Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, September 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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New Living Translation

Jeremiah 46:20

Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Babylon;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Ox, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Egypt;   Heifer;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Egypt;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Heifer;   Nebuchadnezzar;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Heifer;   Jeremiah;   Memphis;   Nebuchadnezzar;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gadfly;   Heifer;   Insects;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Heifer;   Nebuchadrezzar;   Obadiah, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Heifer;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Jeremiah (2);   Smith Bible Dictionary - Nebuchadnez'zar,;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Calf, Golden;   Eglath-Shelishiyah;   Heifer;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Egypt;   Fly;   Gadfly;   Nebuchadnezzar;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Egypt is a beautiful young cow,but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.
Hebrew Names Version
Mitzrayim is a very beautiful heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
King James Version
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
English Standard Version
"A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
New American Standard Bible
"Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!
New Century Version
"Egypt is like a beautiful young cow, but a horsefly is coming from the north to attack her.
Amplified Bible
"Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But a horsefly (Babylonia) is coming [against her] out of the north!
World English Bible
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Egypt is like a faire calfe, but destruction commeth: out of the North it commeth.
Legacy Standard Bible
Egypt is a pretty heifer,But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!
Berean Standard Bible
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.
Contemporary English Version
An enemy from the north will attack you, beautiful Egypt, like a fly biting a cow.
Complete Jewish Bible
Egypt is a beautiful female calf; but a horsefly from the north has come to attack her.
Darby Translation
Egypt is a very fair heifer; the gad-fly cometh, it cometh from the north.
Easy-to-Read Version
"Egypt is like a beautiful cow. But a horsefly is coming from the north to attack her.
George Lamsa Translation
Egypt is like a very fair and pampered heifer, but an army from the north has come against her.
Good News Translation
Egypt is like a splendid cow, attacked by a stinging fly from the north.
Lexham English Bible
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north will come against her.
Literal Translation
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but coming a stinger comes out of the north.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The londe of Egipte is like a goodly fayre calfe, but one shall come out of the north to dryue her forwarde.
American Standard Version
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
Bible in Basic English
Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but the gadfly out of the north is come, it is come.
King James Version (1611)
Egypt is like a very faire heifer, but destruction commeth: it commeth out of the North.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The lande of Egypt is lyke a goodly faire calfe: but destruction shall come out of the north [I say] it commeth.
English Revised Version
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Egipt is a schapli cow calf, and fair; a prickere fro the north schal come to it.
Update Bible Version
Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north has come, it has come.
Webster's Bible Translation
Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
New English Translation
Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies.
New King James Version
"Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.
New Life Bible
Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But a horsefly has come upon her from the north.
New Revised Standard
A beautiful heifer is Egypt— a gadfly from the north lights upon her.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A calf of great beauty, is Egypt: The gad-fly, out of the North, cometh - cometh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.
Revised Standard Version
"A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a gadfly from the north has come upon her.
Young's Literal Translation
A heifer very fair [is] Egypt, Rending from the north doth come into her.
THE MESSAGE
"Too bad, Egypt, a beautiful sleek heifer attacked by a horsefly from the north! All her hired soldiers are stationed to defend her— like well-fed calves they are. But when their lives are on the line, they'll run off, cowards every one. When the going gets tough, they'll take the easy way out.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

Contextual Overview

12 The nations have heard of your shame. The earth is filled with your cries of despair. Your mightiest warriors will run into each other and fall down together." 13 Then the Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah this message about King Nebuchadnezzar's plans to attack Egypt. 14 "Shout it out in Egypt! Publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Mobilize for battle, for the sword will devour everyone around you. 15 Why have your warriors fallen? They cannot stand, for the Lord has knocked them down. 16 They stumble and fall over each other and say among themselves, ‘Come, let's go back to our people, to the land of our birth. Let's get away from the sword of the enemy!' 17 There they will say, ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth who missed his opportunity!' 18 "As surely as I live," says the King, whose name is the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "one is coming against Egypt who is as tall as Mount Tabor, or as Mount Carmel by the sea! 19 Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt! The city of Memphis will be destroyed, without a single inhabitant. 20 Egypt is as sleek as a beautiful heifer, but a horsefly from the north is on its way! 21 Egypt's mercenaries have become like fattened calves. They, too, will turn and run, for it is a day of great disaster for Egypt, a time of great punishment.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a very: Jeremiah 50:11, Hosea 10:11

it cometh: Jeremiah 46:6, Jeremiah 46:10, Jeremiah 1:14, Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 47:2

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 46:24 - she shall Ezekiel 30:18 - the pomp

Cross-References

Genesis 41:45
Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah. He also gave him a wife, whose name was Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt.
Genesis 46:4
I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes."
Genesis 46:5
So Jacob left Beersheba, and his sons took him to Egypt. They carried him and their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had provided for them.
Genesis 46:13
The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.
Genesis 46:14
The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
Genesis 46:17
The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. Beriah's sons were Heber and Malkiel.
Genesis 46:23
The son of Dan was Hushim.
Genesis 46:26
The total number of Jacob's direct descendants who went with him to Egypt, not counting his sons' wives, was sixty-six.
Genesis 46:28
As they neared their destination, Jacob sent Judah ahead to meet Joseph and get directions to the region of Goshen. And when they finally arrived there,
Genesis 46:29
Joseph prepared his chariot and traveled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept, holding him for a long time.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer,.... Like a heifer that has never been under a yoke, it having never been conquered, and brought under the power of another; and like a beautiful, fat, and well fed one, abounding in wealth and riches, in pleasures and delights, in wantonness and luxury, and fit for slaughter, and ready for it. The Targum is,

"Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.''

Some think there is an illusion to the gods of Egypt, Apis and Mnevis, which were heifers or oxen, very beautiful, that had fine spots and marks upon them. Apis was worshipped at Memphis, or Noph, before mentioned, as to be wasted; and Mnevis at Heliopolis, the city of the sun, the same with Bethshemesh, whose destruction is prophesied of;

:-; and both these were of various colours, as Ovid z says, particularly of one of them, and is true of both. Pomponius Mela a observes of Apis, the god of all the people of Egypt, that it was a black ox, remarkable for certain spots; and unlike to others in its tongue and tail. And Solinus b says, it is famous for a white spot on its right side, in the form of a new moon: with whom Pliny c agrees, that it has a white spot on the right side, like the horns of the moon, when it begins to increase; and that it has a knot under the tongue, which they call a beetle. And so Herodotus d says, it is very black, and has a white square spot on the forehead; on the back, the effigies of an eagle; two hairs in the tail, and a beetle On the tongue, To which may be added what Strabo e reports, that at Memphis, the royal city of Egypt, is the temple of Apis, the same with Osiris; where the ox of Apis is fed in an enclosure, and reckoned to be a god; it is white in its forehead, and in some small parts of the body, and the rest black; by which marks and signs it is always judged what is proper to be put in its place when dead. In the Table of Iris f, published by Pignorius, it is otherwise painted and described; its head, neck, horns, buttocks, and tail, black, and the rest white; and, on the right side, a corniculated streak. Aelianus g says, these marks were in number twenty nine, and, according to the Egyptians, were symbols of things; some, of the nature of the stars; some, of the overflowing of the Nile; some, of the darkness of the world before the light, and of other things: and all agree, that the ox looked fair and beautiful, to which the allusion is; and there may be in the words an ironical sarcasm, flout, and jeer, at the gods they worshipped, which could not save them from the destruction coming upon them, as follows:

[but] destruction cometh, it cometh from the north; that is, the destruction of Egypt, which should come from Chaldea, which lay north of Egypt; and the coming of it is repeated, to denote the quickness and certainty of it: the word used signifies a cutting off, or a cutting up; in allusion to the cutting off the necks of heifers, which used to be done when slain, Deuteronomy 21:4; or to the cutting of them up, as is done by butchers: and the abstract being put for the concrete, it may be rendered, the "cutter up" h; or cutter off; men, like butchers, shall come out of Babylon, and slay and cut up, this heifer. So the Targum,

"people, that are slayers shall come out of the north against her, to spoil her i;''

that is, the Chaldean army, agreeably to the Syriac version,

"an army shall come out of the north against her.''

z "------variisque coloribus Apis", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 9. Fab. 12. a De Orbis Situ, l. 1. c. 9. b Polyhistor. c. 45. c Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 46. d L. 3. sive Thalia, c. 28. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 555. Ed. Casaubon. f Piguorii Mensa Isiaca, tab. 4. g De Animal. l. 11. c. 10. h קרץ "mactator", Grotius. So Jarchi. i So in T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 32. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is like - Or, is. Her god was the steer Apis Jeremiah 46:15, and she is the spouse.

But destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north - More probably, “a gadfly from the north has come upon her.” This is a sort of insect which stings the oxen and drives them to madness. Compare Isaiah 7:18.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 46:20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer — Fruitful and useful; but destruction cometh out of the north, from Chaldea. It may be that there is an allusion here to Isis, worshipped in Egypt under the form of a beautiful cow.


 
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