John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 46:5

"Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 46:5 (ASV)

Wherefore have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back ?
&c.] The Egyptians, after all this preparation for war, and seeming ardent to engage in battle; and yet, when they came to it, were seized with a panic, and thrown into the utmost consternation, and turned their backs upon their enemy: these are either the words of the prophet, who had a view by a spirit of prophecy, of the consternation, confusion, and flight of the Egyptian army; or of the Lord, who foresaw all this, and represents it as if it was done because of the certainty of it; upbraiding the Egyptians with their pusillanimity and cowardice:

and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not
back ;
or, "their mighty ones are broken" ^F19 ; their valiant soldiers and officers, their best troops were broken to pieces, their ranks and files, and thrown into the utmost disorder; and therefore made all the haste they could to escape the fury of the enemy, and fled with the utmost precipitation, and never stopped to look back upon their pursuers; so great their fear:

[for] fear [was] round about, saith the Lord ;
from where it came; it was he that put it into them, took away their courage, and made them a "magormissabib", or "fear round about", the word here used; see (Jeremiah 20:3) . The Targum is,``they looked not back to resist them that slay with the sword, who are gathered against them round about, saith the Lord;'' their enemies surrounded them, and that was the reason fear was round about them, and both were from the Lord; or as he had said, determined, and foretold it should be.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (wtky Mhyrwbgw) "et fortes eorum contusi sunt, vel coutunduntur", Schmidt, Cocceius, Piscator; "contriti sunt", Vatablus.