Rashi on TanakhJeremiah 46

shield Heb. מגן. It is made of leather, and it is boiled, and when he goes forth to battle, he anoints it with oil.

and buckler Heb. וצנה, [made] of wood, in the likeness of our shields.

polish the spears Heb. מרקו. Cf. “It shall be scoured (וּמֹרַק) and rinsed” (Lev. 6:21), (forbir in O.F., to furbish).

them breaking The Egyptians.

and were not freed? [They were] no longer freed to stand in battle; they had no free time.

Who...would come up like the Nile Who was wont to bring up troops around him like the waters of a river, to flood its environs.

would come up like the Nile Was accustomed to coming up.

I will destroy Heb. אֹבִידָה, like אֲאַבֵּד.

and rush madly Heb. והתהללו, an expression of folly.

and its thirst shall be quenched Heb. ורותה, an expression of satiety. [Another interpretation: It] is an expression of drunkenness; cf. שֵּׁכַר, strong drink, which we translate מְרַוֵי.

in the north land For Pharaoh marched on Nebuchadnezzar in Carchemish, and there he fell and his mighty men were slain, and he fled from the battle.

a mighty man has stumbled upon a mighty man When they were fleeing they would stumble over each other.

concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar This was a second blow, [viz.] that Nebuchadnezzar laid Egypt waste in the twenty-seventh year of his reign (Ezek. 29:17), as we learned in Seder Olam (ch. 26).

“Stand fast and prepare yourself” for the war. והכן means “and prepare.”

been swept away? Heb. נסחף. Your mighty men have been swept away and have slid. Cf. “sweeping (סֹחֵף) rain” (Prov. 28:3); “His field has been inundated (נסתחפה)” (Kethuboth 1:6). Menahem (Machbereth p. 126) classified it as an expression of complete destruction, and so did he classify מטר סחף. Dunash, however, interprets מטר סחף like מטר סועף, cutting rain. Cf. “Lops off (מְסָעֵף) the branches with a saw” (Isa. 10:33).

He made many stumbling blocks The Holy One, blessed be He, Who pushed him down, made many stumbling blocks for him.

yea, they joined Heb. נפל [lit. fell]. They joined one another, saying, Arise and let us go back to our own people, whence we came to wage war.

the oppressing sword Heb. חרב. Jonathan renders: The sword of the enemy, which is like intoxicating wine. היונה. An expression of wine (יין). Another interpretation: It is an expression of oppression (אונאה).

There they called out In the battle, they proclaimed publicly a reproachful byword.

“Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made a lot of noise” Who would raise the sound of his noise, the noises to boast with his armies.

has allowed the appointed time to pass by For he had appointed a set time to go forth and wage war, and he did not go forth, and the day of the appointed time passed by.

that as sure as Tabor is among the mountains Just as it is a true fact that Tabor is fast among the mountains and Mount Carmel is by the sea, so is it true that this thing shall come upon Egypt.

equipment for exile When a person embarks on a journey, he prepares for himself a flask and an earthenware cup with which to drink.

desolate Heb. ונצחה, an expression of desolation (ציה).

a fair heifer A beautiful kingdom.

destruction peoples that kill [acc. to Jonathan]. קֶרֶץ is an expression of cutting. Cf. “I...was cut (קֹרצתי) out of clay” (Job 33:6).

from the north From Babylon.

Also her princes Heb. שְׂכִרֶיהָ, her princes. Cf. “with the great razor (הַשְׂכִירָה)” (Isa. 7:20).

fattened (kopla in O.F., couple in modern French).

turn around Turned their back to seek to flee.

Its voice shall go like [that of] the snake The “snake” comes to teach us about Egypt but ends by learning. For we learn from here that when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the serpent, “You shall walk on your belly” (Gen. 3:14), He severed his feet, and his voice went to the end of the world. So we learned in the ‘Thirty-two Methods of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean’ (Method 12).

for they will march with an army against her.

They will cut down her forest They have power to cut down her forest.

for they are innumerable [lit. it shall not be fathomed, i.e.,] the number of their host.

upon Amon Heb. אל אמון, [lit. to Amon,] upon Amon, upon the prince Amon. There are some that are an expression of greatness. Cf. “Are you greater than the greatness of No (מִנֹא אָמוֹן)?” (Nahum 3: 8).

of No The great Alexandria (les seigneurs d’Alexandria in O.F.).

and after that At the end of forty years, as Ezekiel stated (29:1 3ff.).

You fear not The righteous men who were in Egypt, who were exiled there against their will.

justly With sparing justice, little by little.

completely destroy Heb. ונקה [lit. clean,] an expression of sweeping and destroying, and Jonathan too rendered it an expression of destroying.