Jeremiah 46:20
New International Version
“Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.

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

English Standard Version
“A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.

Berean Standard Bible
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

King James Bible
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

New King James Version
“Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.

New American Standard Bible
“Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

NASB 1995
“Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north— it is coming!

NASB 1977
“Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

Legacy Standard Bible
Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

Amplified Bible
“Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But a horsefly (Babylonia) is coming [against her] out of the north!

Christian Standard Bible
Egypt is a beautiful young cow, but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Egypt is a beautiful young cow, but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.

American Standard Version
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Egypt, a beautiful speckled heifer, an army from the North came upon her

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Egypt is a fair heifer, but destruction from the north is come upon her.

Contemporary English Version
An enemy from the north will attack you, beautiful Egypt, like a fly biting a cow.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.

English Revised Version
Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Egypt is like a beautiful cow, but a horsefly from the north will attack it.

Good News Translation
Egypt is like a splendid cow, attacked by a stinging fly from the north.

International Standard Version
Egypt is a beautiful calf, but a horsefly from the north is surely coming.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Egypt is a very fair heifer; But the gadfly out of the north is come, it is come.

Literal Standard Version
Egypt [is] a very beautiful heifer, | Destruction comes into her from the north.

Majority Standard Bible
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her.

New American Bible
Egypt is a beautiful heifer, a horsefly from the north keeps coming.

NET Bible
Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies.

New Revised Standard Version
A beautiful heifer is Egypt— a gadfly from the north lights upon her.

New Heart English Bible
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.

Webster's Bible Translation
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

World English Bible
“Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come.

Young's Literal Translation
A heifer very fair is Egypt, Rending from the north doth come into her.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Judgment on Egypt
19Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited. 20Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming against her. 21Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 1:14
Then the LORD said to me, "Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.

Jeremiah 47:2
This is what the LORD says: "See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and all who dwell in the land will wail

Jeremiah 50:11
"Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph--you who plunder My inheritance--because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,

Hosea 10:11
Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.


Treasury of Scripture

Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north.

a very

Jeremiah 50:11
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

Hosea 10:11
And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

it cometh

Jeremiah 46:6,10
Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates…

Jeremiah 1:14
Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jeremiah 25:9
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

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Beautiful Biting Cow Destruction Egypt Fair Heifer Insect North Rending Young
Jeremiah 46
1. Jeremiah prophesies the overthrow of Pharaoh's army at Euphrates
13. and the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar
27. He comforts Jacob in his chastisement














(20) Egypt is like a very fair heifer.--The similitude points, like the "strong one" of Jeremiah 46:15, to the Apis worship of Egypt. The nation is like its god. The figure is continued in the words that follow. There comes from the north (from the land of the Chaldees, as in Jeremiah 1:1), not "destruction," but a gadfly that shall sting the heifer into the madness of agony. So, in Isaiah 7:18, the "fly" of Egypt and the "bee" of Assyria are invited to work evil on Judah. The words find a striking parallel in the Greek legend of Io (probably to be identified with the Egyptian Isis) transformed into a heifer, and her gadfly tormentor, this also connected with the Apis or Mnevis deities of Egypt ('schyl. Prom. v. 569). The word for "destruction" is not found elsewhere, but the etymology suggests the idea of "pinching" or "stinging," and the meaning "gadfly" is accepted by many recent scholars.

Verses 20-26. - A figurative description of the dark future of Egypt. Verse 20. - Like a very fair heifer. (The insertion of "like" weakens the passage.) The well nourished heifer reminds of the prosperity of the fruitful Nile valley. But destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north; rather, a gadfly from the north hath come upon her (not, "hath come, hath come," as the received text has - a very slight change in one letter is required, supported by the versions). The figure is precisely analogous to that of the "bee in the land of Assyria" (Isaiah 7:18). St. Chrysostom renders "a gadfly" (see Field, 'Origen's Hexapla,' 2:708); and so virtually Aquila and Symmachus.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יִם (miṣ·rā·yim)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4714: Egypt -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their country in Northwest Africa

is a beautiful
פִיָּ֖ה (p̄î·yāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 3304: Very beautiful

heifer,
עֶגְלָ֥ה (‘eḡ·lāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5697: A, calf, one nearly grown

but a gadfly
קֶ֥רֶץ (qe·reṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7171: Perhaps nipping

from the north
מִצָּפ֖וֹן (miṣ·ṣā·p̄ō·wn)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 6828: Hidden, dark, the north as a, quarter

is coming against her.
בָּ֥א (bā)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 46:20 Egypt is a very beautiful heifer (Jer.)
Jeremiah 46:19
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