Jeremiah 2:16-18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 Yes, the people of Memphis[a] and Tahpanhes
shave the crown of your head.
17 Has not forsaking the Lord, your God,
done this to you?(A)
18 And now, why go to Egypt,[b]
to drink the waters of the Nile?
Why go to Assyria,
to drink the waters of the River?
Footnotes
- 2:16 Memphis: the capital of Lower Egypt. Tahpanhes: a frontier city of Egypt, east of the Delta. Shave the crown of your head: an image for Egypt plundering Judah; perhaps a reference to the capture of King Jehoahaz in 609 B.C. (2 Kgs 23:34).
- 2:18 Egypt and Assyria were the competing foreign powers favored by rival parties within Judah. The desire for such foreign alliances is a further desertion of the Lord, the source of living waters (v. 13), in favor of the above-named powers, symbolized by the waters of the Nile and the Euphrates rivers.
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