Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryJeremiah 46:16
"They have repeatedly stumbled; Indeed, they have fallen one against another. Then they said, `Get up! And let us go back To our own people and our native land Away from the sword of the oppressor.' Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Barne's Notes • Gill's Exposition • Geneva Study Bible • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Coke's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Whedon's Commentary • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge Other Authors
Adam Clarke CommentaryOne fell upon another - In their terror and confusion ranks fell on ranks, and overturned each other. Let us go again to our own people - Let us flee to our own country with all possible speed. These were the auxiliaries. Copyright Statement Bibliography Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleLiterally, as in the margin, i. e., Yahweh hath made many to stumble. Arise … - The Egyptian army being composed of mercenaries, has no patriotic feeling and immediately that the battle is lost, they propose to abandon the country which has hired them, and return each to his native land. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleHe made many to fall,.... That is, the Lord, by the hand of the Chaldeans, by whose sword multitudes fell in battle: yea, one fell upon another; they fell in heaps, denoting the multitude of the slain; or rather they fell in flight one upon another; one fell, and then another upon him, as usually they do, when men are frightened and flee precipitantly, as in Jeremiah 46:12; and they said, arise: not those that fell, which may seem at first sight; but either the strangers in the land of Egypt, as Kimchi, such as the Jews were; who, perceiving the destruction that was coming on Egypt, exhort one another to arise, and get out of it; or rather the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, as the Ethiopians, Lybians, and Lydians, Jeremiah 46:9; who finding the enemy too strong for them, and they themselves deserted or unsupported by Pharaoh's army, advise one another to quit his service, and provide for their own safety: and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity; their own country, where they were born, and their friends and relations lived; that so they might be safe from the oppressing sword; the sword of the Chaldeans. The Septuagint version is a very bad one, followed by the Arabic, which renders it, "from the Grecian sword"; and so is the Vulgate Latin version, "from the face of the dove"; to countenance which it is said, that the Chaldeans and Assyrians had a dove in their ensigns; See Gill on Jeremiah 25:38; and so a most ancient Saxon translation in the library of Christ's Church in Oxford, "from the face of the sword of the culver" "from the sword of the enemy, which is as wine inebriating;' which sense is followed by Jarchi. Copyright Statement Bibliography Geneva Study BibleHe made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our n own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.(n) As they who would repent that they helped the Egyptians. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole BibleHe — Jehovah. made many to fall — literally, “multiplied the faller,” that is, fallers. one fell upon another — (Jeremiah 46:6, Jeremiah 46:12): even before the enemy strikes them (Leviticus 26:37). let us go again to our own people — the language of the confederates and mercenaries, exhorting one another to desert the Egyptian standard, and return to their respective homes (Jeremiah 46:9, Jeremiah 46:21). from the oppressing sword — from the cruel sword, namely, of the Chaldeans (compare Jeremiah 25:38). Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the BibleBrevity of expression renders this sentence obscure or ambiguous. The verb הרבה , erebe, is put without a nominative case; but it is to be applied to God. God, then, has multiplied. And then there is a change of number, for the singular is to be taken as a plural when he says, he falls, כושל , cushil: the meaning is, that many would stumble, because God would drive them, as it was said in the last verse. Hence comes what immediately follows, Even fall shall every one on his friend, that is, before the enemy smote them; by crowding together they would of themselves dash one against another, so that each would fall by the pushing of his associate. He afterwards adds, And they shall say, Rise Here he speaks not of natives. Some think that the reference is to foreigners, who had come into Egypt on account of the fruitfulness of the land; for a dwelling in Egypt, which we know was very fertile and full of all abundance, was especially advantageous to them. As, then, Egypt had in it many strangers and sojourners, some interpreters think that the Prophet here speaks of them, as though he had said, “They who came into Egypt, to live well there through the affluence of all good things, shall find nothing better for them than to flee away:” They shall t hen say, Rise; that is, every one will exhort one another, and say, Let us go into the land of our nativity, that is, “Let us be satisfied with our own native soil; for the very richness of Egypt will prove fatal to us if we remain in it.” But I rather think that the Prophet refers to the hired soldiers. We saw yesterday that when Pharaoh carried on war on the banks of Euphrates, he had with him Ethiopians, and Lydians, and many from Libya, and we shall see again presently that there were hired soldiers in Egypt when Nebuchadnezzar conquered it. It was then very suitable for the Prophet to mention these foreign soldiers whom Pharaoh had hired; for at the beginning of the verse he said, Every one shall stumble on his neighbor, and then it follows, And they shall say, Let us return to our own people and to the land of our nativity When he says, Every one shall stumble on his neighbor, he means, no doubt, those valiant men, called to defend Egypt; of the same also he speaks when he says, Rise, let us return to the land of our nativity. He says, From the face of the devastating sword. The word היונה, eiune, is derived by some from יין, iin, wine; and they give this explanation, “from the inebriated sword.” Jerome renders the word “Dove,” but without reason. He then calls the sword wasting or destroying, which had already been inebriated with much blood, and which had done many slaughters. By the sword, he means that of the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar. Some render the words, “saddening sword,” but this rendering appears to me unmeaning. They then say, “As we have been already broken down, and see our enemies committing slaughters with impunity, and kill all who meet them, nothing is better for us than to return to our own land.” It follows, — Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryJeremiah 46:16 He 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. Ver. 16. Yea, one fell upon another.] See Jeremiah 46:12. In a confused flight it is wont so to be.
And they said.] The auxiliary and stipendiary soldiers said so, when once they saw that there was no good to be done for the Egyptians, Nebuchadnezzar having so wasted all. Copyright Statement Bibliography Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy BibleJeremiah 46:16. He made many to fall— The number of those who fall is increased; lo, each one meets his neighbor, and says, Arise, let us return, &c. Houbigant. See chap. Jeremiah 25:38. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleThe prophet had before spoken of Nebuchadnezzar, as an instrument in the hand of God, who being armed with his commission and power, made many to fall, yea, God caused such a fear to fall upon them, that in their flight they fell upon one another. And though they had many soldiers that came to help them from Cush, and Phut, and Libya, yet all was too little; the prophet foretells they should all be glad to go home again, and should speak to one another to that purpose, for the success of the king of Babylon’s sword should be such, as they should quickly see there would be no standing before it. Copyright Statement Bibliography Whedon's Commentary on the Bible16. He (that is, Jehovah) made many to fall — The mighty one does not stand; so the individuals stumble and fall one over the other. Copyright Statement Bibliography George Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryDove. Hebrew also, "of the destroyer." Septuagint, "Greeks," or Ionians. (Calmet) --- See chap. xxv. 35. (Challoner) --- Nebuchodonosor came with expedition, or had a dove on his standards. (Menochius) Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notesfall = be stumbling. one . . . upon another. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:37). Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - UnabridgedHe 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. He-Yahweh-made many to fall - literally, multiplied the faller, i:e., fallers. One fell upon another - (Jeremiah 46:6; Jeremiah 46:12) even before the enemy strikes them (Leviticus 26:37). Let us go again to our own people - the language of the confederates and mercenaries, exhorting one another to desert the Egyptian standard and return to their respective homes (Jeremiah 46:9; Jeremiah 46:21). From the oppressing sword - from the cruel sword, namely, of the Chaldeans (cf. Jeremiah 25:38, note). Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) Arise, and let us go again to our own people.—The case contemplated is that of the settlers in Egypt, the Lydians, Ionians, and Carians (see Note on Jeremiah 46:9) whom Psammetichus had encouraged, or the fugitives from Judæa of Jeremiah 43:5-7. These should find that it was no longer a safe home for them. The “oppressing sword” is beyond question the right rendering, but it is curious that both the LXX. and Vulgate have taken the adjective in different senses: the former giving “from the Greek sword,” as if the word for oppressing (Ionah) meant Ionian; and the latter, the apparently strange version, a facie gladii columbœ (“from before the sword of the dove”). See, however, as giving a possible explanation of the words as referring to the dove as a symbol of the Chaldæan power, the Note on Jeremiah 25:38. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeHe 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.
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