Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.
- BSB “The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
- NKJV “Do not let the swift flee away, Nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.
- NASB Let not the swift man flee, Nor the warrior escape. In the north beside the river Euphrates They have stumbled and fallen.
- NLT “The swiftest runners cannot flee; the mightiest warriors cannot escape. By the Euphrates River to the north, they stumble and fall.
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
Neither the swift nor the mighty can escape; they stumble and fall by the Euphrates. Egypt's flight ends in defeat at Carchemish.
Overview
The oracle declares that speed and strength offer no escape from God's appointed judgment at the river Euphrates. The image of stumbling and falling underscores the totality of Egypt's collapse. This truth that no human advantage can outrun God's purposes humbles all earthly pride, directing trust away from self toward the salvation God provides in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Dan 11:19Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
- Jer 46:12The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.
- Amos 9:1–3I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
- Jer 20:11But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
- Jer 4:6Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
- Ps 27:2When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
- Isa 8:15And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
- Isa 30:16–17But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
- Ps 33:16–17There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
- Jer 6:1O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
- Judg 4:15–21And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
- Jer 25:9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jer 46:10For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
- Eccl 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
- Ps 147:10–11He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
- Amos 2:14–15Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
- Jer 46:16He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
- Jer 50:32And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
- Jer 1:14Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
- Dan 11:22And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
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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 46:6 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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