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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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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.
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A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon things of horror.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 50:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 44:27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
- Revelation 16:12 The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.
- Jeremiah 51:47 Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her.
- Jeremiah 51:52 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded will groan.
- Isaiah 44:25 who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
- Isaiah 46:1-7 Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary. They stoop and they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity. “Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb. Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver. “To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same? Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship. They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble.
- Jeremiah 50:12 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.
- Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Jeremiah 51:32-36 So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.” For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.” “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out. May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!” the inhabitant of Zion will say; and, “May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!” will Jerusalem say. Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
- Jeremiah 51:44 I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.
- Daniel 3:1-30 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald cried aloud, “To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages, that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.” Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. They answered Nebuchadnezzar the king, “O king, live for ever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image; and whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, and don’t worship the golden image which you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. Then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered them, “Is it on purpose, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god that will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the middle of the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the middle of the fire. The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn’t singed. Their pants weren’t changed, the smell of fire wasn’t even on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything evil against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
- Daniel 5:4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
- Habakkuk 2:18-19 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
- Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.
- 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 17:15-16 He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the same word is used in a different…
Here the same word is used in a different sense: he had often before used the word חרב, chereb, “sword;” but now by changing only a point, he uses it in the sense of waste, or drought. But as he mentions waters, the Prophet, no doubt, means drought; nor was it without reason that he mentioned this, because the Euphrates, as it is well known, flowed near the city, and it was also divided into many streams, so that there were many islands, as it were, made by the skill and hand of men. Thus the city was in no ordinary way fortified, for it was difficult of access, being on one side surrounded by so large a river: it had also trenches full of water, and it had many channels. But Cyrus, as Xenophon relates, when attempting to take the city, used the same contrivance, and imitated those who had fortified Babylon, but for a different purpose; for he diverted the streams, so that the river might be forded. Thus, then, he dried up that great river, which was like a sea; so that Babylon was taken with no great trouble. Cyrus, indeed, entered in by night, and unexpectedly invaded Babylon, while they were securely feasting, and celebrating a festival, as we find in the book of Daniel. However, the way by which Cyrus contrived to take the city was, by dividing the Euphrates into many streams. Hence it was, that the Prophet, in order that the Jews might see, as it were, with their own eyes, spoke nothing without reason, having not only predicted the slaughter and destruction of the city, but showed also the very way in which it was done, as though the event had been portrayed before them.
The reason is added, because it is the land of carvings, or gravings. God, indeed, took vengeance on Babylon for other things, as it has before appeared; but the Prophet here speaks of carvings, that the Israelites might know that there is no certain salvation anywhere else except in the one true God, who had revealed himself to them. Jeremiah, in short, means, that when any country is destitute of God’s help, though it may excel in arms, in number, in wealth, and in wisdom, yet everything under heaven is of no avail without the blessing and favor of God. He has spoken of princes and of wise men, and he has named chariots, horses, and treasures, — all these have been mentioned for the purpose I have just stated, even to show, that were we supplied with all that may seem necessary to defend us, except God protected us, whatever the world may offer would be all in vain; for we shall at length find, that without God neither arms, nor chariots, nor wisdom nor counsel, nor any other helps, can avail us anything.
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It follows, that Chaldea gloried in images The word אימים, aimim, means terrors, and giants are called by this name in Deuteronomy 2:10, because they inspire terror by their aspect. But this name is no doubt applied to images, because they are only bugbears, des epovantailz, as we say in French. As then they are mere scarecrows, which only frighten children, they are called אימים, aimim. And he says, that they gloried in, or doted on them — for הלל, elal, means both, in Hithpael, as it is found here. It means to boast or to elate one’s-self, and also to be mad or to dote. Either sense would not be unsuitable to this place; for the unbelieving gloried in their idols, and at the same time were mad: yet the first meaning seems to me the best, that they gloried in their idols, as it is said in Psalm 47:7,
“Let them perish who trust in images and glory in them.”
Though the verb there is indeed different, yet the meaning is the same.
It was not, indeed, without reason, that the Prophet reproaches the Chaldeans, that they gloried in their idols, because they thereby robbed God of his honor; for what is ascribed to idols is taken away from God. He intimates, in short, that the Chaldeans would be justly punished as guilty of sacrilege, because they had impiously transferred the glory of God to their own idols. And this passage teaches us, that when God is purely worshipped among us, and when true religion flourishes, it will be our best protection. We shall then be more impregnable than if we had all the power and wealth of the world: nothing can hurt us, if we give to God his due honor, and strive to worship him in sincerity and truth. 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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For Cyrus did cut the river Euphrates, and divided…
For Cyrus did cut the river Euphrates, and divided the course thereof into many streams, so that it might be passed over as though there had been no water: which thing he did by the counsel of two of Belshazzar’s captains, who conspired against their king, because he had gelded the one of them in despite, and slain the son of the other.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 50:38 A drought [is] upon her waters; and…
Jer 50:38 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.
Ver. 38. A drought is upon her waters.] Which Cyrus did so drain by many outlets, that without any great difficulty he took the city, assaulting it on two sides. Frontinius saith, {a} that thrice Babylon was taken by this stratagem; (1.) By Semiramis; (2.) By Cyrus; (3.) By Alexander the Great.
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And they are mad upon their idols.] {b} Deos terrificos et truces, statues of their kings and worthies, which were of a huge, vast stature. See Dan 3:1.
{a} Lib. iii. c. 7. s. 4.
{b} ειδωλομανεις.
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 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall…
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: some think that this phrase hath a special reference to Cyrus’s stratagem used in the surprise of Babylon; one part of it was fortified by the great river Euphrates, running on one side, which Cyrus diverted by cutting several channels, till he had drained it so low, that it became passable for his army to go over. Others think that a want of rain is here threatened.
For it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols: God gives the reason of this judgment, which was their idolatry, and exceeding zeal for it.
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 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall…
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up,.... Either on the waters of the land of Chaldea in general, from whence should follow barrenness, and so a want of the necessaries of life; hence Kimchi interprets it of a consumption of riches, and all good things; or on the waters of Babylon, the river Euphrates, which ran through it; the channel of which was diverted by Cyrus, and drained and made so dry, that he marched his army up it into the city. Some say Babylon was taken three times, by this stratagem of turning the river Euphrates another way; first by Semiramis; and after Cyrus by Alexander: this may well be applied to the drying up of the river Euphrates, upon the pouring out of the sixth vial, and to the destruction of the antichristian states, signified by the many waters on which the great whore of Babylon or Rome sitteth, Rev 16:12;
for it is the land of graven images; much given to idolatry; had idols of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone, Dan 5:2;
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and they are mad upon their idols; greatly affected, and much devoted to them; superstitiously mad upon them: or, "they gloried in them"; as the Targum, Vulgate Latin version, and others (p); they praised and extolled them as true deities; as Belshazzar and his nobles did the very night Babylon was taken, Dan 5:4; and this their idolatry was one cause of their ruin. The word (q) for "idols" signifies "terrors", or terrible things; because their worshippers stood in fear of them, as Kimchi observes.
(p) "gloriantur", Vulg. Lat. Schmidt, Munster, Tigurine version. (q) "horrendis" vel "terriculamentis", Schmidt, Munster, Calvin; "terricula", Junius & Tremellius.
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 Dried - This phrase has a plain reference to…
Dried - This phrase has a plain reference to Cyrus's stratagem used in the surprize of Babylon; one part of it was fortified by the great river Euphrates, which Cyrus diverted by cutting several channels, 'till he had drained it so low, that it became passable for his army; others think that a want of rain is here threatened.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 38. A drought is upon her waters] May…
Verse 38. A 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 Jer 50:24. 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.
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 50:38-40. A drought is upon all her waters…
Jer 50:38-40. A drought is upon all her waters — Our translators, after the example of the Vulgate and others, have rendered חרב, a drought, here, whereas they have translated it a sword in the preceding verses, as supposing, it seems, that a sword has nothing to do with waters. But they might very properly have rendered it a sword here also: for this term is used metaphorically, to denote either the instrument of divine vengeance generally, or the operations and effects of war in particular; in either of which senses it may be applied to waters as well as to treasures. And the allusion here is evidently to the stratagem of Cyrus, who drained off the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the city of Babylon, by means of which his troops, by night, marched along the bed of the river into the heart of the city, and surprised it. For it is the land of graven images, &c. — This vengeance comes upon them, because they have been the great encouragers and supporters of idolatry. It may be remarked, that the executioners of the divine judgments were the Persians, who, in opposition to the Sabians, (whose notions the Chaldeans embraced,) followed the ancient discipline of the magi, or wise men among them, and had neither altars nor images; as is attested by Strabo and Herodotus: see Prideaux’s Connections, p. 177, and Lowth. And they are mad upon their idols —
See note on Isa 57:5. They may well be termed mad who make a god of any creature, and especially those who worship images which their own hands have made. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert, &c. — Blaney renders this clause, Therefore shall wild cats, with jackals dwell, the daughters of the ostrich also shall dwell in her; and refers to Bochart in justification of the propriety of his translation. Compare this passage with the parallel one, Isa 13:19-22, where see the notes.
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 A drought - Rather, “a sword,” i. e., military…
A drought - Rather, “a sword,” i. e., military skill and forethought.
They are mad upon their idols - Omit their. The word for idols, literally terrors Psa 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.
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 Drought. Cyrus almost drained the Euphrates, chap. li. 42.,…
Drought. Cyrus almost drained the Euphrates, chap. li. 42., and Isaias xxi. --- Things, fit to terrify children, Baruch vi. 14. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "they are made upon their idols." (Haydock)
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 drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the…
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 (Jer 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 Euphrates for irrigation, traces of which [LAYARD] are seen still on all sides, but dry and barren (Isa 44:27).
their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are more calculated to frighten than to attract (Jer 51:44, Jer 51:47, Jer 51:52; Dan 3:1). Mere bugbears with which to frighten children.
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 38. A drought — The consonants of the original…
38. A drought — The consonants of the original for “drought” are the same with those for sword in the verse preceding; the only difference is in the vowel pointings of the Masoretes. Hence there are not a few who believe that the true form of this word is sword, and not drought. But the consistency of the MSS. with one another, the general uniformity of the Versions, and the more exact fitness of the sense, vindicate the present reading, even if they do not demonstrate its correctness; and hence it is better to retain it.
Waters — The canals and watercourses constituting the system of irrigation for the Babylonian plain, which system was doubtless at this time, the most perfect on the face of the earth.
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 38. A drought] The Heb. words for drought and…
38. A drought] The Heb. words for drought and sword (differing by one vowel only, ḥôreb, ḥereb) are sufficiently alike to make it quite possible that here as at the beginning of the two previous verses the latter should be read. In that case sword is thought to be used figuratively in reference to the stratagem by which the water supply of Babylon was cut off by its assailants; though this seems rather a farfetched application of the word. Drought on the contrary will more naturally refer to the drying up of the many canals by which the water of the Euphrates was distributed throughout the whole country for drainage and irrigation as well as for commercial purposes. Cp. Jer_51:13; Psa_137:1.
they are mad upon idols] rather, through idols do they make themselves mad. “Idols,” lit. as mg. terrors, the grotesque objects by which heathen often represent their gods. But there is strong support in the Versions (LXX, Aq., Symm., Syr., Vulg., Targ.) for reading (with different vocalisation) and of idols do they boast themselves (cp. Psa_97:7).
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 (38) A drought is upon her waters.—Better, A sword.…
(38) A drought is upon her waters.—Better, A sword. The Hebrew word for “drought” has the same consonants as that for “sword,” with different vowel-points. In the original text the form of the two words must have been identical, as the vowel-points were of later introduction. The editors of the present text were probably guided by the thought that the context in this case determined the meaning of the word as meaning “drought,” and not a “sword.” So in Deu_28:22 the text of the Authorised version gives “sword,” and the margin “drought.” There is, however, a certain loss of rhetorical emphasis in the change of the word with which the three previous verses had begun. The “waters” include the canals of Babylon as well as the Euphrates.
They are mad upon their idols.—The word for “idols” means literally “terrors,” or “objects of terror,” as in Psa_88:16; Job_20:25, and this is the only place in which it is used of the objects of worship. In Gen_14:5; Deu_2:10-11 it appears as the name of the Emim, probably as meaning “the terrible, or gigantic ones.” Here it seems used for the colossal figures—winged bulls, human-headed lions, and the like—which were the objects of Babylonian worship. (See note on Jer_49:16.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A drought. The Maasoretic critics, in their prosaic realism,…
A drought. The Maasoretic critics, in their prosaic realism, were unable to see how a "sword" could be "upon the waters;" hence they altered khereb into khoreb. But the sword is merely a symbol of the Divine vengeance, and may be interpreted differently according to the exigencies of the context. Render, Sword upon the waters. They are mad upon their idols; rather, through Terrors they befool themselves. "Terrors" is a synonym for the gods of the heathen, which inspired a feeling of awe rather than affection, unlike Jehovah as he revealed himself through the authors of the psalms and prophecies.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 A drought is coming on her waters
A drought is coming on her waters
"A drought will soon happen that will affect all her waters"
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her waters
Here "waters" represent all the sources of water for the Babylonians, especially the river that went through the city.
desert beasts with the jackals
Possible meanings are 1) "wild animals and hyenas" or 2) "wild demons and evil spirits."
jackals
A jackal is a wild dog found in Asia and Africa.
ostriches
very large African birds that run fast but cannot fly. Some versions translate this as "owl."
will live in her
The word "her" refers to Babylon.
For all time, she will no longer be inhabited. From generation to generation, she will not be lived in
These two phrases mean the same thing and emphasize that Babylon will be completely uninhabited. AT: "People will never live there again; it will be uninhabited forever" (See: Doublet)
she will not be lived in
This can be stated in active form. AT: "no one will live in her" (See: Active or Passive)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
no one will live there; no person will stay in her
These two phrases mean the same thing and emphasize that Babylon will be completely uninhabited. They can be combined. AT: "no one will ever live there again" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
water
worthy
false god
desert
beast
life
generation
Sodom
Gomorrah
neighbor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 50:38 The Euphrates River ran through the city of…
50:38 The Euphrates River ran through the city of Babylon, providing its water supply. The Persians were reputed to have diverted the river during the siege by digging a canal around the city walls and then attacking through the riverbed.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.