“‘King Nebuchadnezzar
Shall come.
He shall ravage
The land of Egypt.
Giving those who are doomed
For pestilence,
To pestilence.
Giving those who are destined
For captivity.
To captivity.
Giving those who are doomed
For the sword
To the sword.
He shall kindle a fire
In the temples
Of the gods of Egypt.
He shall burn them.
He shall carry them away captive.
He shall pick clean
The land of Egypt,
As a shepherd picks
His cloaks clean of vermin.
He shall depart
From there safely.
He shall break
The obelisks of Heliopolis
That is in the land of Egypt.
He shall break the temples
Of the gods of Egypt.
He shall burn them with fire.’”
Jeremiah described what was going to happen when King Nebuchadnezzar would come to Egypt, which he did around 568 BCE. The Babylonian king was going to ravage the land of Egypt. Those who were destined for pestilence got pestilence. Those destined for the sword, got the sword. Those destined for famine, got a famine. This was real simple, but who decided who was destined for what? King Nebuchadnezzar was going to burn down the Egyptian temples and make the Judeans captives. He was going to pick the land clean in the same way that shepherds pluck bugs off their cloaks or coats. He would come and go safely. However, he would also break the ornate pillars or obelisks in the town of Heliopolis, the city of the sun worshipers, which was about 25 miles east of Memphis, 6 mile northeast of Cairo. He would also burn down the Egyptian temples and their gods, as well as tear down other pillars throughout the land of Egypt.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 