Jeremiah 46:19

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt.—As in Jeremiah 46:11, the daughter is Egypt itself personified. She is to prepare herself (literally, with the instruments of captivity), as with “bag and baggage” for a long journey. (Comp. Ezekiel 12:3.) Noph (= Memphis) is to be left as a depopulated city.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 46:19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt — Blaney translates it, O inhabiting daughter of Egypt, observing, that an antithesis seems to be designed between יושׁבת, inhabiting, and the act of migration, which was to follow. Countries and cities are often represented under the emblem of women, especially in medals and pictures. Furnish thyself to go into captivity — “The expression is ironical, implying that, instead of the rich and goodly furniture wherein she did pride herself, she should be carried away captive, naked and bare, and wanting all manner of conveniences.” The Hebrew of this clause seems to be more literally translated in the margin than in the text; the word כלי, there rendered instruments, meaning either the carriages, or the trunks and boxes that were to hold the things to be removed. Blaney reads it, Get ready thy equipage for removing. For Noph shall be waste, &c. — Noph in particular shall be wholly depopulated and laid waste. This place, called also Memphis, was accordingly laid waste some time after this, and remained some years in a state of desolation. It was, indeed, afterward rebuilt, but never recovered its ancient splendour.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:13-28 Those who encroached on others, shall now be themselves encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, not accustomed to the yoke of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God, designed to encourage them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with them, and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Literally, "O thou inhabitant daughter of Egypt," an equivalent here for Egypt and its whole population.

Furnish thyself ... - literally, make for thee vessels of banishment, not merely the packages necessary, but their outfit generally.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. furnish thyself—literally, "make for thyself vessels" (namely, to contain food and other necessaries for the journey) for captivity.

daughter—so in Jer 46:11.

dwelling in Egypt—that is, the inhabitants of Egypt, the Egyptians, represented as the daughter of Egypt (Jer 48:18; 2Ki 19:21). "Dwelling" implies that they thought themselves to be securely fixed in their habitations beyond the reach of invasion.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That is, O you inhabitants in the land of Egypt, make ready to go into another country as prisoners of war; for your cities shall be destroyed; Noph particularly shall be wholly depopulated and laid waste, and have none to dwell in it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt,.... That is, O ye inhabitants of Egypt, that have long dwelt there, in great security, enjoying great plenty, and who promised themselves a long continuance:

furnish thyself to go into captivity; or, "make", or "prepare for thyself vessels of captivity" (y); or such things as are proper for captives, as suitable clothes to travel in, shoes to walk in, scrip and staff, and the like; expect captivity, and prepare for it:

for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant; the city Memphis, as the Targum, and all the versions: this is particularly mentioned, because it was a royal city, as Kimchi observes; and, though a very populous one, its destruction should be so general, that not an inhabitant should be left in it: the devastation of this city is put for that of all the rest, and as a sure token of it and the whole nation going into captivity.

(y) "vase vel instrumenta migrationis fac tibi", Piscator, Schmidt; "praepara", Vatablus; "pare", Junius & Tremellius.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt] the population of Egypt personified, preferable to mg. O thou that dwellest with the daughter of Egypt.

furnish thyself to go into captivity] more literally as mg. make thee vessels of captivity, supply thyself with all that thou wilt need as thy outfit for exile. Cp. Ezekiel 12:3 mg.

Noph] See on Jeremiah 2:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt; literally, O inhabitress-daughter of Egypt. The phrase is exactly parallel to "virgin daughter of Zion." The "daughter of Egypt" means the population of Egypt, the land being regarded as the mother of its people. Furnish thyself to go into captivity. The rendering of the margin is, however, more exact. The "vessels of captivity [or, 'exile']" are a pilgrim's staff and wallet, with the provisions and utensils necessary for a journey (so in Ezekiel 12:4). Jeremiah 46:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Jeremiah 46:17, "they cry there" is not to be referred to those who fled to their native land; the subject is undefined, and "there" refers to the place where one falls over the other, viz., Egypt. "There they cry, 'Pharaoh the king of Egypt is שׁאון, desolation, destruction, ruin:' " for this meaning, cf. Jeremiah 25:31; Psalm 40:3; the signification "noise, bustle," is unsuitable here.

(Note: The word שׁם has been read by the lxx and the Vulgate as if it had been שׁם, ὄνομα, nomen; accordingly the lxx render, καλέσατε τὸ ὄνομα Φαραὼ Νεχαὼ βασίλεως Αἰγύπτου Σαὼν ̓Εσβεὶ ̓Εμωήδ (or ̓Εσβειὲ Μωὴδe'd); Vulgate, vocate nomen Pharaonis regis Aegypti: Tumultum adduxit tempus. This reading is preferred by J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Hitzig, and Graf, with this difference, that Hitzig and Graf take only שׁאון as a name. Hence Ewald translates, "They call Pharaoh's name 'Noise-which-a-wink-can-hush.' " This rendering is decidedly false, for מועד nowhere has the sense of "wink, nod," not even in Judges 20:38, where it means an agreement made. For the reading שׁם instead of שׁם there are no sufficient grounds, although such passages as Jeremiah 20:3 and Isaiah 30:7 may be adduced in support of the idea obtained by such a change in the word. The translation of the lxx is merely a reproduction of the Hebrew words by Greek letters, and shows that the translator did not know how to interpret them. The Vulgate rendering, tumultum adduxit tempus, is also devoid of meaning. Moreover, these translators have read קראוּ as the imperative קראוּ; if we reject this reading, as all moderns do, then we may also lay no weight on שׁם instead of שׁם. Besides, the meaning is not materially affected by this reading, for the giving of a name to a person merely expresses what he is or will be.)

The meaning of העביר המּועד also is disputed; it is quite inadmissible, however, to join the words with שׁאון, as Ewald does, for the purpose of making out a name. No suitable meaning can be extracted from them. Neither שׁאון nor המּועד can be the subject of העביר; the translation given by Schnurrer, "devastation that goes beyond all bounds," is still more arbitrary than that of Ewald given in the note. Since the Hiphil העביר is never used except with a transitive meaning, the subject can be none else than Pharaoh; and the words העביר המּועד must be intended to give the reason for this becoming a desolation: they are thus to be rendered, "he has allowed המּועד to pass by," not "the precise place," as Rosenmller explains it ("he did not stop in his flight at the place where the army could be gathered again, on the return"), but "the precise time." The reference, however, is not to the suitable time for action, for self-defence and for driving off the enemy (Grotius, C. B. Michaelis, Maurer, Umbreit), because the word does not mean suitable, convenient time, but appointed time. As Hitzig rightly perceived, the time meant is that within which the desolation might still be averted, and after which the judgment of God fell on him (Isaiah 10:25; Isaiah 30:18), - the time of grace which God had vouchsafed to him, so that Nebuchadnezzar did not at once, after the victory at Carchemish, invade and conquer Egypt. Pharaoh let this time pass by; because, instead of seeing in that defeat a judgment from God, he provoked the anger of Nebuchadnezzar by his repeated attacks on the Chaldean power, and brought on the invasion of Egypt by the king of Babylon (see above, p. 354). - In Jeremiah 46:18. there is laid down a more positive foundation for the threat uttered in Jeremiah 46:17. With an oath, the Lord announces the coming of the destroyer into Egypt. Like Tabor, which overtops all the mountains round about, and like Carmel, which looks out over the sea as if it were a watch-tower, so will he come, viz., he from whom proceeds the devastation of Egypt, the king of Babylon. the power of Nebuchadnezzar, in respect of its overshadowing all other kings, forms the point of comparison. Tabor has the form of a truncated cone. Its height is given at 1805 feet above the level of the sea, or 1350 from the surface of the plain below; it far surpasses in height all the hills in the vicinity, ad affords a wide prospect on every side; cf. Robinson's Phys. Geogr. of Palestine, p. 26f. Carmel stretches out in the form of a long ridge more than three miles wide, till it terminates on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, as a bold, lofty promontory, which rises in an imposing manner at least 500 feet above the sea; cf. Robinson, p. 26f. Then the inhabitants of Egypt will be driven into exile. כּלי גולה .e, "vessels of wandering;" outfit for an exile, as in Ezekiel 12:3. "Daughter of Egypt" is not a personification of the country, whose inhabitants are the people, but of the population, which is viewed as the daughter of the country; it stands in apposition to יושׁבת, like בּתוּלת בּת מצרי, Jeremiah 46:11. For Noph, i.e., Memphis, the capital, is laid waste and burned, so as to lose its inhabitants. With Jeremiah 46:20 begins the second strophe, in which the fate impending on Egypt is still more plainly predicted.