças, vesti-vos de couraças.

5Por que razão vejo os medrosos tornando atrás? E seus guerreiros são abatidos, e vão fugindo, sem olharem para trás; o terror está por todos os lados,diz o SENHOR.

6Não fuja o ligeiro, nem escape o guerreiro; para o norte, junto à margem do rio do Eufrates, tropeçaram e caíram.

7Quem é este que sobe como o Nilo, cujas águas se movem como rios?

8O Egito vem subindo como o Nilo, e [suas] águas se agitam como rios, e disse: Subirei, [e] cobrirei a terra; destruirei a cidade, e os que nela habitam.

9Subi, cavalos, e rangei, carruagens; e saiam os guerreiros; os de Cuxe e os de Pute que tomam escudo, e os de Lude que tomam e encurvam o arco.

10Porém esse dia pertence ao Senhor DEUS dos exércitos, o dia de vingança, para ele se vingar de seus adversários; e a espada devorará, se fartará, e se embriagará do sangue deles; pois o Senhor DEUS dos exércitos tem [para si] um sacrifício na terra do norte, junto ao rio Eufrates.

11Sobe a Gileade, e toma bálsamo, ó virgem filha do Egito; em vão multiplicas os remédios, [pois] não há cura para ti.

12As nações ouviram da tua vergonha, e teu clamor encheu a terra: pois um guerreiro tropeçou contra [outro] guerreiro, e ambos juntamente caíram.

13Palavra que o SENHOR falou ao profeta Jeremias quanto à vinda de Nabucodonosor, rei da Babilônia, para ferir a terra do Egito:

14Anunciai no Egito, e declarai em Migdol; declarai também em Nofe e em Tafnes; dizei: Firma uma posição, e prepara-te; pois a espada está para devorar o que há ao redor de ti.

15Por que teus guerreiros foram derrubados? Não puderam ficar de pé, pois o SENHOR os empurrou.

16Ele multiplicou os que tropeçaram; caíram cada um sobre o outro, e disseram: Levanta-te e voltemo-nos a nosso povo, e à terra de nosso nascimento, por causa da espada opressora.

17Ali gritarão: O Faraó rei do Egito, é [apenas] um barulho; ele deixou passar o tempo determinado.

18Vivo eu, diz o Rei, cujo nome é EU-SOU dos exércitos, que como o Tabor entre os montes, e como o Carmelo no mar, assim ele virá.

19Faz para ti a bagagem para a ida ao cativeiro, ó moradora, filha do Egito; porque Nofe se tornará em desolação, e será devastada até não haver ali morador.

20O Egito é uma bezerra formosa; mas a mosca carniceira vem do norte.

21Até seus soldados mercenários em meio dela são como bezerros cevados; porém também eles se virarão para trás, e juntamente fugirão; eles não permanecerão em postos, porque o dia de sua ruína, o tempo de sua punição, veio sobre eles.

22Seu ruído sairá como de serpente; pois [seus inimigos] virão com poder; a ela virão com machados, como se fossem cortadores de lenha.

23Cortarão o seu bosque,diz o SENHOR, ainda que não possam ser contados; porque são mais que gafanhotos, não se pode enumerá- los.

24A filha do Egito será envergonhada; entregue será nas mãos do povo do norte.

25Diz o SENHOR dos exércitos, Deus de Israel: Eis que eu punirei a Amom de Nô, a Faraó e ao Egito; a seus deuses e a seus reis; tanto a Faraó como aos que nele confiam.

26E os entregarei nas mãos dos que buscam [tirar] sua vida, e nas mãos de Nabucodonosor rei de Babilônia, e nas mãos de seus servos; porém depois será habitada como nos dias anteriores,diz o SENHOR.

27Mas tu não temas, meu servo Jacó, nem te espantes, ó Israel; porque eis que te salvarei desde [as terras] de longe, e teus descendentes da terra de seu cativeiro. E Jacó voltará, descansará, e viverá em paz; e não haverá quem o atemorize.

28Tu, meu servo Jacó, não temas,diz o SENHOR; pois eu estou contigo; porque destruirei por completo todas as nações entre as quais eu te lancei; porem a ti não destruirei por completo, mas te castigarei com moderação, e não te deixarei impune.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The prophecies against foreign nations begin: first Egypt, whose army is defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, but God promises that Israel, unlike the neighboring nations, will be restored.

Explanation

The Battle of Carchemish, mentioned here, was a real and decisive historical event (605 BC) that established Babylon as the dominant power of the Middle East, replacing the old Assyrian-Egyptian dominance in the region. The vivid description of cavalry, shields, and the panic of military defeat reflects detailed knowledge of the warfare tactics of the time. Although the chapter announces a harsh defeat for Egypt, it ends by reaffirming the specific promise of restoration for Israel, repeating almost word for word a promise already made in chapter 30 — showing that, even amid judgments against various nations, hope for God's people remains central.

Fun facts

  • The Battle of Carchemish (605 BC) is one of the best historically documented events of the period, confirmed both by the Bible and by the Babylonian Chronicles discovered on cuneiform tablets.
  • Migdol, Noph (Memphis), and Tahpanhes, the Egyptian cities mentioned, are identified by archaeologists with real sites in the Nile Delta, confirming the precise geographical knowledge of the text.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremias 46:1Opens the final section of the book (chapters 46-51): a series of oracles against foreign nations, not just against Judah -- God’s judgment reaches every people, not only his own.
  2. Jeremias 46:2The battle of Carchemish, on the banks of the Euphrates, in 605 BC, was the moment Babylon decisively defeated Egypt and became the dominant power in the region. This was the event that, in practice, set in motion the Babylonian threat over Judah told throughout the rest of the book.
  3. Jeremias 46:3Battle orders directed, ironically, at the Egyptian army itself: prepare shields and advance for combat -- a tone of military mobilization about to be disproved by defeat.
  4. Jeremias 46:4Continues the call to arms: harness the horses, mount up, put on helmets, sharpen the spears -- a scene of the Egyptian army’s full mobilization before the battle of Carchemish.
  5. Jeremias 46:5A rhetorical question of astonishment: instead of the expected victory, the Egyptian soldiers are in full retreat, fleeing in terror -- the surrounding dread describes the panic of defeat.
  6. Jeremias 46:6Neither the swiftest nor the strongest escape: the defeat is so complete that elite soldiers fall along with the rest, near the Euphrates River, where the battle took place.
  7. Jeremias 46:7A poetic question introducing a comparison: the advance of the Egyptian army is described as a river flooding over its banks -- great, but bound to recede.
  8. Jeremias 46:8Egypt itself is compared to the Nile River, which rises and covers the land periodically; Egyptian ambition was to cover and dominate territories like a flood, but the outcome would be different from what was expected.
  9. Jeremias 46:9Summons Egypt’s mercenary allies -- Ethiopians, Libyans (Put), Lydians -- archers and foreign soldiers who fought alongside Pharaoh, showing the size of the coalition that was defeated.
  10. Jeremias 46:10Calls the defeat “the day of the Lord,” a symbolic sacrifice in which God’s sword would gorge itself on blood -- the battle of Carchemish interpreted as divine judgment, not just a military event.
  11. Jeremias 46:11Gilead was famous for its healing balm (also mentioned in 8:22); the irony is that no remedy, however famous, will heal the military wound of a defeated Egypt.
  12. Jeremias 46:12The defeat becomes known among the neighboring nations, a cause of public shame -- even Egypt’s finest warriors fell over one another on the battlefield.
  13. Jeremias 46:13A new oracle, this time about a later attack by Nebuchadnezzar directly against Egyptian territory -- no longer Carchemish, but an invasion of Egypt itself.
  14. Jeremias 46:14Names specific Egyptian cities -- Migdol, Memphis (Noph), Tahpanhes (the same city where the Jewish refugees had settled) -- warning that the sword was already devouring all around them.
  15. Jeremias 46:15A rhetorical question about why Egypt’s elite warriors fell: because it was God himself who struck them down, not just an enemy’s military strength.
  16. Jeremias 46:16Describes Egyptian soldiers stumbling over one another and deciding to head home, giving up the fight in the face of the oppressing sword -- a general rout.
  17. Jeremias 46:17The nickname given to Pharaoh by his own disillusioned soldiers: “a noise that let the appointed time go by” -- someone who made a lot of noise but missed the moment to act.
  18. Jeremias 46:18God swears by His own name, comparing the certainty of the enemy’s coming to well-known mountains like Tabor and Carmel -- steady and visible from afar, impossible to avoid.
  19. Jeremias 46:19An ironic instruction: the inhabitants of Egypt should pack their own bags for captivity, because Memphis will be destroyed and left uninhabited.
  20. Jeremias 46:20Egypt is compared to a beautiful, well-kept young cow, but the destruction is already coming from the north -- the same direction every threat in the book of Jeremiah came from.
  21. Jeremias 46:21Even the foreign mercenaries hired by Egypt, compared to well-fed calves, flee instead of fighting when the decisive moment arrives.
  22. Jeremias 46:22The Egyptian army’s retreat is compared to the hiss of a fleeing serpent, while the enemy advances like woodcutters felling trees with axes.
  23. Jeremias 46:23The invaders are compared to a cloud of locusts, too numerous to count, stripping the Egyptian forest bare -- an image both literal and symbolic of the devastation.
  24. Jeremias 46:24Sums up the outcome: Egypt, personified as a shamed daughter, is handed over into the hands of the people from the north -- once again, Babylon.
  25. Jeremias 46:25Details the targets of the punishment: the city of Thebes (No), Pharaoh himself, the Egyptian gods, the kings, and all who trusted in Egypt’s protection -- the judgment reaches both political and religious power.
  26. Jeremias 46:26But even this sentence does not end completely closed: after the Babylonian conquest, Egypt would be inhabited again as in former times -- the destruction would not be eternal.
  27. Jeremias 46:27In the middle of a very harsh oracle against Egypt, a word of comfort for Israel suddenly appears, almost repeated from chapter 30. It reinforces that, even as foreign nations are being judged, God’s own people would receive different treatment -- discipline, not total destruction.
  28. Jeremias 46:28Repeats, almost word for word, the promise of comfort to Jacob from chapter 30: even in the midst of oracles of destruction against other nations, God reaffirms that He will spare His own people, with punishment measured in proportion.

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