Bible Strands
Jeremiah 46:22
Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces judgment against Egypt as Babylonian forces close in, following the flight of Egyptian mercenaries and preceding the total destruction of her defenses.
The words — כַּ/נָּחָ֣שׁ (ka./na.Chash) translates as [is] like <the>/ snake, and בָּ֣אוּ (Ba.'u) means they will come, anchoring the verse’s imagery of sudden terror and inevitable advance.
The thread — The axe and woodcutter motif recurs in Isaiah 10:15, which questions whether a tool can boast over its wielder, and Isaiah 14:8, where fallen cedars rejoice that no woodcutter remains.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Egypt’s military strength will collapse like a hunted serpent and felled forest, requiring the reader to accept the certainty of divine judgment without evasion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 14:8 Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
- Isaiah 29:4 You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
- Isaiah 10:15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!
- Isaiah 10:33 Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
- Isaiah 37:24 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
- Jeremiah 51:20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
- Micah 1:8 Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
- Micah 7:16 Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.
- Zechariah 11:2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!