Bible Strands
Jeremiah 46:8
Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters churn like rivers, boasting, ‘I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy the cities and their people.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces an oracle against Egypt as it mobilizes for battle against Babylon. The passage captures Egypt’s military posture at the moment of its campaign.
The words — The Hebrew יַֽעֲלֶ֔ה (ya.'a.Leh) means "it rises" or "I will rise," while יִתְגֹּ֣עֲשׁוּ (yit.Go.'a.shu) translates to "they surge" or "churn." These verbs describe the Nile’s floodwaters and Egypt’s aggressive military mobilization.
The thread — The motif of arrogant conquest appears in Exodus 15:9, Isaiah 10:13, and Isaiah 37:24. Each passage records a ruler claiming self-sufficient power to overwhelm nations and cities.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human military ambition operates on borrowed strength and faces divine judgment. It requires the reader to assess earthly power against the certainty of God’s sovereign intervention.
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
Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
Cross-references
- Exodus 15:9 The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Isaiah 10:13 For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 29:3 Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
- Ezekiel 32:2 “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’