Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why are your strong ones swept away? they didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them.
- BSB Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.
- 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 driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Isa 66:15–16For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
- Ps 18:14Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
- Jer 46:5Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.
- Ps 18:39For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
- Judg 5:20–21They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
- Jer 46:21Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
- Ps 44:2How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
- Exod 6:1Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
- Ps 114:2–7Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
- Deut 11:23Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 46:15 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.