God’s Word Translation
Jeremiah 51:37
37Babylon will become piles of rubble. It will become a dwelling place for jackals, something horrible, and an object of contempt, where no one lives.
Jeremiah 51:37 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
- New International Version (NIV)Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
- English Standard Version (ESV)and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Babylon shall become a heap, A dwelling place for jackals, An astonishment and a hissing, Without an inhabitant.
Context of Jeremiah 51:37
35The people who live in Zion say, “May the violence done to us be done to Babylon.” Jerusalem says, “May the people of Babylon be held responsible for our deaths.” 36This is what the Lord says: I am going to take up your cause and get revenge for you. I will dry up Babylon’s sea and make its springs dry. Babylon will become piles of rubble. It will become a dwelling place for jackals, something horrible, and an object of contempt, where no one lives. 38Its people are like roaring lions and growling lion cubs. 39When they are excited, I will prepare a feast for them and make them drunk so that they will shout and laugh. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again, declares the Lord.
Read all of Jeremiah 51Jeremiah 51:37 word by word
וְהָיְתָה֩ בָבֶ֨ל׀ לְגַלִּ֧ים׀ מְעוֹן־תַּנִּ֛ים שַׁמָּ֥ה וּשְׁרֵקָ֖ה מֵאֵ֥ין יוֹשֵֽׁב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And Babylonבָּבֶ֫ל, בָּבֶלbâbel · BabylonH894
- shall become heapsגַּלgal · heapH1530
- a dwellingplaceמָעוֹןmâ‛ôn mâ‛îyn · habitationH4583
- for dragonsתַּןtannîyn tannîym · jackalH8577
- an astonishmentשַׁמָּהshammâh · horror: appalledH8047
- and an hissingשְׁרֵקָהsherêqâh · hissingH8322
- without an inhabitantיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
Cross-references for Jeremiah 51:37
- Jeremiah 51:25“I am against you, Babylon, you destructive mountain. You have destroyed the whole earth,” declares the Lord. “I will use my power against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a scorched mountain.
- Jeremiah 25:9so I’m going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, declares the Lord. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I’m going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined.
- Jeremiah 50:12But your mother will be greatly ashamed. The woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced. Babylon, you will be the least important nation. You will become a parched desert.
- Isaiah 13:19Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
- Isaiah 14:23“It will become the possession of herons. It will become pools of water. I’ll sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of Armies.
- Isaiah 34:8The Lord will have a day of vengeance, a year of revenge in defense of Zion.
- Revelation 18:2He cried out in a powerful voice, “Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every evil spirit, every unclean bird, and every unclean and hated beast.
- Jeremiah 18:16Their land will become desolate and something to be hissed at forever. Everyone who will pass by it will be stunned and shake his head.
- Jeremiah 19:8I will devastate this city. It will become something to hiss at. Everyone who goes by it will be stunned and hiss with contempt at all the disasters that happen to it.
- Jeremiah 29:18I will chase them with wars, famines, and plagues. I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. They will become something cursed, ridiculed, and hissed at, and they will be a disgrace among all the nations where I scatter them.
- 2 Chronicles 29:8So the Lord was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them something that shocks and terrifies people and that people ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes.
- Lamentations 2:15Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, the joy of the whole world?’
- Micah 6:16You have kept Omri’s laws and all the practices of the descendants of Ahab, and you have followed their advice. That is why I will ruin you. Your people will be ridiculed. You will bear the disgrace of my people.”
- Zephaniah 2:15Is this the arrogant city? Is this the city that used to live securely, the city that used to think to itself, “I’m the only one, and no one else exists but me”? What a wasteland it is now, a resting place for wild animals! All who pass by it will hiss and make an obscene gesture.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 51:37
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 37Without an inhabitant - See Jeremiah 50:39.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 37Heaps - Of rubbish, formed in this case by the decay of the unburned bricks of which Babylon was built. It is these heaps which have yielded such a large wealth of historical documents in our own days. Dragons - Jackals Jeremiah 10:22.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 37The looting and damage to the city's structures would make visitors feel contempt instead of awe.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3737. (Jr 50:26, 39; Re 18:2).Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 51:37
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 51
- 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
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