Jeremiah 46:12

Jer 46:12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, [and] they are fallen both together.

Ver. 12. The nations have heard of thy shame.] Of the shameful defeat given thee; so that thou who wast once a terror to them art now a scorn.

For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty.] And this is the sum of the talk that goeth of thee.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

mighty . . . stumbled against . . . mighty . . . fallen both together--Their very multitude shall prove an impediment in their confused flight, one treading on the other.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. The nations have heard of thy shame] Of thy disgrace, by this prodigious slaughter of thy troops.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He concludes this prophecy by saying that the report of this slaughter would be everywhere known among all nations. Had the Egyptians sustained only a small loss, the thing might have been unknown, as when a small engagement takes place the report does not spread far and wide; but when by one battle a nation is so conquered that a remarkable change follows, the event then is proclaimed everywhere. The Prophet then intimates by these words, that the stroke of Egypt would not be common, as also he said before, because the report would fly through all nations.

Heard then have all nations of thy reproach, even that the Egyptians had, to their great disgrace, been conquered by the Chaldeans, and that they had not only been put to flight, but that the greatest part of them had been slain, so that the kingdom of Egypt had been nearly lost; that at least they had been reduced to such straits, that they lost their chief eries and a very wide country, even throughout Asia to the river Euphrates.

He says that the land was filled with their cry: by voice or cry he means lamentations. Then he adds, Because the valiant hath stumbled against the valiant This may be thus explained, “The valiant hath contended with the valiant;” but. that the Chaldean proved stronger than the Egyptian: but I prefer to apply this to the Egyptians; and this may be inferred from the end of the verse, where he says, that both fell. So the Prophet means that the multitude, in which the Egyptians gloried, would be a hindrance to them, as usually is the case, when the army is too crowded, for the larger and the more numerous the army is, the greater is the disorder and confusion. When an army is small, they can by degrees recede, or stand still, until they take flight in safety: but in a great multitude there is also great trepidation, and hence a great disorder and confusion. This then is what the Prophet points out, when he says, The valiant stumbled against the valiant, and they both fell together; that is, that while they were fighting, they would clash with one another, and produce such disorder, as to occasion the fall of both.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

12. thy shame] The LXX, “thy voice,” requires but a slight alteration of MT. and one which improves the parallelism.

the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty] The heroes fighting on the Egyptian side tumble over one another in their blind flight. Cp. Lev_26:37.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The nations have heard of thy shame,.... Their shameful defeat and overthrow by the Chaldean army; so, after the manner of prophecy, the thing is related as done; the battle fought, and the victory obtained; and the rumour and fame of it spread among the nations, to the great mortification of this proud people:

and thy cry hath filled the land; the shrieks of the wounded; the cry of the pursued and taken; the lamentation of friends and relations for their dead; with one thing or another of this kind the whole land of Egypt was filled; yea, all the countries round about them, in confederacy with them, were filled with distress for the loss of their own; the calamity was large and spreading, and the rumour of it:

for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together; either the mighty Egyptians against the mighty Chaldeans; and though the latter were the conquerors, yet lost abundance of men; so that there were mighty ones fell on both sides: or rather, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, the mighty Egyptians in their flight fell, and other mighty ones of them following, stumbled at them, and fell upon them, and so both became a prey to the pursuers; or in their flight the mighty Egyptians stumbled against their mighty auxiliaries before mentioned, Jer 46:9; and so both came into the hands of their enemies. The Targum is, both were slain.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The land - The earth; the world rings with the cry of grief.

Against the mighty - Against the mighty man, i. e., one mighty man against another. The champions hired to fight Egypt’s battle get in one another’s way, and so are slaughtered together.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The prophet keepeth to his old prophetic style, speaking of things that were to come to pass some years after as if they were already past, because of the certainty of them; in this sense he saith other nations had seen, because they should see, the shame and confusion of the Egyptians upon their overthrow, and the cry of their slain and wounded men would fill other lands. For the Egyptians should certainly be overthrown, either by the Chaldeans stumbling upon the Babylonians, or the Babylonians on them, or they (fleeing) for haste stumbling one upon another, so as both those that went before, and those who followed after, should both fall together.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hath filled the land; rather, the earth, corresponding to "the nations."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Stumbled - Stumbling one upon another, so that both those that went before, and those who followed after, should fall together.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

a mighty man has stumbled upon a mighty man When they were fleeing they would stumble over each other.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.