Jeremiah 51:37

37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants.

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 "[May] the violence done to me and to my flesh [be] on Babylon," the inhabitants of Zion will say; and "My blood [be] upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.

36 {Therefore} thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to contend your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will cause her sea to dry up, and I will cause her fountain to dry up.

37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants.

38 They will roar together like the young lions, they will growl like the cubs of lions.

39 At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} Yahweh.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "from there is not"