Jeremia 2:18

Lutherbibel

Was hilft's dir, daß du nach Ägypten ziehst und willst vom Wasser Sihor trinken? Und was hilft's dir, daß du nach Assyrien ziehst und willst vom Wasser des Euphrat trinken?

Parallel Translations

Schlachter Bibel (1951)
Und nun, was soll dir die Reise nach Ägypten helfen, um die Wasser des Nil zu trinken? Oder was soll dir die Reise nach Assur helfen, um von dem Wasser des Euphrat zu trinken?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

what hast: Jeremiah 2:36, Jeremiah 37:5-10, Isaiah 30:1-7, Isaiah 31:1, Lamentations 4:17, Ezekiel 17:15, Hosea 7:11

Sihor: Joshua 13:3

or what hast: 2 Kings 16:7-9, 2 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 28:21, Hosea 5:13

Reciprocal: Genesis 16:8 - whence Judges 2:2 - why have 1 Samuel 15:14 - What meaneth 1 Samuel 28:15 - I am sore 1 Kings 19:9 - What doest thou 1 Chronicles 13:5 - Shihor Psalms 91:11 - in all Isaiah 8:6 - that go softly Isaiah 23:3 - Sihor Jeremiah 31:22 - How Lamentations 5:6 - to the Egyptians Ezekiel 16:28 - General Ezekiel 23:30 - thou hast Ezekiel 29:16 - the confidence

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt,.... By worshipping of idols, in imitation of them; or by sending ambassadors thither for help, when they had their Lord, their God, so nigh, had they not forsaken him; nor had Josiah any business to go out against Pharaohnecho, 2 Chronicles 35:21 and, contrary to the express word of God by the Prophet Jeremy, did the Jews which remained in Judea go into Egypt,

Jeremiah 42:19.

To drink the waters of Sihor? which is the river Nile, as Jarchi interprets it. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "the waters of Geon", or "Gihon": and this also is the same with the Nile, as Josephus k affirms, who says,

"Geon, which runs through Egypt, is the same which the Greeks call Nile.''

So Jerom l from Eusebius,

"Geon is a river, which with the Egyptians is called Nile.''

The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "troubled water"; and such were the waters of the Nile, which had its name of Sihor from the blackness of it; and hence, by the Greeks m, was called Melas; and by the Latines n, Melo. Hence, as Braunius o observes, it was represented by a black stone, as other rivers by a white one; for which reason the black colour was very grateful to the Egyptians; and for the same reason Osiris, which is the very Nile itself, was reckoned black; and the ox Apis they worshipped was a black one, at least part of it, and was covered with black linen cloth; and its priests were also clothed in black, hence called Chemarim, Hosea 10:5.

Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria; to go after their idolatrous practices, or to send to them for help; for this was the usual method of the Jews; when the Assyrians oppressed them, then they sent to Egypt for help; and when the Egyptians were upon them, then they applied to the Assyrians; and in both cases acted wrong, for they ought to have sought the Lord their God only:

to drink the waters of the river? of the river Euphrates. The sense is, that they preferred the waters of the Nile and of Euphrates, or the gods of the Egyptians and Assyrians, or the help of these people, before the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and his worship and powerful help. The Targum paraphrases this last clause thus,

"why do ye make covenant with the Assyrian, to carry you captive beyond the river Euphrates?''

k Antiqu. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. l De locis Hebraicis, fol. 91. H. m Eustathius in Dionys. περιηγ n Servius in Virgil. Georg. l. 4. p. 343. & in Aeneid. l. 1. p. 541. o Selecta Sacr. l. 4. c. 9. p. 492, & l. 5. Exercit. 4. sect. 8. p. 700, 701.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sihor - The Nile. To lean upon Egypt was a violation of the principles of theocracy.

The two rivers are the two empires, and to drink their waters is to adopt their principles and religion. Compare also Isaiah 8:6-7.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 2:18. What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt — Why dost thou make alliances with Egypt?

To drink the waters of Sihor? — This means the Nile. See on Isaiah 23:3.

The way of Assyria — Why make alliances with the Assyrians? All such connexions will only expedite thy ruin.

To drink the waters of the river? — The Euphrates, as נהר nahar or הנהר hannahar always means Euphrates, the country between the Tigris and Euphrates, is termed to this day Maher alnahar, "the country beyond the river," i.e., Mesopotamia.

Instead of cleaving to the Lord, they joined affinity and made alliances with those two nations, who were ever jealous of them, and sought their ruin. Egypt was to them a broken reed instead of a staff; Assyria was a leaky cistern, from which they could derive no help.