Yeremia 46:10

46:10 But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. ¹ 

It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. ² 

His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!

It will drink their blood until it is full! ³ 

For the Lord God who rules over all ⁴  will offer them up as a sacrifice

in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Yeremia 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ⁵ 

will prove to be like pampered, ⁶  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ⁷  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

[46:10]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[46:10]  ² sn Most commentators think that this is a reference to the Lord exacting vengeance on Pharaoh Necho for killing Josiah, carrying Jehoahaz off into captivity, and exacting heavy tribute on Judah in 609 b.c. (2 Kgs 23:29, 33-35).

[46:10]  ³ tn Or more paraphrastically, “he will kill them/ until he has exacted full vengeance”; Heb “The sword will eat and be sated; it will drink its fill of their blood.”

[46:10]  sn This passage is, of course, highly figurative. The Lord does not have a literal “sword,” but he uses agents of destruction like the Assyrian armies (called his “rod” in Isa 10:5-6) and the Babylonian armies (called his war club in Jer 51:20) to wreak vengeance on his foes. Likewise, swords do not “eat” or “drink.” What is meant here is that God will use this battle against the Egyptians to kill off many Egyptians until his vengeance is fully satisfied.

[46:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[46:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

[46:21]  ⁶ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

[46:21]  ⁷ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.