Verse 8. - Egypt riseth up, etc. The answer to the question in ver. 7. The city. The article is not expressed; and there can be no doubt that the word is used collectively of cities in general (comp. Jeremiah 47:2).

46:1-12 The whole word of God is against those who obey not the gospel of Christ; but it is for those, even of the Gentiles, who turn to Him. The prophecy begins with Egypt. Let them strengthen themselves with all the art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain. The wounds God inflicts on his enemies, cannot be healed by medicines. Power and prosperity soon pass from one to another in this changing world.Egypt riseth up as a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers,.... This is the answer to the above question; that it was Egypt that was seen; the king of Egypt, as the Syriac version; he with his army, as the Targum; and which was so numerous, that it seemed as if the whole country of Egypt, all the inhabitants of it, were come along with him; these rose up like the Nile, and moved like the several sluices of it, with great velocity and force, as if they would carry all before them:

and he saith, I will go up; Pharaohnecho king of Egypt said, I will go up from my own land to the north, to meet the king of Babylon:

and will cover the earth; with his army: even all, the north country, the whole Babylonish empire; which he affected to be master of, grasping at, universal monarchy:

I will destroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof; which Abarbinel restrains to the city Carchemish, where his army was smitten: but it is better to interpret, the singular by the plural, as the Targum does, "I will destroy cities"; since it was not a single city he came up to take, nor would this satisfy his ambitious temper.