Jeremiah 46 is the forty-sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. This book contains prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

. This chapter is part of a series of "oracles against foreign nations", consisting of chapters 46 to 51. In particular, chapters 46- 49 focus on Judah's neighbors. This chapter contains the poetic oracles against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Text

The original text was written in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 28 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, i.e., 2QJer (2Q13; 1st century CE), with extant verses 27‑28. There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

(with a different chapter and verse numbering), made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Parashot

The '' parashah'' sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Jeremiah 46 is a part of the prophecies in Jeremiah 46 -49 in the section of ''Prophecies against the nations (Jeremiah 46 -51)''. : open ''parashah''; : closed ''parashah''. : 46:1-12 46:13-19 46:20-26 46:27-28

Verse numbering

The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text (Hebrew), and

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

(Latin), in some places differs from that in the

(LXX, the Greek Bible used in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

and others) according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from ''Brenton's Septuagint'', page 971. The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study (CATSS) based on '' Alfred Rahlfs' Septuaginta'' (1935) differs in some details from Joseph Ziegler's critical edition (1957) in ''Göttingen LXX''. ''Swete's Introduction'' mostly agrees with Rahlfs' edition (=CATSS).

Judgment on Egypt (46:1–26)

Verse 1

:''The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.'' * Cross reference: Jeremiah 25:13 This statement serves as an introduction to the oracles, as Jeremiah 1:2, 14:1 and 25:1 act as introductions to other sections.

Verse 2

:''Against Egypt.'' :''Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:'' *Cross reference: 2 Chronicles 35:20 In May/June 605 BCE the army of Nebuchadnezzar, at the time the Crown Prince of Babylon, defeated the troops of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

Necho II Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accordi ...

Carchemish Carchemish ( Turkish: ''Karkamış''; or ), also spelled Karkemish ( hit, ; Hieroglyphic Luwian: , /; Akkadian: ; Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ) was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during it ...

, on the northern

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

west of Haran (), and pursued the troop to the border of Egypt.

Verse 3

:''"Order the buckler and shield,'' ::''And draw near to battle!'' For "order", some commentators read "prepare" or, more literally, "set in line". O'Connor suggests that "it is not clear which army is being addressed, the Egyptian for the defence or the Babylonian for the attack". "Harness the horses" (verse 4, coupled with verse 9) suggests the appeal is addressed to the Egyptian armies, whereas the nineteenth century commentator Edward Plumptre argues that this verse is "a summons to the hosts of Nebuchadnezzar to prepare for their victory".

Verse 11

:''Go up into Gilead and take balm,'' ::''O virgin daughter of Egypt;'' :''in vain you shall use many medicines,'' ::''for you will not be cured.'' *"Virgin daughter": alluding to Egypt’s geographical isolation that provides safety and protection "enjoyed by a virgin living at home under her father’s protection"Huey, F. B. "Jeremiah, Lamentations" AC p. 379; ''apud'' note on Jeremiah 46:11 in

NET Bible The New English Translation (NET Bible) is a free, "completely new" online English translation of the Bible, "with 60,932 translators' notes" sponsored by the Biblical Studies Foundation and published by Biblical Studies Press. History and text ...

God will preserve Israel (46:27–28)

This passage contains hope-restoring words for the dismayed exiles (), that Israel (Jacob), unlike the 'exiled Egypt', will return after

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

makes an end of all the nations 'among which I banished you' for punishment (verse 28).

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Jewish

Jeremiah 46 Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

Jeremiah 46, English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
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