Jeremiah 51:37

37 Bavel will become a heap of ruins, a place for jackals to live, an object of horror and hissing, with no one living there.

Jeremiah 51:37 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:37

And Babylon shall become heaps
The houses should be demolished, and the stones lie in heaps one upon another, and become mere rubbish: a dwelling place for dragons;
and other wild and savage creatures. Dragons, as Aelianus ^F1 observes, love to live in desert places, and such now Babylon is; it lies in ruins; and even its palace is so full of scorpions and serpents, as Benjamin of Tudela ^F2 says it was in his time, that men durst not enter into it; see ( Jeremiah 50:39 ) ( Isaiah 13:21 Isaiah 13:22 ) ; an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant;
an astonishment to neighbouring nations, and to all that pass by; who shall hiss at the destruction of it, and rejoice, there being not so much as a single inhabitant in it; which is its case to this day; see ( Jeremiah 50:13 Jeremiah 50:39 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 De Animal. l. 6. c. 63.
F2 Itinerarium, p. 76.

Jeremiah 51:37 In-Context

35 But one who lives in Tziyon will say, "May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel"; and Yerushalayim will say, "May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim."

36 Therefore here is what ADONAI says: "I will plead your cause. I will take vengeance for you. I will dry up her river and make her water sources dry.

37 Bavel will become a heap of ruins, a place for jackals to live, an object of horror and hissing, with no one living there.

38 Together they roar like young lions, growl like lion cubs.

39 When they are hot with desire, I will prepare them a drink. I will make them so drunk they will have convulsions, sleep forever and never wake up," says ADONAI.