What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt? what business hast thou there? or what dost thou expect from thence? or what need hast thou to go or send messengers thither, if thou wouldst but keep close to me? Sihor, viz. Nilus; it signifies black, from whence called Melas by the Greeks, either from the blackness of the land it passed through, or of the soil it casteth up. See on Isaiah 23:3. To drink the waters: here, and by the same words before, is meant, to seek help from either place, noting their strength, Isaiah 8:6. A metaphorical allegory, wherein God minds them of two of their broken cisterns, and shows them their folly to go so far when they might have been better supplied nearer home; as if God were not able to help them. Compare Jeremiah 2:36. The river, i.e. Euphrates, often called so by way of eminency; the chief river of Assyria, Isaiah 7:20.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 2:18
Jeremiah 2:18
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?