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18 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

20 For 'ye dissembled in your hearts,

Heb. testified against you.

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when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

Or, you have used deceit against your souls.

Verse 16. "The sword...shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt."-This and the other denunciations were fulfilled when Egypt was invaded and ravaged, not long after, by the Babylonians. We shall see this more clearly presently.

CHAPTER XLIII.

1 Johanan, discrediting Jeremiah's prophecy, carrieth Jeremiah and others into Egypt. 8 Jeremiah prophesieth by a type the conquest of Egypt by the Babylonians.

AND it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:

3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.

5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam

1 Chap. 15. 2. Zech. 11.9.

the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

8¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

9 Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;

10 And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver 'such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.

12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in

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Verse 6. "Captain of the guard."-This officer was the commander of the royal life-guard, which forms. or did form, the only standing force in Oriental nations. It is to be observed that, whenever the officer of this rank among the Egyptians or Babylonians is mentioned, he is called (or 2) T-sar, or rab hattubbachim, literally,

"chief of the slaughtermen;" the same word being applied to the slaughter or the slaughterer of animals; and hence it is equivalent to "chief of the executioners," the body-guard, under the direction of their chief, being, in the East, charged with the execution of the capital punishments awarded by the king, and the commander himself often putting the more distinguished offenders to death with his own hand. The officer of similar rank among the Hebrews themselves did not bear the same title; but the same duties devolved upon him.

10. "I will send...Nebuchadrezzar."-The historical event to which the present and several other prophecies refer may thus be stated: Soon after Nebuchadnezzar had completed the ruin of the Hebrew nation, he turned his attention towards Tyre. That rich and powerful city held out against him for thirteen years, and when at last taken by assault, he found no reward for what Ezekiel calls his "service against Tyre," as the inhabitants, foreseeing the result, had previously removed all their valuable property to the neighbouring island, on which they afterwards founded that new Tyre which ultimately rose to an eminence of power and wealth not inferior to that of the old city which had been destroyed. But as the Lord had, by his prophets, promised to give the spoils of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar for his service against Tyre, so, when that service had terminated in this unprofitable result, he marched his army into Egypt, which was then in a state of such deplorable disorder as promised him an easy conquest, and an ample indemnity for his recent disappointment. What opposition he met with, or what arrangement he made on withdrawing finally from the country, is not certainly known. But it is certain that he ravaged the country from one end to the other, committing much devastation, and slaying great numbers of the people, and that he finally returned with an inmense booty, which probably formed no small part of the treasure he expended in his magnificent improvements and great undertakings at Babylon. (See 'L'Art de Vérifier les Dates,' &c. tome ii. p. 359; Universal History,' vol. ii. p. 83 and Hales's ' Analysis,' vol. ii. p. 454.)

CHAPTER XLIV.

1 Jeremiah expresseth the desolation of Judah for their idolatry. 11 He prophesieth their destruction, who commit idolatry in Egypt. 15 The obstinacy of the Jews. 20 Jeremiah threateneth them for the same, 29 and for a sign prophesieth the destruction of Egypt.

THE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child

and suckling, 'out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

9 Have ye forgotten the 'wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ?

10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before you and before your fathers.

11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, 'I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence :

14 So that none of the remnant of Judah,

1 Heb. out of the midst of Judah. 2 Heb, wickednesses, or, punishments, &c. 3 Heb. contrite.

4 Amos 9. 4.

sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they 'have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.

15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of 'victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. 18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

19 'And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our 1omen?

20 ¶ Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,

21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?

23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.

24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah, that are in the land of Egypt:

25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform

your vows.

26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.

28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, "mine, or theirs.

29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

Chap. 7. 18.

10 Or, husbands.

22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse without an inhabitant, as at this day. 5 Heb. lift up their soul. Or, frame of heaven. Verse 1. "Migdol.”—A place of this name is mentioned in Exod. xiv. 2, as situate near the Red Sea; but this does not appear to be the place here intended. The name Migdol" signifies a tower, and may have been common to several places distinguished by a conspicuous object of that kind. We may very fairly presume the present town to have been the Magdolus mentioned by Herodotus, Hecatæus, and others, and which Antoninus fixes at the entrance of Egypt from Palestine, about twelve miles from Pelusium. This was too far distant from the Red Sea to be in the route of the Israelites when departing from Egypt; but its situation in the neighbourhood of Tahpanhes, or Daphnæ, and its distance from Judea, favour the supposition of its being the present Migdol. Bochart, who adopts this opinion, observes that, under the determination suggested, we find the places to be named exactly in the order of their distance

7 Chap. 7. 18. 8 Heb. bread. 11 Heb. from me or from them.

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from Judea: first, Migdol, or Magdolus; secondly, Tahpanhes, or Daphne; thirdly, Noph, or Memphis; and, lastly, the district of Pathros, or Thebais. See Blayney's note on this verse.

"The country of Pathros.”—It will be observed that this "country of Pathros" is in this verse distinguished from the "land of Egypt," properly so called. The latter term appears to denote generally, in Scripture, the whole of Lower Egypt, which was the part of the country best known to the Hebrews, but of which the Delta, separately taken, is sometimes called Rahab. Then "the country of Pathros" appears to answer to Upper Egypt, or that southern part of the country which the Greeks called Thebais, from Thebes its ancient capital. The name appears to be derived from that of Pathrus, the son of Mizraim, by whom it was probably first peopled. That Pathros was Upper Egypt appears to be confirmed by Ptolemy's mention of a city called Pathyris not far from Thebes, as well as from the Nomus Phaturites of Pliny, which, from its position in his list, must have been one of the nomes of the Thebais. (Nat. Hist. lib. v. c. 9.)

17. “To burn incense unto the queen of heaven.”—See the note on chap. vii. 18.

19. "Without our men.”—This clearly shows that it is the women who here speak, and who, being more particularly addicted to the reprobated worship, take upon themselves to answer. That at least this latter part of the answer is theirs, is clear from the context, which states that the women as well as the men answered Jeremiah, and that he rejoined to both. Indeed, that the men had been participators in their crime had been stated by Jeremiah himself, in ch. vii. If therefore we give the first part of this answer to the men, we see that they justified the idolatrous act by their alleged experience of its benefits; while the women adduce the concurrence of their men, who alone had a legal right to control them, as an adequate justification of their conduct. This appeal to the concurrence of the men obtains the more force when we consider that, by the law of Moses (Num. xxx.), the men had an independent power of binding themselves by any religious vow or obligation; whereas the vows of women were of no force without the consenting knowledge of the father or husband, and whose consent was presumed if he did not at the time make known his disapproval.

30. "I will give Pharaoh-hophra... into the hands of his enemies," &c.-This Pharaoh-hophra was unquestionably the Apries of the Greek historians. He was the grandson of Necho, and began his reign about the same time as Zedekiah in Judea, and reigned twenty-five years. His tyrannical disposition raised discontents among the people, which broke out into an open revolt of the army, which imagined that a disastrous expedition against Cyrene, in which many perished, had been purposely planned for their destruction-that, freed from them, he might tyrannize without control over the rest of his subjects. This impression produced a general defection. The king sent Amasis to pacify the revolters; but they saluted this popular person as king, and persuaded him to put himself at the head of their cause. He did so; and, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, with an army of native Egyptians, defeated a body of 30,000 foreign mercenaries in the pay of Apries. The king himself being taken by the conquerors, Amasis wished to spare his life; but the people were implacable in their vengeance, and he was obliged to give him up "into the hands of those who sought his life," by whom he was strangled. That Nebuchadnezzar appeared in Egypt during these troubles is very evident; but the precise state of the contest when he came, and the part which Apries and Amasis took, with respect to this foreign enemy, or the manner in which Nebuchadnezzar acted towards them, are points involved in uncertainty. However, from the fact that Amasis was left in the throne, as compared with dates and small circumstances, it seems probable that the Babylonians advanced towards Egypt soon after the outbreak of the revolt: and that Apries, not being able, in the state of his affairs, to make a stand against him, withdrew into Upper Egypt. It would also appear that Nebuchadnezzar, when he withdrew after having ravaged the country, left Amasis in possession of the kingdom-according to the plan which he had repeatedly followed in Judea; and that Apries then returned to Lower Egypt, to make one grand effort for the recovery of his crown, with the result which we have already stated.

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the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.

5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee 'for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

1 Chap. 39. 18.

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Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye

17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.

5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are 'beaten down, and are *fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.

6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

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.

9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.

13 The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round

about thee.

15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

2 Heb. fled a flight.

18 As I live, saith the king, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like "fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation

:

22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the land of the people of the north.

9

25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

27 "But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Heb. Cush.

1 Heb. braken in pieces.
Heb. multiplied the faller. 7 Heb. make thee instruments of captivity.

4 Heb. Put.

5 Heb. no cure shall be unto thee 8 Heb. bullocks of the stall. 9 Or, nourisher. Or, not utterly cut thee off.

10 Heb. Amon. 11 Isa. 41. 13, and 43. 5, and 44. 2. Chap. 30. 10. 18 Chap. 10, 24, and 30. 11.

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