Jeremiah 51:37

37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.

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 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon," let the inhabitant of Zion say. "My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chalde'a," let Jerusalem say.

36 Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry;

37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.

38 "They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions' whelps.

39 While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, till they swoon away and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the LORD.