Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why are your strong ones swept away? they didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them.
- KJV Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
- NKJV Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand Because the Lord drove them away.
- NASB “Why have your powerful ones been cut down? They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them away.
- NLT Why have your warriors fallen? They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down.
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's strong ones are swept away because Yahweh pushed them down. Their mighty warriors and gods cannot stand before the Lord.
Overview
The verse attributes Egypt's collapse directly to God, who casts down its champions, possibly alluding also to the impotence of its idols like Apis. No strength can stand when the Lord opposes it. This declaration that God overthrows the mighty exposes the futility of trusting in human or false-god power, directing faith instead to the Lord who exalts Christ above every name.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 68:2As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
- Isa 66:15–16For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
- Ps 18:14He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.
- Jer 46:5Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
- Ps 18:39You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.
- Judg 5:20–21From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.
- Jer 46:21Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.
- Ps 44:2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Exod 6:1But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
- Ps 114:2–7Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.
- Deut 11:23then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 46:15 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.