Jeremiah 46:22

Contemporary English Version

The enemy army will go forward like a swarm of locusts. Your troops will feel helpless, like a snake in a forest

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake,for the enemy will come with an army;with axes they will come against herlike those who cut trees.

Hebrew Names Version
The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.

King James Version
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

English Standard Version
"She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away; for her enemies march in force and come against her with axes like those who fell trees.

New American Standard Bible
"Its sound moves along like a serpent; For they move on like an army And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

New Century Version
Egypt is like a hissing snake that is trying to escape. The enemy comes closer and closer. They come against Egypt with axes like men who cut down trees.

Amplified Bible
"The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent, For her foes advance with a mighty army And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

World English Bible
The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The voyce thereof shall goe foorth like a serpent: for they shall march with an armie, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Legacy Standard Bible
Its sound moves along like a serpent;For they move on like a military forceAnd come to her as woodcutters with axes.

Berean Standard Bible
Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.

Complete Jewish Bible
Egypt hisses like a snake, as the enemy's army marches ahead, attacking her with their axes like lumbermen chopping trees.

Darby Translation
Her voice shall go like a serpent's; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Easy-to-Read Version
Egypt is like a snake hissing and trying to escape. The enemy comes closer and closer, and the Egyptian army is trying to slither away. The enemy will attack Egypt with axes, like men cutting down trees."

George Lamsa Translation
The sound of the army is like that of a serpent when it creeps; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, like hewers of trees.

Good News Translation
Egypt runs away, hissing like a snake, as the enemy's army approaches. They attack her with axes, like people cutting down trees

Lexham English Bible
Her sound is like a snake that glides away, for they march in force. And with axes they come to her like those who chop trees.

Literal Translation
Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force, and come against her with axes, like woodcutters.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The crie off their enemies shall make a noyse, as the blast of a trompet. For they shall entre in with their hooste, and come wt axes, as it were hewers downe of wod.

American Standard Version
The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Bible in Basic English
She makes a sound like the hiss of a snake when they come on with strength; they go against her with axes, like wood-cutters.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The sound thereof shall go like the serpent's; for they march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

King James Version (1611)
The voice thereof shall goe like a serpent, for they shall march with an armie, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The crye of them shall make a noyse as the hissing of serpentes: for they shall enter in with their hoastes, and come against her with axes, as it were hewers downe of wood.

English Revised Version
The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The vois of hem schal sowne as of bras, for thei schulen haste with oost, and with axis thei schulen come to it. As men kittynge doun trees thei kittiden doun the forest therof,

Update Bible Version
The sound thereof shall be like a serpent going away; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Webster's Bible Translation
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

New English Translation
Egypt will run away, hissing like a snake, as the enemy comes marching up in force. They will come against her with axes as if they were woodsmen chopping down trees.

New King James Version
Her noise shall go like a serpent, For they shall march with an army And come against her with axes, Like those who chop wood.

New Living Translation
Egypt flees, silent as a serpent gliding away. The invading army marches in; they come against her with axes like woodsmen.

New Life Bible
Egypt will sound like a snake moving away. For an army will come against her with axes, like those who cut down trees.

New Revised Standard
She makes a sound like a snake gliding away; for her enemies march in force, and come against her with axes, like those who fell trees.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Her noise, like a serpent, departeth, - For, with a force, they advance, And with axes, have they come against her, like them who fell trees:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.

Revised Standard Version
"She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away; for her enemies march in force, and come against her with axes, like those who fell trees.

Young's Literal Translation
Its voice as a serpent goeth on, For with a force they go, And with axes they have come in to her, As hewers of trees.

THE MESSAGE
"Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake as the enemy army comes in force. They will rush in, swinging axes like lumberjacks cutting down trees. They'll level the country"— God 's Decree—"nothing and no one standing for as far as you can see. The invaders will be a swarm of locusts, innumerable, past counting. Daughter Egypt will be ravished, raped by vandals from the north."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Its sound moves along like a serpent; For they move on like an army And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

Contextual Overview

¹² All nations have heard you weep; you are disgraced, and they know it. Your troops fall to the ground, stumbling over each other. ¹³When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia was on his way to attack Egypt, the Lord sent me with a warning for every Egyptian town, but especially for Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes. He said to tell them: Prepare to defend yourselves! Everywhere in your nation, people are dying in war. < ¹⁵ I have struck down your mighty god Apis and chased him away. ¹⁶ Your soldiers stumble over each other and say, "Get up! The enemy will kill us, unless we can escape to our own land." ¹⁷ Give the king of Egypt this new name, "Talks-Big-Does-Nothing." ¹⁸ Egypt, I am the true king, the Lord All-Powerful, and as surely as I live, those enemies who attack will tower over you like Mount Tabor among the hills or Mount Carmel by the sea. ¹⁹ You will be led away captive, so pack a few things to bring with you. Your capital, Memphis, will lie empty and in ruins. ²⁰ An enemy from the north will attack you, beautiful Egypt, like a fly biting a cow. ²¹ The foreign soldiers you hired will turn and run. But they are doomed, like well-fed calves being led to the butcher. ²² The enemy army will go forward like a swarm of locusts. Your troops will feel helpless, like a snake in a forest

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

voice: Isaiah 29:4, Micah 1:8, Micah 7:16

and come: Jeremiah 51:20-23, Isaiah 10:15, Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34, Isaiah 14:8, Isaiah 37:24, Zechariah 11:2

Reciprocal: Psalms 74:5 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The voice thereof shall go like a serpent,.... That is, the voice of Egypt, before compared to a heifer, when in its glory; but now it shall not bellow like a heifer in fat pasture, bat hiss like a serpent, when drove out of its hole, and pursued; signifying, that their voice should be low and submissive, and should not speak one big or murmuring word to their conquerors. The voice of the serpent is, by Aristotle m said to be small and weak; so Aelianus n. Though Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, understand it of the voice of serpents heard afar off; and so it may respect the dreadful lamentation the Egyptians should make, when they should see the Chaldeans come upon them to destroy them; just as serpents in woods make a horrible noise, when they are set on fire, or are cut down, to which there is an allusion in some following clauses. The Targum seems to interpret this of the Chaldean army thus,

"the voice of the clashing of their arms as serpents creeping;''

and of them the following words are certainly meant:

for they shall march with an army; the Targum adds, against you; the meaning is, that the Chaldeans should come with a great army, and march against the Egyptians with great strength, force, and fury:

and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood; with battle axes, as if they came to cut down trees; nor would they spare the Egyptians any more than such hewers do the trees; nor would they be able any more to resist them than trees can resist hewers of wood.

m Hist. Animal. l. 4. c. 9. n De Animal. l. 15. c. 13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The voice thereof - Her voice, i. e., the voice of Egypt. The word here probably means the busy sound of life and activity in the towns of Egypt, the tramping of her hosts, and the turmoil of camp and city. All this at the approach of the Chaldaean army shall depart, as the snake flees away when disturbed in its haunts by the wood-cutters.

March with an army - Advance with might.

With axes - The comparison of the Chaldaean warriors to woodcutters arose from their being armed with axes. As the Israelites did not use the battle-axe, their imagination would be the more forcibly struck by this weapon.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 46:22. The voice - shall go like a serpent — See Isaiah 29:4, and the note there.