English Standard Version
Jeremiah 50:38
38A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.
Jeremiah 50:38 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
- New International Version (NIV)A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.
- New King James Version (NKJV)A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, And they are insane with their idols.
- New Living Translation (NLT)A drought will strike her water supply, causing it to dry up. And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them.
Context of Jeremiah 50:38
36A sword against the diviners, that they may become fools! A sword against her warriors, that they may be destroyed! 37A sword against her horses and against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst, that they may become women! A sword against all her treasures, that they may be plundered! A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols. 39"Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.
Read all of Jeremiah 50Jeremiah 50:38 word by word
חֹ֥רֶב אֶל־מֵימֶ֖יהָ וְיָבֵ֑שׁוּ כִּ֣י אֶ֤רֶץ פְּסִלִים֙ הִ֔יא וּבָאֵימִ֖ים יִתְהֹלָֽלוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 50:38
- Jeremiah 50:12your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Behold, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
- Jeremiah 51:32the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic.
- Isaiah 44:27who says to the deep, 'Be dry; I will dry up your rivers';
- Revelation 16:12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
- Revelation 17:15And the angel said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
- Jeremiah 50:2"Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: 'Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.'
- Jeremiah 51:44And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen.
- Isaiah 46:1Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.
- Daniel 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
- Daniel 5:4They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
- Habakkuk 2:18"What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
- Revelation 17:5And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."
- Jeremiah 51:7Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.
- Isaiah 44:25who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,
- Acts 17:16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 50:38
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 38A drought is upon her waters - May not this refer to the draining of the channel of the Euphrates, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on Jeremiah 50:24; (note). The original is, however, חרב chereb, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 38A drought - Rather, “a sword,” i. e., military skill and forethought. They are mad upon their idols - Omit their. The word for idols, literally terrors Psalm 88:16 is used in this one place only of objects of worship. Probably it refers to those montrous forms invented as representations of their deities.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 33-46Verses 33-46 It is Israel's comfort in distress, that, though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong. This may be applied to believers, who complain of the dominion of sin and corruption, and of their own weakness and manifold infirmities. Their Redeemer is able to keep what they commit to him; and sin shall not have dominion over them. He will give them that rest which remains for the people of God. Also here is Babylon's sin, and their punishment. The…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 38The Euphrates River flowed through Babylon, supplying water to the city. The Persians reportedly diverted the river during a siege. They dug a canal around the city walls and attacked through the dry riverbed.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3838. drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the three previous verses, "A sword." However, all the pointed manuscripts read, "A drought," as English Version. Cyrus turned off the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel and so marched through the dried-up bed into the city (Jr 51:32). Babylonia once was famed for its corn, which often yielded from one to two hundredfold [Herodotus]. This was due to its network of water-courses from the…Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 50
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries