Chapter 145

46:2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.

46:3. Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.

46:4. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.

46:5. What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord.

46:6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river Euphrates.

46:7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers?

46:8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.

46:9. Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.

46:10. For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates.

46:11. Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

46:12. The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together.

46:13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:

46:14. Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.

46:15. Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them.

46:16. He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the sword of the dove.

The dove... See the annotation on chap. 25., ver. 38.

46:17. Call ye the name of Pharao king of Egypt, a tumult time hath brought.

46:18. As I live, saith the King, (whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

46:19. Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.

46:20. Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.

46:21. Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation.

46:22. Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.

46:23. They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.

46:24. The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

46:25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him.

Visit upon... That is, punish.-Ibid. Alexandria... In the Hebrew, No, which was the ancient name of the city, to which Alexander gave afterwards the name of Alexandria.

46:26. And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.

46:27. And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.

46:28. And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.

Jeremias Chapter 47

A prophecy of the desolation of the Philistines, of Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, and Ascalon.

47:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the people of Palestine, before Pharao took Gaza.

47:2. Thus saith the Lord: Behold there come up waters out of the north, and they shall be as an overflowing torrent, and they shall cover the land, and all that is therein, the city and the inhabitants thereof: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl,

47:3. At the noise of the marching of arms, and of his soldiers, at the rushing of his chariots, and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers have not looked back to the children, for feebleness of hands,

47:4. Because of the coming of the day, in which all the Philistines shall be laid waste, and Tyre and Sidon shall be destroyed, with all the rest of their helpers. For the Lord hath wasted the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Cappadocia.

47:5. Baldness is come upon Gaza: Ascalon hath held her peace with the remnant of their valley: how long shalt thou cut thyself?

47:6. O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Go into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.

47:7. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord hath given it a charge against Ascalon, and against the countries thereof by the sea side, and there hath made an appointment for it?

Jeremias Chapter 48

A prophecy of the desolation of Moab for their pride: but their captivity shall at last be released.

48:1. Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the strong city is confounded and hath trembled.

48:2. There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee.

48:3. A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction.

48:4. Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones.

48:5. For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping: for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of destruction.

48:6. Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness.

48:7. For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity, his priests, and his princes together.

Chamos... The idol of the Moabites.

48:8. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken:

48:9. Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited.

48:10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.

Deceitfully... In the Greek, negligently. The work of God here spoken of, is the punishment of the Moabites.

48:11. Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone into captivity: therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

Moab hath been fruitful... That is, rich and flourishing. And hath rested upon his lees... That is, remained in its bad morals; as wine not decanted has its lees mixed and remains muddy.

48:12. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one against another.

48:13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.

Of Bethel... That is, of their golden calf which they worshipped in Bethel.

48:14. How do you say: We are valiant and stout men in battle?

48:15. Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

48:16. The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof shall come on exceeding swiftly.

48:17. Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod?

48:18. Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he hath destroyed thy bulwarks.

48:19. Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What is done?

48:20. Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry, tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is wasted.

48:21. And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and upon Jasa, and upon Mephaath.

48:22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim,

48:23. And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon,

48:24. And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

48:25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord.

The horn of Moab is cut off... That is, the strength of Moab is cut off. A metaphor drawn from animals whose strength is in their horns.

48:26. Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord: and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

48:27. For Israel hath been a derision unto them: as though thou hadst found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive.

48:28. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab: and be ye like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place.

48:29. We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his heart.

48:30. I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do according as it was able.

48:31. Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn.

48:32. O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy vintage.

48:33. Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune.

48:34. From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad.

48:35. And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods.

48:36. Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath done more than he could, therefore they have perished.

48:37. For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth.

48:38. Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel, saith the Lord.

48:39. How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed down the neck, and is confounded! And Moab shall be a derision, and an example to all round about him.

48:40. Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall stretch forth his wings to Moab.

48:41. Carioth is taken, and the strongholds are won: and the heart of the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.

48:42. And Moab shall cease to be a people: because he hath gloried against the Lord.

48:43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord.

Fear... That is, the sword of the enemy. The pit... That is, unforeseen calamities. The snare... That is, the ambushes laid by the enemy.

48:44. He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

48:45. They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but there came a fire out of Hesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seon, and it shall devour part of Moab, and the crown of the head of the children of tumult.

48:46. Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast persisted, O people of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives.

48:47. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.

Jeremias Chapter 49

The like desolation of Ammon, of Idumea, of the Syrians, of the Agarenes, and of the Elamites.

49:1. Against the children of Ammon. Thus saith the Lord: Hath Israel no sons? or hath he no heir? Why then hath Melchom inherited Gad: and his people dwelt in his cities?

Melchom... The idol of the Ammonites.

49:2. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will cause the noise of war to be heard in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and it shall be destroyed into a heap, and her daughters shall be burnt with fire, and Israel shall possess them that have possessed him, saith the Lord.

49:3. Howl, O Hesebon, for Hai is wasted. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with haircloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for Melchom shall be carried into captivity, his priests, and his princes together.

49:4. Why gloriest thou in the valleys? thy valley hath flowed away, O delicate daughter, that hast trusted in thy treasures, and hast said: Who shall come to me?

49:5. Behold I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all that are round about thee: and you shall be scattered every one out of one another's sight, neither shall there be any to gather together them that flee.

49:6. And afterwards I will cause the captives of the children of Ammon to return, saith the Lord.

49:7. Against Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Theman? counsel is perished from her children: their wisdom is become unprofitable.

49:8. Flee and turn your backs, go down into the deep hole, ye inhabitants of Dedan: for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him, the time of his visitation.

49:9. If grapegatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have taken what was enough for them.

49:10. But I have made Esau bare, I have revealed his secrets, and he cannot be hid: his seed is laid waste, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he shall not be.

49:11. Leave thy fatherless children: I will make them live: and thy widows shall hope in me.

49:12. For thus saith the Lord: Behold they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup, shall certainly drink: and shalt thou come off as innocent? thou shalt not come off as innocent, but drinking thou shalt drink.

49:13. For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bosra shall become a desolation, and a reproach, and a desert, and a curse: and all her cities shall be everlasting wastes.

49:14. I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent to the nations: Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and let us rise up to battle.

49:15. For behold I have made thee a little one among the nations, despicable among men.

49:16. Thy arrogancy hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart: O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and endeavourest to lay hold on the height of the hill: but though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as an eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.

49:17. And Edom shall be desolate: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.

49:18. As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha, and the neighbours thereof, saith the Lord: there shall not a man dwell there, and there shall no son of man inhabit it.

49:19. Behold one shall come up as a lion from the swelling of the Jordan, against the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her? for who is like to me? and who shall abide me? and who is that shepherd that can withstand my countenance?

49:20. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken concerning Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought concerning the inhabitants of Theman: surely the little ones of the flock shall cast them down, of a truth they shall destroy them with their habitation.

49:21. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their voice is heard in the Red Sea.

49:22. Behold he shall come up as an eagle, and fly: and he shall spread his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant ones of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.

49:23. Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care they could not rest.

49:24. Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour.

49:25. How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy!

49:26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

49:27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strong holds of Benadad.

49:28. Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east.

Cedar and Asor... Were parts of Arabia; which with Moab, Ammon, Edom, etc., were all brought under the yoke of Nabuchodonosor.

49:29. They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about.

49:30. Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you.

49:31. Arise, and go up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell alone.

49:32. And their camels shall be for a spoil and the multitude of their cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from all their confines, saith the Lord.

49:33. And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever: no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it.

49:34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying:

Elam... A part of Persia.

49:35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief strength.

49:36. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come.

49:37. And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword after them, till I consume them.

49:38. And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes from thence, saith the Lord.

49:39. But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to return, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 50

Babylon, which hath afflicted the Israelites, after their restoration, shall be utterly destroyed.

50:1. The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

50:2. Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard: proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols are overthrown.

Bel, etc... Bel and Merodach were worshipped for gods by the men of Babylon.

50:3. For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from man even to beast: yea they are removed, and gone away.

A nation, etc... Viz., the Medes.

50:4. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.

50:5. They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward. They shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant, which shall never be forgotten.

50:6. My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

50:7. All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said: We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their fathers.

50:8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.

50:9. For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain.

50:10. And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be filled, saith the Lord.

50:11. Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass, and have bellowed as bulls.

50:12. Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry.

50:13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.

50:14. Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath sinned against the Lord.

50:15. Shout against her, she hath every where given her hand, her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, so do to her.

50:16. Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every man shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

The dove... Or the destroyer; for the Hebrew word signifies either the one or the other.