Jeremiah Chapter 46 verse 20 Holy Bible
Egypt is a very fair heifer; `but' destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
read chapter 46 in ASV
Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north.
read chapter 46 in BBE
Egypt is a very fair heifer; the gad-fly cometh, it cometh from the north.
read chapter 46 in DARBY
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
read chapter 46 in KJV
read chapter 46 in WBT
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
read chapter 46 in WEB
A heifer very fair `is' Egypt, Rending from the north doth come into her.
read chapter 46 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 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.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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.
