Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies. ¹ 

biblegateway Jer 46:20

"Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

Egypt is a beautiful young cow, but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.

"Egypt is like a beautiful cow, but a horsefly from the north will attack it.

biblegateway Jer 46:20

"Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.

"A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.

bibleoremus Jer 46:20

A beautiful heifer is Egypt—a gadfly from the north lights upon her.

Egypt was a lovely heifer, but a gadfly from the north attacked her.

biblegateway Jer 46:20

"Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.

Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

biblegateway Jer 46:20

Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies. ¹ 

¹ tn Heb “Egypt is a beautiful heifer. A gadfly from the north will come against her.”
The metaphors have been turned into similes for the sake of clarity. The exact meaning of the word translated “stinging fly” is uncertain due to the fact that it occurs nowhere else in Hebrew literature. For a discussion of the meaning of the word which probably refers to the “gadfly,” which bites and annoys livestock, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:331, who also suggests, probably correctly, that the word is a collective referring to swarms of such insects (cf. the singular אַרְבֶּה [’arbeh] in v. 23 which always refers to swarms of locusts). The translation presupposes the emendation of the second בָּא (ba’) to בָּהּ (bah) with a number of Hebrew mss and a number of the versions (cf. BHS, fn b).