New Living Translation
Jeremiah 50:3
3For 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.
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 gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. 2This is what the Lord says: “Tell the whole world, and keep nothing back. Raise a signal flag to tell everyone that Babylon will fall! Her images and idols will be shattered. Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced. 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. 4“In those coming days,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the Lord their God. 5They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal 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 am raising up an army of great nations from the north. They will join forces to attack Babylon, and she will be captured. The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark; they will not miss!
- Jeremiah 51:11Sharpen the arrows! Lift up the shields! For the Lord has inspired the kings of the Medes to march against Babylon and destroy her. This is his vengeance against those who desecrated his Temple.
- Isaiah 13:5They come from distant countries, from beyond the farthest horizons. They are the Lord’s weapons to carry out his anger. With them he will destroy the whole land.
- Jeremiah 50:12But your homeland will be overwhelmed with shame and disgrace. You will become the least of nations— a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
- Jeremiah 51:8But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her. Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed.
- Isaiah 13:6Scream in terror, for the day of the Lord has arrived— the time for the Almighty to destroy.
- Isaiah 14:22This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I, myself, have risen against Babylon! I will destroy its children and its children’s children,” says the Lord.
- Revelation 18:21Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.
- Jeremiah 7:20So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”
- Jeremiah 21:6I will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and animals will die.
- Genesis 6:7And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”
- Exodus 12:12On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!
- Zephaniah 1:3“I will sweep away people and animals alike. I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea. I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble, and I will wipe 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 Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries