Yeremia 46:11-12

46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹ 

you dear poor people of Egypt. ² 

But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³ 

there will be no healing for you.

46:12 The nations will hear of your devastating defeat. ⁴ 

your cries of distress will echo throughout the earth.

In the panic of their flight one soldier will trip over another

and both of them will fall down defeated.” ⁵ 

[46:11]  ¹ tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

[46:11]  ² sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.

[46:11]  ³ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”

[46:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “of your shame.” The “shame,” however, applies to the devastating defeat they will suffer.

[46:12]  ⁵ tn The words “In the panic of their flight” and “defeated” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor for the average reader. The verbs in this verse are all in the tense that emphasizes that the action is viewed as already having been accomplished (i.e., the Hebrew prophetic perfect). This is consistent with the vav consecutive perfects in v. 10 which look to the future.