46:20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.
But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies. 5
46:24 Poor dear Egypt 6 will be put to shame.
She will be handed over to the people from the north.”
1 sn See further Jer 46:2-28 for the judgment against Egypt.
2 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
3 sn Geruth Kimham is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible and its precise location is unknown. Many commentators relate the second part of the name to the name of the son of David’s benefactor when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam 19:38-39) and see this as a reference to an estate that David assigned this son as reward for his father’s largess. Gibeon was about six miles northwest of Jerusalem and Benjamin is approximately the same distance southwest of it. Hence, the people mentioned here had not traveled all that far.
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
5 tn Heb “Egypt is a beautiful heifer. A gadfly from the north will come against her.”
The metaphors have been turned into similes for the sake of clarity. The exact meaning of the word translated “stinging fly” is uncertain due to the fact that it occurs nowhere else in Hebrew literature. For a discussion of the meaning of the word which probably refers to the “gadfly,” which bites and annoys livestock, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:331, who also suggests, probably correctly, that the word is a collective referring to swarms of such insects (cf. the singular אַרְבֶּה [’arbeh] in v. 23 which always refers to swarms of locusts). The translation presupposes the emendation of the second בָּא (ba’) to בָּהּ (bah) with a number of Hebrew
6 tn Heb “Daughter Egypt.” See the translator’s note on v. 19.