Jeremiah 46:11

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹  you dear poor people of Egypt. ²  But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³  there will be no healing for you.

Ge 37:25; Ge 43:11; Isa 47:1; Jer 8:22; Jer 14:17; Jer 30:12-15; Jer 51:8; Eze 27:17; Eze 30:21-25; Mic 1:9; Na 3:19; Mt 5:26; Lu 8:43,44

¹ tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

² sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.

³ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”