Jeremiah 51:33-43

33 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, The daughter of Babylon is as a cornfloor, (at) the time of threshing thereof; yet a little, and the time of reaping thereof shall come. (For the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, at the time of its threshing; and then after a little while, its time of reaping, or of harvest, shall come.)
34 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ate me, and devoured me; he made me as a void vessel, he as a dragon swallowed me (he made me like an empty vessel, he swallowed me up like a dragon); he filled his womb with my tenderness, and (then) he casted me out.
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.
40 I shall lead forth them, as lambs to slain sacrifice, and as wethers with kids. (I shall lead them forth, like lambs to slain sacrifice, and like rams with kids.)
41 How is Sheshach taken, and the noble city of all (the) earth is taken? How is Babylon made into wonder among heathen men? (How Sheshach, that is, Babylon, is taken! the noble city of all the earth is taken! how Babylon is made into a horror among the heathen!)
42 And the sea ascended on Babylon, it was covered with the multitude of his waves. (And the sea ascended upon Babylon, yea, it was covered with a multitude of its waves.)
43 The cities thereof be made into wondering, the land is made unhabitable and forsaken (the land is made uninhabited and deserted); the land wherein no man dwelleth, and the son of (a) man shall not pass by it.

Jeremiah 51:33-43 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.