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 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?
Now - seeing that this is so: used in a reasoning sense, not of time.
The way of Egypt. What hast thou to do with the way? - i:e., with going down to Egypt; or what, etc., with going to Assyria?
Drink ... waters - i:e., to seek reinvigorating aid from them-so Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 2:36: cf. "waters," meaning numerous forces (Isaiah 8:7).
Sihor - i:e., the black river, in Greek Melas (black), the Nile: so called from the black deposit or soil it leaves after the inundation (Isaiah 23:3). The Septuagint identify it with Gihon, one of the rivers of Paradise.
The river - Euphrates, called by preeminence the "river," figurative for the Assyrian power. In 625 BC, the seventeenth year of Josiah, and the fourth of Jeremiah's office, the kingdom of Assyria fell before Babylon, therefore Assyria is here put for Babylon, its successor: so in 2 Kings 23:29; Lamentations 5:6. There was doubtless a league between Judea and Assyria (i:e., Babylon), which caused Josiah to march against Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt, when that king went against Babylon: the evil consequences of this league are foretold in this verse and Jeremiah 2:36.