New International Version
Jeremiah 50:38
38A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.
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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.
- 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 her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror. 37A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered. A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror. 39“So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. 40As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the Lord, “so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.
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 will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least of the nations— a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.
- Jeremiah 51:32the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
- Isaiah 44:27who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’
- 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 17:15Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
- Jeremiah 50:2“Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, ‘Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’
- Jeremiah 51:44I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.
- Isaiah 46:1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.
- Daniel 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
- Daniel 5:4As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
- Habakkuk 2:18“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Revelation 17:5The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.
- Jeremiah 51:7Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
- Isaiah 44:25who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense,
- Acts 17:16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see 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
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Commentaries