Jeremiah 51:58

Jeremiah 51:58 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
• New International Version (NIV)This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)"Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire."
• New King James Version (NKJV)Thus says the Lord of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, And her high gates shall be burned with fire; The people will labor in vain, And the nations, because of the fire; And they shall be weary.”

Context of Jeremiah 51:58

56A destroyer will attack Babylon, its soldiers will be captured, and their bows and arrows will be broken. “I, the Lord, am a God who punishes evil. I will certainly punish them. 57I will make their officials and wise men drunk, along with their governors, officers, and soldiers. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,” declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies. This is what the Lord of Armies says: The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled, and its high gates will be set on fire. People exhaust themselves for nothing. The nations wear themselves out only to have a fire. 59This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Seraiah, son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s rule. (Seraiah was the quartermaster.) 60Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon. He wrote all these things that have been written about Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:58 word by word

כֹּֽה־אָמַ֞ר יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֗וֹת חֹ֠מוֹת בָּבֶ֤ל הָֽרְחָבָה֙ עַרְעֵ֣ר תִּתְעַרְעָ֔ר וּשְׁעָרֶ֥יהָ הַגְּבֹהִ֖ים בָּאֵ֣שׁ יִצַּ֑תּוּ וְיִֽגְע֨וּ עַמִּ֧ים בְּדֵי־רִ֛יק וּלְאֻמִּ֥ים בְּדֵי־אֵ֖שׁ וְיָעֵֽפוּ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Thus saithאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• of hostsצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · HostsH6635
• The broadרָחָבrâchâb · broad: wideH7342
• wallsחוֹמָהchômâh · wallH2346
• of Babylonבָּבֶ֫ל, בָּבֶלbâbel · BabylonH894
• shall be utterlyעָרַר‛ârar · to stripH6209
• and her highגָּבֹהַּgâbôhha gâbôhha · highH1364
• gatesשַׁ֫עַרsha‛ar · gateH8179
• shall be burnedיָצַתyâtsath · to kindleH3341
• with fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784
• and the peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• shall labourיָגֵעַyâga‛ · be weary/toilH3021
• in vainרִיקrîyq · vainH7385
• and the folkלְאֹםle'ôm le'ôm · peopleH3816
• inדַּיday · sufficiencyH1767
• and they shall be wearyיָעֵףyâ‛aph · to faintH3286

Cross-references for Jeremiah 51:58

• Jeremiah 51:44I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed. Nations will no longer stream to Babylon, and its walls will fall.
• Jeremiah 50:15Shout a war cry against them on every side. They’ll surrender. Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down. Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, take revenge against them. Do to them what they did to others.
• Jeremiah 51:30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their fortified cities. Their strength has failed. They have become women. Their buildings are set on fire. The bars across their gates are broken.
• Isaiah 45:1This is what the Lord says about Cyrus, his anointed one: I have held him by his right hand so he could conquer the nations ahead of him, strip kings of their power, and open doors ahead of him so that the gates would not be shut.
• Jeremiah 51:9We wanted to heal Babylon, but it couldn’t be healed. Let’s abandon it and go to our own land. God has judged Babylon. Its judgment is complete.
• Psalms 127:1If the Lord does not build the house, it is useless for the builders to work on it. If the Lord does not protect a city, it is useless for the guard to stay alert.
• Isaiah 65:23They will never again work for nothing. They will never again give birth to children who die young, because they will be offspring blessed by the Lord. The Lord will bless their descendants as well.
• Habakkuk 2:13Isn’t it from the Lord of Armies that people grow tired only to feed the flames and nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

Commentaries on Jeremiah 51:58

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 58The broad walls of Babylon - Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, "The city was a regular square, each side of which was one hand red and twenty stadia, the circumference four hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twenty-five brazen gates." - Herod. lib. 1 c. 178. Had not Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 58The broad walls - Herodotus makes the breadth of the walls 85 English feet. Broken - See the margin. i. e., the ground beneath them shall be laid bare by their demolition. The people - Or, peoples. Jeremiah concludes his prophecy with a quotation from Habakkuk; applying the words to the stupendous works intended to make Babylon an eternal city, but which were to end in such early and utter disappointment.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 5858. broad walls--eighty-seven feet broad [Rosenmuller]; fifty cubits [Grotius]. A chariot of four horses abreast could meet another on it without collision. The walls were two hundred cubits high, and four hundred and eighty-five stadia, or sixty miles in extent. gates--one hundred in number, of brass; twenty-five on each of the four sides, the city being square; between the gates were two hundred and fifty towers. Berosus says triple walls encompassed…Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 51:58

• Babylon
• Persia
• Walls, of the Cities
• War

In the dictionaries

• Babylon
• Babylon, Babylonia, Babylonian
• Lord of Hosts
• Device
• Empty
• Hold
• Mount
• Broad
• Ezekiel
• Faint

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