your mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Parallel Translations
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your mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
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Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
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Your mother shall be sore ashamed, she that bore you shall be confounded; behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 50:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 51:43 Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells. No son of man passes by it.
- Isaiah 13:20-22 It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there. Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
- Isaiah 14:22 “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
- Isaiah 23:13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
- Jeremiah 25:12 “It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.
- Jeremiah 25:26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
- Jeremiah 49:2 Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burned with fire: then Israel will possess those who possessed him,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 50:35-40 “A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says Yahweh, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men. A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed. A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols. Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein; and it will be inhabited no more forever; neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says Yahweh, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.
- Jeremiah 51:25-26 “Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says Yahweh, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain. They won’t take a cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 51:62-64 and say, ‘Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’ It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates. Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’ ” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
- Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
- Revelation 17:5 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
- Revelation 18:21-23 A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all. The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you. The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain WE explained yesterday why the Prophet denounced shame and…
WE explained yesterday why the Prophet denounced shame and reproach on the Babylonians, even because they had arrogantly exulted over the children of God. And he says that Babylon would be the extremity of the Nations.
The Chaldeans had flourished in power and wealth, and possessed the empire of the East. It was then an extraordinary revolution to be reduced to the lowest condition, to be, as it were, the dregs of all the nations. And to the same purpose he adds, a barren land, a desert, and a solitude It now follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 50:12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she…
Jer 50:12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations [shall be] a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Ver. 12. Your mother shall be sore confounded,] i.e., Babylon, your mother city, or Babylonia, your country; or your monarchical greatness, which being in the last place laid waste after other nations, {as Jer 25:25-26 was foretold} shall with shame cry out, Heu tam cito me quae primas obtinebam, &c. How is it that I, who was the head of nations, am now the tail, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Your chief City Babylon, or your country, which is…
Your chief City Babylon, or your country, which is the common mother of all the Chaldeans, shall be destroyed, or
shall be ashamed of you, who are not able to defend her. The sense here seems a little difficult, because it appears no such strange thing that the hindermost of the nations should be a wilderness. It is therefore probable that the words shall be are to be understood before
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the hindermost of the nations; our translation supplieth them after; so the reading will be, it shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, &c.; that is, Babylon, that hath been so famous, and accounted the head of the nations, shall become the meanest of all nations, a mere wilderness, and a dry land, and a desert.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Your mother shall be sore confounded,.... The monarchy of…
Your mother shall be sore confounded,.... The monarchy of the Chaldeans; so the Targum and jarchi, your congregation; or rather their metropolis, their mother city, the city of Babylon; which would be confounded when taken, none of her sons being able to defend her: the same will be true of mystical Babylon, the mother of harlots, Rev 17:5;
she that bare you shall be ashamed; which is the same as before, in different words:
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behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert; or, as the Vulgate Latin version, "she shall be the last among the nations"; she that was the head of them, signified by the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar's image, shall now be the tail of them, and become like a dry land and desert, without inhabitants, having neither men nor cattle in it; see Jer 50:3; or, as Jarchi and Kimchi, their end, "the latter end" (m) of the kingdom of Babylon; or what should befall that people in their last days would be, that their land should become a wilderness, the habitants being slain, and none to till it; or Babylon is called the last of the nations, because her punishment, in order of time, was last, as Gussetius (n) thinks; Jer 25:26.
(m) "finis seu extremitas gentium", Vatablus, Montanus, Schmidt. (n) Comment. Ebr. p. 30.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Mother - Your country, shall be ashamed of you,…
Mother - Your country, shall be ashamed of you, who are not able to defend her.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Your mother] Speaking to the Chaldeans: BABYLON,…
Verse 12. Your mother] Speaking to the Chaldeans: BABYLON, the metropolis, or mother city, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, a desert, neither fit for man nor beast.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 50:12-16. Your mother shall be sore confounded —…
Jer 50:12-16. Your mother shall be sore confounded — Namely, Babylon the metropolis, or mother-city of the empire. Or, your country shall be ashamed of you, her children, who are not able to defend her. Behold, the hindermost of the nations, &c. — The translation of this clause in the Vulgate seems much preferable to ours, Ecce novissima erit in gentibus, et deserta, invia, et arens, behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, desolate and dry. Because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited — See this illustrated in the notes on Isa 13:19-22. Every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished — See note on chap. Jer 18:16. For she hath sinned against the Lord — She hath been in a remarkable manner an enemy to God’s truth and people. This may be especially applied to mystical Babylon: see Jer 50:29-31. Shout against her round about — As conquerors do when a city is taken. She hath given her hand — That is, she hath surrendered herself: she hath submitted and promised obedience to the conqueror. The phrase occurs in the same sense Lam 5:6 and also 1Ch 29:24, where see the margin. Thus, dare manus, to give the hands, in Latin, signifies to yield; and most probably alludes to the act of the vanquished, who, throwing down his arms, and stretching forth his defenceless hands, acknowledges himself to be in the victor’s power; her foundations are fallen — Namely, the foundations of her walls, laid in a marshy soil, and surrounded with a deep ditch full of water, to the undermining power of which they were continually exposed: see Herodot. lib. 1. cap. 178. Cut off the sower from Babylon — “Babylon resembled a country walled in rather than a city; the walls, according to Herodotus, being sixty miles in compass. Within this large circuit a great deal of ground was cultivated with corn. So that enough grew within the walls to support the inhabitants during a long siege.” — See Prideaux’s Connections, page 187. Or, by Babylon here, may be understood, not the city only, but the whole province. They shall turn every one to his people — This is spoken of the allies of the Babylonians.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Your mother - i. e., Babylon. Confounded ... ashamed.…
Your mother - i. e., Babylon. Confounded ... ashamed. Or, ashamed ... blush.
Behold ... - Translate, “Behold she is the hindermost of the nations, a desert, a thirsty land, and a waste:” - the reason why Babylon is to blush. Once the head of gold Dan 2:32, she is now the lowest of earthly powers.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Dust, like a suppliant, Isaias xlvii. 1. (Calmet) ---…
Dust, like a suppliant, Isaias xlvii. 1. (Calmet) --- Dry. The country shall be equally unfruitful. The waters of the Euphrates being let off, gave a passage to the enemy, ver. 9. (Haydock) --- Babylon soon lost its splendour. (Calmet) --- Vologeses completed its ruin. (Pliny, [Natural History?] vi. 26.) --- It ceased to be the metropolis or mother city. (Haydock) --- The whole country was laid waste. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Your mother--Babylon, the metropolis of the empire.
Your mother--Babylon, the metropolis of the empire.
hindermost--marvellous change, that Babylon, once the queen of the world, should be now the hindermost of nations, and at last, becoming "a desert," cease to be a nation!
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. Your mother — Babylon, the nation considered as…
12. Your mother — Babylon, the nation considered as a unit.
Hindermost of the nations — Balaam calls Amalek “the first of the nations.” Babylon, the “head of gold,” is here called the last “of the nations.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. your mother] Babylon, as mother of the individual…
12. your mother] Babylon, as mother of the individual citizens. Cp. Hos_2:2; Hos_2:5.
a wilderness … a desert] Cp. Jer_2:6, Jer_51:43.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) Your mother shall be sore confounded . .…
(12) Your mother shall be sore confounded . . .—The prophet speaks to the people of Babylon, and the city is therefore described as their mother.
The hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness . . .—The interpolated words mar the force of the sentence. Better, behold the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a waste, and a desert. This was to be the state to which Babylon should be reduced.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 50:12 The divine Judge rendered his verdict, describing the…
50:12 The divine Judge rendered his verdict, describing the disgrace of a defeated Babylon.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.