Jeremiah 51:32-42

32 the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
33 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
35 May the violence done to our flesh[a] be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
38 Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.
40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
41 “How Sheshak[b] will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.

Jeremiah 51:32-42 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 51

The former part of this chapter is a continuation of the prophecy of the preceding chapter, concerning the destruction of Babylon, Jer 51:1-58; the latter part of it contains a prophecy of Jeremiah sent to the captives in Babylon by the hand of Seraiah, with the copy of the above prophecy against Babylon, and an order to fasten a stone to it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign, confirming the utter and irreparable ruin of Babylon, Jer 51:59-64.

Cross References 27

  • 1. S Isaiah 47:14
  • 2. S Jeremiah 50:36
  • 3. S Isaiah 47:1
  • 4. S Isaiah 21:10
  • 5. S Isaiah 17:5; Hosea 6:11
  • 6. S Isaiah 13:22
  • 7. S Jeremiah 50:17
  • 8. Nahum 2:12
  • 9. Hosea 8:8
  • 10. ver 44; S Leviticus 18:25
  • 11. Joel 3:19; Habakkuk 2:17
  • 12. S ver 24; Psalms 137:8
  • 13. Psalms 140:12; Jeremiah 50:34; Lamentations 3:58
  • 14. ver 6; Jeremiah 20:12; S Romans 12:19
  • 15. S Isaiah 11:15; S Isaiah 19:5; Hosea 13:15; Jeremiah 50:38
  • 16. S Isaiah 13:22; Revelation 18:2
  • 17. Nahum 3:6; Malachi 2:9
  • 18. S Jeremiah 50:13,39
  • 19. S Isaiah 5:29
  • 20. S Isaiah 21:5
  • 21. S Psalms 13:3
  • 22. ver 57; S Jeremiah 50:24
  • 23. Ezekiel 39:18
  • 24. S Jeremiah 25:26
  • 25. Isaiah 13:19
  • 26. Jeremiah 50:13
  • 27. S Psalms 18:4; Isaiah 8:7

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "done to us and to our children"
  • [b]. "Sheshak" is a cryptogram for Babylon.
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