Jeremiah 51:37

37 And Babylon shall be into burials, it shall be the dwelling (place) of dragons, wondering, and hissing, for that no dweller is. (And Babylon shall be for burials, or shall be a heap of ruins, it shall be the dwelling place of jackals, yea, a place for wondering, and hissing, where there be no 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 Wickedness against me, and my flesh on Babylon, saith the dwelling of Zion; and my blood on the dwellers of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem. (Let the wickedness done against me, and against my flesh, be upon Babylon, say the inhabitants of Zion; and let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.)

36 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall deem thy cause, and I shall venge thy vengeance; and I shall make the sea thereof forsaken, and I shall make dry the vein thereof. (And so the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall judge thy case, and I shall avenge thee; and I shall make its sea into a desert, and I shall dry up its springs.)

37 And Babylon shall be into burials, it shall be the dwelling (place) of dragons, wondering, and hissing, for that no dweller is. (And Babylon shall be for burials, or shall be a heap of ruins, it shall be the dwelling place of jackals, yea, a place for wondering, and hissing, where there be no inhabitants.)

38 They shall roar together as lions, and they shall shake [their] locks, as the whelps of lions. (They shall roar together like lions, and they shall shake their locks, like lion cubs.)

39 In the heat of them I shall set the drinks of them; and I shall make them drunken, that they be brought asleep, and that they sleep (an) everlasting sleep, and rise not (up), saith the Lord.