Jeremiah 46:11

The NET Bible®

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, you dear poor people of Egypt. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; there will be no healing for you.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Go up to Gilead and get balm,Virgin Daughter Egypt!You have multiplied remedies in vain;there is no healing for you.

Hebrew Names Version
Go up into Gil`ad, and take balm, virgin daughter of Mitzrayim: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.

King James Version
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

English Standard Version
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.

New American Standard Bible
Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, Virgin daughter of Egypt! You have used many remedies in vain; There is no healing for you.

New Century Version
"Go up to Gilead and get some balm, people of Egypt! You have prepared many medicines, but they will not work; you will not be healed.

Amplified Bible
Go up to Gilead and obtain [healing] balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you use many medicines; For you there is no healing or remedy.

World English Bible
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Goe vp vnto Gilead, and take balme, O virgine, the daughter of Egypt: in vaine shalt thou vse many medicines: for thou shalt haue no health.

Legacy Standard Bible
Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,O virgin daughter of Egypt!In vain have you multiplied remedies;There is no healing for you.

Berean Standard Bible
Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you multiply remedies; there is no healing for you.

Contemporary English Version
Egypt, no medicine can heal you, not even the soothing lotion from Gilead.

Complete Jewish Bible
Go up to Gil‘ad for its healing resin, virgin daughter of Egypt. You try many medicines, all in vain; for you there is no cure.

Darby Translation
Go up to Gilead, and fetch balm, O virgin-daughter of Egypt! In vain shalt thou multiply remedies: there is no healing for thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Egypt, go to Gilead and get some medicine. You will make up many medicines, but they will not help. You will not be healed.

George Lamsa Translation
Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt! In vain you shall use many medicines; for you shall not be healed.

Good News Translation
People of Egypt, go to Gilead and look for medicine! All your medicine has proved useless; nothing can heal you.

Lexham English Bible
Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin of the daughter of Egypt. In vain you make use of many medicines; there is no healing for you.

Literal Translation
Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you shall use many remedies; healing is not for you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Go vp (o Galaad) & bringe triacle vnto the doughter off Egipte: But in vayne shalt thou go to surgery, for thy wounde shall not be stopped.

American Standard Version
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

Bible in Basic English
Go up to Gilead and take sweet oil, O virgin daughter of Egypt: there is no help in all your medical arts; nothing will make you well.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no cure for thee.

King James Version (1611)
Goe vp into Gilead, and take balme, O virgine, the daughter of Egypt: in vaine shalt thou vse many medicines: for thou shalt not be cured.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Go vp vnto Gilead, and bryng triacle O virgin thou daughter of Egypt: but in vayne shalt thou go to surgerie, for thy wounde shall not be stopped.

English Revised Version
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou virgyn, the douyter of Egipt, stie in to Galaad, and take medicyn. In veyn thou schalt multiplie medecyns; helthe schal not be to thee.

Update Bible Version
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured.

New King James Version
"Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured.

New Living Translation
"Go up to Gilead to get medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! But your many treatments will bring you no healing.

New Life Bible
Go up to Gilead and get healing oil, O young daughter of Egypt! You have used many medicines for nothing. There is no healing for you.

New Revised Standard
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Go up to Gilead and fetch balsam, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain, hast thou multiplied remedies, Healing, there is none for thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

Revised Standard Version
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.

Young's Literal Translation
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt, In vain thou hast multiplied medicines, Healing there is none for thee.

THE MESSAGE
"Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt, climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm. You will vainly collect medicines, for nothing will be able to cure what ails you. The whole world will hear your anguished cries. Your wails fill the earth, As soldier falls against soldier and they all go down in a heap."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain have you multiplied remedies; There is no healing for you.

Contextual Overview

¹ The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the nations. ² He spoke about Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt which was encamped along the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Now this was the army that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ³ "Fall into ranks with your shields ready! Prepare to march into battle! ⁴ Harness the horses to the chariots! Mount your horses! Put on your helmets and take your positions! Sharpen your spears! Put on your armor! ⁵ What do I see?" says the Lord . "The soldiers are terrified. They are retreating. They have been defeated. They are overcome with terror; they desert quickly without looking back. ⁶ But even the swiftest cannot get away. Even the strongest cannot escape. There in the north by the Euphrates River they stumble and fall in defeat. ⁷ "Who is this that rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage? ⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage. Egypt says, ‘I will arise and cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them.' ⁹ Go ahead and charge into battle, you horsemen! Drive furiously, you charioteers! Let the soldiers march out into battle, those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields, and those from Lydia who are armed with the bow. ¹⁰ But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied! It will drink their blood until it is full! For the Lord God who rules over all will offer them up as a sacrifice in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Gilead: Jeremiah 8:22, Jeremiah 51:8, Genesis 37:25, Genesis 43:11, Ezekiel 27:17

O virgin: Jeremiah 14:17, Isaiah 47:1

in vain: Jeremiah 30:12-15, Ezekiel 30:21-25, Micah 1:9, Nahum 3:19, Matthew 5:26, Luke 8:43, Luke 8:44

thou shalt not be cured: Heb. no cure shall be unto thee

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 19:21 - the daughter Job 13:4 - physicians Isaiah 23:12 - thou oppressed Jeremiah 30:15 - thy sorrow Jeremiah 46:24 - daughter

Cross-References

Genesis 29:34
She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, "Now this time my husband will show me affection, because I have given birth to three sons for him." That is why he was named Levi.

Genesis 46:1
So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had. When he came to Beer Sheba he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

Genesis 46:3
He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

Genesis 46:5
Then Jacob started out from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.

Genesis 46:7
He brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters—all his descendants.

Genesis 46:8
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt—Jacob and his sons: Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob.

Genesis 46:11
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Genesis 46:17
The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malkiel.

Genesis 46:19
The sons of Rachel the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.

Genesis 46:22
These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Go up into Gilead,.... Still the irony or sarcasm is continued Gilead was a place in the land of Israel famous for balm or balsam, used in curing wounds; see Jeremiah 8:22; hence it follows:

and take balm, O virgin, daughter of Egypt; the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum; so called because of its glory and excellency; and because as yet it had not been conquered and brought under the power of another: now the inhabitants of it are bid to take balm or balsam, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; but this grew not in Gilead beyond Jordan, but near Jericho on this side Jordan, as Bochart z has proved from various authors; particularly Strabo a says of Jericho, that there is the paradise of balsam, an aromatic plant, and of great esteem; for there only it is produced: and so Diodorus Siculus b, speaking of places near Jericho, says, about these places, in a certain valley, grows what is called balsam, from which much profit arises; nor is the plant to be found in any other part of the world: and Justin c observes the same; that much riches accrue to the nation from the tax on balsam, which is only produced in this country, in Jericho, and the valley near it; yea, Kimchi himself elsewhere d says, that the balsam is not any where in the whole world but in Jericho. The word therefore should be rendered rosin, as also in Jeremiah 8:22; as it is by some e; and which is used in cleansing, healing, and contracting wounds, and dispersing humours, as Pliny f relates; and this here is ordered to be taken, either literally, to cure the vast number of their wounded by the Chaldeans; or rather, figuratively, they are called upon to make use of all means to recover their loss sustained; by recruiting their army, fortifying their cities, and getting fresh allies and auxiliaries; all which would yet be to no purpose:

in vain shalt thou use many medicines; [for] thou shall not be cured; notwithstanding all means made use of to repair its losses; though it should not utterly be destroyed yet should never recover its former glory.

z Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 51. col. 628, 629. a Geograph. l. 16. p. 525. b Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 734. c E Trogo, l. 36. c. 3. d Comment in 2 Kings xx. 13. So R. Levi Ben Gersom in ib. e קחי צרי "tolle resinam", Montanus, Munster, Calvin, Grotius. f Nat. Hist. l. 24. c. 6.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Balm - i. e., balsam, the usual remedy for wounds Jeremiah 8:22.

In vain shalt ... - Or, in vain hast thou multiplied medicines: healing-plaster hast thou none. Nothing shall avail to heal the blow.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 46:11. Go up into Gilead, and take balm — An irony. Egypt is so completely enfeebled by this overthrow, that her political wound is utterly incurable. This figure is used with the more propriety here, as the Egyptians have been celebrated from the remotest antiquity for their knowledge of medicine.