Jeremiah 50:24

24 I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.

Jeremiah 50:24 in Other Translations

KJV
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
ESV
24 I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and caught, because you opposed the LORD.
NLT
24 Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you. You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD .
MSG
24 I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That's what you get for taking on God.
CSB
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught, but you did not even know it. You were found and captured because you fought against the Lord.

Jeremiah 50:24 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 50:24

I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O
Babylon
Retorting to the stratagem that Cyrus used, in draining the river Euphrates, and marching his army up through it into the midst of the city of Babylon, and took it by surprise, while the inhabitants at night were feasting and revelling: this is said to be a snare laid by the Lord, because it was according to the counsel of his will, and through his directing and overruling providence: and thou wast not aware;
of what the enemy had done, of his march into the city, and taking of it; for, as Herodotus and Aristotle report, one part of the city was seized and taken before the other knew anything of it: thou art found, and also caught;
as wild beasts in a net, or birds in a snare. The Targum is,

``thy sins are sought, and are found, and also thou art taken:''
because thou hast striven against the Lord;
as persons litigate a point with each other in courts of judicature, or as warriors strive against each other in battle; she sinned against the Lord, and offended him, not only by her idolatry and luxury, but by her oppression of his people, and profaning the vessels of his house; as Belshazzar did, the night Babylon was taken. The Targum is,
``for with the people of the Lord thou hast strove.''

Jeremiah 50:24 In-Context

22 The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!
23 How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.
25 The LORD has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26 Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Jeremiah 51:12; Daniel 5:30-31
  • 2. Jeremiah 51:31
  • 3. Job 9:4
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.