Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
Parallel translations
- KJV Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
- BSB Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
- NKJV Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
- NASB Go up, you horses, and drive wildly, you chariots, So that the warriors may march forward: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, And the Lydians, who handle and bend the bow.
- NLT Charge, you horses and chariots; attack, you mighty warriors of Egypt! Come, all you allies from Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia who are skilled with the shield and bow!
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
The poem ironically urges Egypt's horses, chariots, and allied troops from Cush, Put, and Lud to advance. The mustering of mercenaries only hastens their shared defeat.
Overview
Egypt's army, reinforced by African and other allied soldiers, is summoned to battle in a tone of mocking irony. The named nations underscore the breadth of forces that will nonetheless fail. This gathering of multinational might against God's decree shows that no coalition of nations can withstand the Lord, whose purposes prevail and whose Son is given the nations as His heritage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 66:19“I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
- Ezek 27:10Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they showed your beauty.
- Nah 3:9Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.
- Nah 2:3–4The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.
- Acts 2:10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
- 1 Cor 1:8who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Gen 10:6The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
- Jer 47:3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
- Gen 10:13Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
- Jer 30:5For Yahweh says: “We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
- 1 Chr 1:11Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
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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 46:9 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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