New English Translation
Jeremiah 50:3
3For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’
Jeremiah 50:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
- New International Version (NIV)A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For out of the north a nation comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, Both man and beast.
Context of Jeremiah 50:3
1The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah. 2“Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: ‘Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed. For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’ 4“When that time comes,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the Lord their God. 5They will ask the way to Zion; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
Read all of Jeremiah 50Jeremiah 50:3 word by word
כִּ֣י עָלָה֩ עָלֶ֨יהָ גּ֜וֹי מִצָּפ֗וֹן הֽוּא־יָשִׁ֤ית אֶת־אַרְצָהּ֙ לְשַׁמָּ֔ה וְלֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֥ה יוֹשֵׁ֖ב בָּ֑הּ מֵאָדָ֥ם וְעַד־בְּהֵמָ֖ה נָ֥דוּ הָלָֽכוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- For out of the northצָפוֹןtsâphôn tsâphôn · northH6828
- there cometh upעָלָה‛âlâh · to ascend: riseH5927
- a nationגּוֹיgôy gôy · nationH1471
- against her, which shall makeשִׁיתshîyth · to set: makeH7896
- her landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- desolateשַׁמָּהshammâh · horror: destroyedH8047
- and none shall dwellיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
- therein: they shall removeנוּדnûd · to wanderH5110
- they shall departהָלַךְhâlak · to go: wentH1980
- both manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
- and beastבְּהֵמָהbehêmâh · animalH929
Cross-references for Jeremiah 50:3
- Jeremiah 50:9For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed.
- Jeremiah 51:11“Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge – how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple.
- Isaiah 13:5They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth.
- Jeremiah 50:12But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.
- Jeremiah 51:8But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!
- Isaiah 13:6Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge.
- Isaiah 14:22“I will rise up against them,” says the Lord who commands armies. “I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, including the offspring she produces,” says the Lord.
- Revelation 18:21Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, “With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again!
- Jeremiah 7:20So,” the Lord God says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”
- Jeremiah 21:6I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.
- Genesis 6:7So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”
- Exodus 12:12I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.
- Zephaniah 1:3“I will destroy people and animals; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. (The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) I will remove humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 50:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Out of the north there cometh up a nation - The Medes, who formed the chief part of the army of Cyrus, lay to the north or north-east of Babylon. Shall make her land desolate - This war, and the consequent taking of the city, began those disasters that brought Babylon in process of time to complete desolation; so that now it is not known where it stood, the whole country being a total solitude.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Out of the north - Media lay to the northwest of Babylon. This constant use of the north, the quarter where the sun never shines, and therefore the region of darkness, is symbolic of the region from where danger ever comes. They shall remove - Translate it (as in Jeremiah 9:10): “from man even to cattle they are fled, they are gone.”Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3The nation from the north was Persia, led by Cyrus in 539 BC. Persia was east of Babylon. It first attacked Babylonia in the north and then moved south. The attack destroyed the powerful Babylonian Empire.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. a nation--the Medes, north of Babylon (Jr 51:48). The devastation of Babylon here foretold includes not only that by Cyrus, but also that more utter one by Darius, who took Babylon by artifice when it had revolted from Persia, and mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants, hanging four thousand of the nobles; also the final desertion of Babylon, owing to Seleucia having been built close by under Seleucus Nicanor.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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries