Jeremiah 46:23

Jeremiah 46:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
• New International Version (NIV)They will chop down her forest,” declares the Lord, “dense though it be. They are more numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They shall cut down her forest, declares the Lord, though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts; they are without number.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“They shall cut down her forest,” says the Lord, “Though it cannot be searched, Because they are innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers.

Context of Jeremiah 46:23

21Egypt has paid soldiers from other countries to help her. But they are like fat calves that are too weak to fight. They will not stand and fight, but they will turn and run away. Yes, the day of Egypt's punishment has arrived! Their enemy has come to destroy them. 22Egypt's people will run away, like a snake along the ground. The enemy's strong army will march forward. They will attack Egypt with axes, like men who cut down trees. Egypt's soldiers are as many as the trees in a great forest. But the enemy's soldiers will cut them down. Their army is like a hungry crowd of locusts. They are too many to count. 24The people of Egypt will be ashamed. They will be under the power of the people from the north.’ That is what the Lord says. 25The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, also says, ‘Now I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes city, and the other gods of Egypt. I will also punish Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Egypt's other rulers. I will punish Egypt's people and everyone who trusts in Pharoah's power.

Jeremiah 46:23 word by word

כָּרְת֤וּ יַעְרָהּ֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה כִּ֖י לֹ֣א יֵֽחָקֵ֑ר כִּ֤י רַבּוּ֙ מֵֽאַרְבֶּ֔ה וְאֵ֥ין לָהֶ֖ם מִסְפָּֽר׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They shall cut downכָּרַתkârath · to cut: cutH3772
• her forestיַ֫עַרya‛ar · woodH3293
• saithנְאֻםne'ûm · utteranceH5002
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• though it cannot be searchedחָקַרchâqar · to searchH2713
• because they are moreרָבַבrâbab · to multiplyH7231
• than the grasshoppersאַרְבֶּה'arbeh · locustH697
• innumerableמִסְפָּרmispâr · numberH4557
• innumerableאַ֫יִן'ayin · nothingH369

Cross-references for Jeremiah 46:23

• Isaiah 10:18The Lord will completely destroy Assyria's great forests and its good fields. It will seem like a bad disease is taking away their life.
• Ezekiel 20:46‘Son of man, look towards the south. Speak my message to the people there. Warn the forests in the dry land of the south.
• Judges 6:5The groups of enemies came with their animals. They put up their tents all across the land. They came like a cloud of locusts. They were too many to count as they arrived on their camels. They took everything that grew on the land.
• Judges 7:12The valley was full of Midianites, Amalekites and all the people from the east. They covered the ground like locusts. There were too many men to count. Their camels also were more than the sand on the shore of the sea.
• Joel 2:25‘I will give you back the years that the locusts have eaten. I will give you all that the great locust and the young locust, and other locusts and their groups have eaten. All that my great army has eaten I will give you.
• Revelation 9:2When the star opened the entrance, smoke came up out of the hole. It was like the smoke from a very big hot fire. The smoke caused the sun and the sky to become dark.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 46:23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23They shall cut down her forest - Supposed to mean her cities, of which Egypt had no fewer than one thousand and twenty.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23Or, “They have cut down her forest, saith Yahweh, for it is impenetrable,” i. e., just as a pathless forest must be cleared to assist agriculture and the passage to and fro of men, so must the false worship and the material prosperity of Egypt be overthrown. Grasshoppers - The invading host advances as multitudinous as the locusts which consume the whole vegetation of the land on which they alight.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-28Verses 13-28 Those who encroached on others, shall now be themselves encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, not accustomed to the yoke of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God, designed to encourage them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with them, and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22-23The image of a serpent slithering away shows the fear that took over Egypt. The invaders attacked the people fiercely, like woodsmen chopping wood, after entering the country like a swarm of locusts.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-2613-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on Is 19:1, &c.).Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 46:23

• Babylon
• Locust

In the dictionaries

• Grasshopper
• Harness
• Locust
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Ezekiel
• Forest
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah (2)
• Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuchadrezzar

Commentaries on Jeremiah 46

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings