“Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come.
- KJV Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
- BSB Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
- NASB “Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!
- NLT Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way!
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 likened to a beautiful heifer, but destruction comes upon her from the north. Her beauty and strength cannot stop Babylon's invasion.
Overview
The image of a lovely heifer, perhaps echoing Egypt's worship of cattle deities, contrasts with the destroying force advancing from the north, namely Babylon. The repeated 'It has come' stresses the certainty and imminence of judgment. This picture of beauty undone by judgment reminds us that outward glory offers no protection from God's hand, and that lasting security is found only in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jer 47:2Yahweh says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
- Hos 10:11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.
- Jer 46:6“Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.
- Jer 1:14Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
- Jer 50:11“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
- Jer 46:24The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”
- Jer 25:9behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jer 46:10For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
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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 46:20 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
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