Bible Strands
Jeremiah 46:5
Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD declares the scene to the prophet after commanding the Egyptian army to prepare for battle. The statement occurs at the moment the mobilized forces are suddenly routed and panicking.
The words — חַתִּים (cha.Tim) carries the literal sense of being terrified, while נְסֹגִים (ne.so.Gim) denotes being turned back or retreating. These terms describe the sudden psychological collapse of the warriors.
The thread — The motif of surrounding terror and routed warriors appears in Jeremiah 6:25 and Jeremiah 46:21. The same collapse of military confidence recurs in Jeremiah 49:29.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human military preparation cannot override divine judgment. It requires the reader to accept that panic and defeat are direct outcomes of the declared word.
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
Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 6:25 Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
- Jeremiah 49:29 They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
- Jeremiah 46:21 Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.
- Genesis 19:17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
- 2 Kings 7:6 For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
- Isaiah 19:16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.
- Jeremiah 20:3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
- Jeremiah 20:10 For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”
- Jeremiah 46:15 Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD has thrust them down.
- Ezekiel 32:10 I will cause many peoples to be appalled over you, and their kings will shudder in horror because of you when I brandish My sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.’