Tehaphnehes. — (Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 43:7-9; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14.) Otherwise called Tahpanhes; the city Daphne, also a frontier town near Pelusium, strongly fortified. It may be especially mentioned, because the Jews who fled from Palestine through fear of Nebuchadnezzar had taken refuge there (Jeremiah 43, 44).
The day shall be darkened. — This is a common prophetic form of describing coming calamity. (See Ezekiel 30:3; Ezekiel 32:8; Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10; Joel 2:31; Joel 3:15; Amos 8:9; Matthew 24:29, &c.)
The yokes of Egypt. — Not the yokes placed upon Egypt, but the tyranny which she exercised over others. The fuller expression, “bands of a yoke,” occurs in Ezekiel 34:27, and also in Leviticus 26:13, the latter in reference to the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. It appears from Jeremiah 43:9-10 that there was a royal palace at Tahpanhes, and it was foretold by the prophet that Nebuchadnezzar should there set up his pavilion, and thence smite Egypt. It is correspondingly foretold here that the power of Egypt should there be broken, because this and the neighbouring Pelusium were the frontier fortresses and keys of the land.