Literally, as in the margin, i. e., Yahweh hath made many to stumble.

Arise ... - The Egyptian army being composed of mercenaries, has no patriotic feeling and immediately that the battle is lost, they propose to abandon the country which has hired them, and return each to his native land.

One fell upon another - In their terror and confusion ranks fell on ranks, and overturned each other.

Let us go again to our own people - Let us flee to our own country with all possible speed. These were the auxiliaries.

He made many to fall,.... That is, the Lord, by the hand of the Chaldeans, by whose sword multitudes fell in battle:

yea, one fell upon another; they fell in heaps, denoting the multitude of the slain; or rather they fell in flight one upon another; one fell, and then another upon him, as usually they do, when men are frightened and flee precipitantly, as in Jeremiah 46:12;

and they said, arise: not those that fell, which may seem at first sight; but either the strangers in the land of Egypt, as Kimchi, such as the Jews were; who, perceiving the destruction that was coming on Egypt, exhort one another to arise, and get out of it; or rather the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, as the Ethiopians, Lybians, and Lydians, Jeremiah 46:9; who finding the enemy too strong for them, and they themselves deserted or unsupported by Pharaoh's army, advise one another to quit his service, and provide for their own safety:

and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity; their own country, where they were born, and their friends and relations lived; that so they might be safe

from the oppressing sword; the sword of the Chaldeans. The Septuagint version is a very bad one, followed by the Arabic, which renders it, "from the Grecian sword"; and so is the Vulgate Latin version, "from the face of the dove"; to countenance which it is said, that the Chaldeans and Assyrians had a dove in their ensigns; See Gill on Jeremiah 25:38; and so a most ancient Saxon translation in the library of Christ's Church in Oxford, "from the face of the sword of the culver" (k), or "dove"; that is, from their sword, who display their banners in the field with the ensign of a dove; meaning the Chaldeans. The Targum is,

"from the sword of the enemy, which is as wine inebriating;''

which sense is followed by Jarchi.

(k) Apud Gregory's Posthuma, p. 236.

As the mighty one of Egypt does not stand, but is thrust down by God, so Jahveh makes many stumble and fall over one another, so that the strangers return to their own home in order to escape the violence of the sword. The subject of ויּאמרוּ is indefinite; the speakers, however, are not merely the hired soldiers or mercenaries (Jeremiah 46:11), or the allied nations (Ezekiel 30:5), but strangers generally, who had been living in Egypt partly for the sake of commerce, partly for other reasons (Hitzig, Graf). As to חרב היּונה, see on Jeremiah 25:38.

He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our {n} own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

(n) As they who would repent that they helped the Egyptians.

made...: Heb. multiplied the faller

16. He-Jehovah.

made many to fall-literally, "multiplied the faller," that is, fallers.

one fell upon another-(Jer 46:6, 12): even before the enemy strikes them (Le 26:37).

let us go again to our own people-the language of the confederates and mercenaries, exhorting one another to desert the Egyptian standard, and return to their respective homes (Jer 46:9, 21).

from the oppressing sword-from the cruel sword, namely, of the Chaldeans (compare Jer 25:38).

46:13-28 Those who encroached on others, shall now be themselves encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, not accustomed to the yoke of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God, designed to encourage them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with them, and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence.