New International Version
Jeremiah 51:31
31One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
Jeremiah 51:31 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
- English Standard Version (ESV)One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side;
- New King James Version (NKJV)One runner will run to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
- New Living Translation (NLT)The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured.
Context of Jeremiah 51:31
29The land trembles and writhes, for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand— to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there. 30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken. One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured, 32the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.” 33This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
Read all of Jeremiah 51Jeremiah 51:31 word by word
רָ֤ץ לִקְרַאת־רָץ֙ יָר֔וּץ וּמַגִּ֖יד לִקְרַ֣את מַגִּ֑יד לְהַגִּיד֙ לְמֶ֣לֶךְ בָּבֶ֔ל כִּֽי־נִלְכְּדָ֥ה עִיר֖וֹ מִקָּצֶֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 51:31
- Jeremiah 4:20Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment.
- Jeremiah 50:24I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.
- 1 Samuel 4:12That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head.
- 2 Samuel 18:19Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”
- 2 Chronicles 30:6At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: “People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
- Esther 3:13Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
- Esther 8:10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
- Job 9:25“My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
- Jeremiah 50:43The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Isaiah 21:3At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.
- Isaiah 47:11Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
- Daniel 5:2While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 51:31
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31One post shall run to meet another - As the city was taken by surprise, in the manner already related, so now messengers, one after another, were dispatched to give the king information of what was done; viz., that the city was taken at one end. Herodotus tells us that the extreme parts of the city were taken, before those of the center knew any thing of the invasion. Herodot. lib. 1 c. 191.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31The royal palace was a strong fortification in the heart of the city. The messengers thus met one another. At one end - Rather, from all sides, entirely, completely.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31The king was Nabonidus. At that time, he was in Borsippa, north of Babylon. His son, Belshazzar, was the regent in Babylon. See Daniel 5:1–30.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3131. (See on Jr 50:24). One post--One courier after another shall announce the capture of the city. The couriers despatched from the walls, where Cyrus enters, shall "meet" those sent by the king. Their confused running to and fro would result from the sudden panic at the entrance of Cyrus into the city, which he had so long besieged ineffectually; the Babylonians had laughed at his attempts and were feasting at the time without fear. taken at one…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 51:31
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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