New King James Version
Jeremiah 50:3
3For 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.
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 Living Translation (NLT)For a nation will attack her from the north and bring such destruction that no one will live there again. Everything will be gone; both people and animals will flee.
Context of Jeremiah 50:3
1The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 2“Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and set up a standard; Proclaim—do not conceal it— Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; Her idols are humiliated, Her images are broken in pieces.’ 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. 4“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the Lord their God. 5They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord In a perpetual covenant That will not 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 behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country, And they shall array themselves against her; From there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; None shall return in vain.
- Jeremiah 51:11Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the Lord, The vengeance for His temple.
- Isaiah 13:5They come from a far country, From the end of heaven— The Lord and His weapons of indignation, To destroy the whole land.
- Jeremiah 50:12Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, A dry land and a desert.
- Jeremiah 51:8Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.
- Isaiah 13:6Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Isaiah 14:22“For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts, “And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.
- Revelation 18:21Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.
- Jeremiah 7:20Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
- Jeremiah 21:6I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.
- Genesis 6:7So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
- Exodus 12:12‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
- Zephaniah 1:3“I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,” 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 King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries