Jeremiah 46:16
He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
Jeremiah 46:16 belongs to chapters 46 to 51 of Jeremiah, which from chapter 46 onward give prophecies against foreign nations, the kingdoms surrounding Israel, pronouncing their doom. Within that collection the prophecies focus especially on Babylon, both as an ancient empire and as a type of mystical Babylon, giving the doom of Babylon. The verse itself is part of the prophecy against Egypt set within those prophecies against the nations.
In order of events it stands at the end of Jeremiah's chronological order, after chapters 40 to 45 and after chapter 47, but it is placed earlier in the book because the manuscript rolls were gathered together out of chronological order. This displacement makes no change in its teaching, and the chapter itself shows its own time. The closing chapters cover Jeremiah's personal experiences and his going into Egypt.
The verse is part of Jeremiah's prophecy concerning Egypt that it, along with Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus and Elam, was to fall before Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty conqueror, king of Babylon. Egypt was ancient, powerful and naturally defensible, yet it was to be invaded, conquered and spoiled by him. Its meaning is that the forces of Egypt would fall in battle, one upon another, and its hired soldiers would flee to their own people and to the land of their nativity to escape the oppressing sword. The prophecy further foretells that Egypt would successively fall into the hand of strangers — Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes and Turks — never again exalt itself or rule over the nations but remain the basest of the kingdoms, with its idols destroyed and no native prince ruling it.