Jer 46:20-21 | JFB | STEP | 20. heifer —wanton, like a fat, untamed heifer ( ). Appropriate to Egypt, where Apis was worshipped under the form of a fair bull marked with spots. destruction —that is, a destroyer: Nebuchadnezzar. Vulgate translates, "a goader," answering to the metaphor, "one who will goad the heifer " and tame her. The Arabic idiom favors this [ROSENMULLER ]. cometh . . . cometh —The repetition implies, it cometh surely and quickly ( ). out of the north

Jeremiah 46:20-21

20. heifer—wanton, like a fat, untamed heifer (Ho 10:11). Appropriate to Egypt, where Apis was worshipped under the form of a fair bull marked with spots.

destruction—that is, a destroyer: Nebuchadnezzar. Vulgate translates, "a goader," answering to the metaphor, "one who will goad the heifer" and tame her. The Arabic idiom favors this [ROSENMULLER].

cometh . . . cometh—The repetition implies, it cometh surely and quickly (Ps 96:13).

out of the north—(See on Jer 1:14; Jer 47:2).

21. Translate, "Also her hired men (mercenary soldiers, Jer 46:9, 16), who are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, even they also are turned back," that is, shall turn their backs to flee. The same image, "heifer . . . bullocks" (Jer 46:20, 21), is applied to Egypt's foreign mercenaries, as to herself. Pampered with the luxuries of Egypt, they become as enervated for battle as the natives themselves.