Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
Parallel translations
- WEB Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain do you use many medicines. There is no healing for you.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV “Goup to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured.
- NASB Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, Virgin daughter of Egypt! You have used many remedies in vain; There is no healing for you.
- NLT “Go up to Gilead to get medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! But your many treatments will bring you no healing.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Egypt is told to seek balm in Gilead, but in vain, for there is no healing for her. Her wound from defeat is incurable.
Overview
The oracle mockingly directs the 'virgin daughter of Egypt' to seek the famed healing balm of Gilead, yet declares no remedy will work. Egypt's judgment is beyond human cure. This image of an incurable wound underscores that no earthly medicine can heal what God has judged, pointing to the deeper truth that only the Great Physician, Christ, can heal the wound of sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
- Mic 1:9For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.
- Nah 3:19There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?
- Luke 8:43–44including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Isa 47:1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
- Jer 14:17You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.
- Jer 51:8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- Matt 5:26Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
- Jer 30:12–15For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
- Ezek 30:21–25“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword.
- Ezek 27:17Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith, cakes and honey, oil and balm for your merchandise.
- Gen 37:25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
- Gen 43:11Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 46:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.