Jeremiah 46:6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 46:6 tn The translation understands the articular adjectives to function as superlatives (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). The negator אַל (ʾal) usually occurs with the jussive, but the form here is imperfect (יָנוּס [yanus] rather than יָנָס [yanos]). It should be understood modally, as an abilitive modal (“unable to”) or deontic modal (ought not [try to]), or as expressing the speaker’s “conviction that something cannot happen” (GKC 317 §107.p).
2. Jeremiah 46:6 tn Heb “they stumbled and fell.” The words “in defeat” are added for clarity. The picture is not simply of having fallen down physically; it implies not getting up and therefore being defeated in battle. The account either moves ahead from the process of defeating Egypt to its defeat, or it follows a couple of soldiers amid the skirmish of v. 4 to their demise.