Jeremiah 46:17

Verse

Berean Standard Bible

There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’

American Standard Version (1901)

They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by.

Bible in Basic English

Give a name to Pharaoh, king of Egypt: A noise who has let the time go by.

Douay-Rheims 1899

Call ye the name of Pharao king Egypt, a tumult time hath brought.

Free Bible Version

When they get there they'll say about Pharaoh king of Egypt, “He just makes a lot of noise. He wasted his opportunity.”

Geneva Bible 1599

They did cry there, Pharaoh King of Egypt, and of a great multitude hath passed the time appointed.

King James (Authorized) Version

They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

Translation for Translators

There in Egypt they will say, ‘The king of Egypt talks loudly, but when our army had an opportunity to defeat our enemies, they failed.’

Unlocked Literal Bible

They proclaimed there, 'Pharaoh the king of Egypt is only a noise, one who has let his opportunity slip away.'

Noah Webster Bible

They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

World English Bible

They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.’

Young's Literal Translation

They have cried there: Pharaoh king of Egypt [is] a desolation, Passed by hath the appointed time.

Context

Judgment on Egypt

¹⁶They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.’ ¹⁷There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’

Summary

This verse depicts the impending judgment of Egypt by the hand of the Lord through the Babylonians. Despite Egypt's boasting and reliance on its own strength and multitude of people, they will ultimately be defeated and brought low. The defeat of Egypt serves as a warning to all nations that pride and self-reliance will not stand against the sovereign power of God. It underscores the importance of humility and dependence on the Lord rather than on human strength or resources.

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

there--in their own country severally, the foreign soldiers (Jer 46:16) cry, "Pharaoh is," &c. but a noise--He threatens great things, but when the need arises, he does nothing. His threats are mere "noise" (compare Co1 13:1). MAURER translates, "is ruined," literally (in appropriate abruptness of language), "Pharaoh, king . . . ruin." The context favors English Version. His vauntings of what he would do when the time of battle should come have proved to be empty sounds; he hath passed the time appointed (namely, for battle with the Chaldeans).

John Gill Bible Commentary

They did cry there,.... Not the Chaldeans, deriding Pharaoh and his army, and mocking them, saying the following words, as some; nor the Egyptians in Egypt, as Kimchi, complaining of their king; much less in Carchemish, as others; since this prophecy refers to another event, time, and place; but the auxiliaries of Egypt in the field of battle; these did cry out aloud, as follows: Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he boasted and bragged of great things he would do, and does nothing; he promised to bring a large army into the field, and talked big of attacking the enemy with great ardour and fury, and hectored and blustered as if he feared him not, and was sure of victory; but when it came to the push, his courage failed him; and it may be said of him what the man said of his nightingale, "vox et praeterea nihil", a voice, and nothing else. This was not Pharaohnecho, as the Septuagint have wrongly inserted, but Pharaohhophra, Jer 44:30; or it may be supplied thus, "Pharaoh king of Egypt is a king of noise" (l); a noisy, big, and blusterous king in words, but in deeds nothing: he hath passed the time appointed; to join his auxiliaries, in order to give the enemy battle; and so left them in the lurch, of which they complain; or through his dilatoriness lost the proper opportunity of attacking him. Some indeed understand it, not of the king of Egypt, but of the king of Babylon; as if the sense was this, the Egyptians cried aloud, and encouraged themselves and their allies against the king of Babylon; saying, what Jeremiah the prophet said concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and his destruction is all mere noise; there is nothing in it; for the time set by him for that event is passed and over: others, because the word has sometimes the signification of a solemn meeting or festival, take the meaning to be, that Pharaoh king of Egypt being brought to utter destruction, as the word for noise may signify, or being a noisy tumultuous prince, who brought ruin on himself and others, has thereby caused the solemn feasts to pass away (m), or the festivals to cease; whether in a civil or a religious way; but the first sense seems best. (l) "rex Aegypti, rex tumultus", Munster, Vatablus; "rex perturbationis", Calvin; so Ben Melech; "rex Aegypti, vir strepertus est", Piscator, Junius & Tremellius. (m) "transire fecit solennitatem", De Dieu.