Jeremiah 46:4

Jer 46:4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with [your] helmets; furbish the spears, [and] put on the brigandines.

Ver. 4. Harness the horses.] Those warlike creatures, but yet vain things for safety. {Psa 33:17 Pro 21:31} Egypt was famous for the best horses; {Deu 17:16 1Ki 10:26; 1Ki 10:28} but the Lord delighteth not in the strength of a horse, &c. {Psa 147:10-11}

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.

Harness the horses--namely, to the war chariots, for which Egypt was famed (Exo 14:7; Exo 15:4).

get up, ye horsemen--get up into the chariots. MAURER, because of the parallel "horses," translates, "Mount the steeds." But it is rather describing the successive steps in equipping the war chariots; first harness the horses to them, then let the horsemen mount them.

brigandines--cuirasses, or coats of mail.

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 4. Furbish the spears] Cleanse, brighten, and sharpen them; from the Franco-Gallic fourbir, to polish, brighten.

Brigandines.] A coat of mail, especially that which was made scale fashion; one plate overlapping the other, like the scales of fish.

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

4. Harness the horses] to the chariots which formed a very important feature of Egyptian armies.

get up, ye horsemen] probably, mount the steeds.

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.

Harness the horses,.... Put on their bridles and saddles and gird them: or, "bind the horses" (r); that is, to the chariots; put them to, as we commonly express it: Egypt abounded in horses, and so no doubt brought a large cavalry, and a multitude of chariots, into the field of battle:

and get up, ye horsemen; upon the horses, or into the chariots, and so be ready to receive the enemy, or to attack him:

and stand forth with your helmets; present themselves on horseback, or in their chariots, with their helmets on their heads, to cover them in the day of battle:

furbish the spears; that they may be sharp and piercing, and look bright and glittering, and strike terror in the enemy:

and put on the brigandines; coats of mail, to cover the whole body, which were made of iron, consisting of rings, as Kimchi observes.

(r) "ligate equos", Montanus, Calvin; "alligate", Schmidt.

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

From the infantry the prophet proceeds to the chariots, in which the Egyptians placed great confidence.

Get up, ye horsemen - Or, “mount the steeds.”

Furbish - i. e., polish, sharpen.

Brigandines - In old times brigand meant a soldier, and we still call a division of an army a brigade, and a commander a brigadier, i. e., a brigandier, or captain of brigands. Similarly a brigandine means a soldier’s equipment, and is put here for a coat of mail.

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

Art hath so much improved all things in later ages, that it is very hard to determine of what form the several weapons and pieces of armour, whether offensive or defensive, in use at this time were; the most here mentioned seem to have been defensive, and the whole speech of the prophet directed to the Egyptians seems to be ironical, calling to this army of Pharaoh-necho to get ready to defend themselves, for they were to encounter with an enemy would put them very hard to it, so as they had need to have their helmets, and bucklers, and shields, and brigandines all in a readiness, and know the use of them well; the horses for war had need be harnessed, the spears furbished, and the riders got up.

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

4. Harness the horses — That is, to the chariots.

Get up, ye horse-men — The original of this last word means riding-horses in 1Ki_4:26; 1Ki_10:26; Eze_27:14; and Joe_2:4. Hence Keil translates here “mount the steeds.”

Stand forth with your helmets — Implying that battle is at hand.

Brigandines — Coats of mail. Brigand, brigade, brigadier, brigandine, are all words of a family, and the original meaning of brigand (soldier) is a key to the whole.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Harness the horses; viz. to the war chariots, for which Egypt was famous. (comp. Exo_14:6, 9 1Ki_10:28, 29 Isa_31:1) Get up, ye horsemen. An equally possible rendering, and one which better suits the parallelism, is, "mount the chargers." Put on the brigandines. "Brigandine" is an archaic word (Hakluyt"s "Voyages"), meaning the armour of a "brigand "or member of a "brigade," or "troop" (comp. Italian, brigata). The Hebrew word means "coats of mail."

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

Brigandines - Coats of mail.

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

polish the spears Heb. מרקו. Cf. “It shall be scoured (וּמֹרַק) and rinsed” (Lev. 6:21), (forbir in O.F., to furbish).

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.