“Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
Parallel Translations
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“Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
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Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
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Behold, a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be roused from the uttermost parts of the earth.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 50:41 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 51:27-28 “Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm! Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!
- Isaiah 13:2-5 Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones. The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle. They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
- Jeremiah 6:22-23 Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”
- Jeremiah 50:9 For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they will set themselves in array against her. She will be taken from there. Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man. None of them will return in vain.
- Isaiah 13:17-18 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
- Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”
- Jeremiah 50:2-3 “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.’ For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it. They have fled. They are gone, both man and animal.
- Jeremiah 51:1-2 Yahweh says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind. I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
- Jeremiah 51:11 “Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
- Revelation 17:16 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 (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet again shows whence destruction was to come…
The Prophet again shows whence destruction was to come on the Babylonians. He does not indeed mention Cyrus, as Isaiah does (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1), nor does he mention the Persians; but he evidently points out the Medes, when he says that a people would come from the north He adds, a great nation and many or powerful kings; and lastly, from the sides of the earth. It is indeed certain that the war was carried on under the banner and command of Cyrus and Darius. Cyrus was the chief, but Darius, on account of his age, was deemed the king. To whom then does Jeremiah refer, when he says many kings, if we so render the words? even to the satraps or princes, of whom a great number Darius brought with him; for Cyrus came from remote mountains, and from a barbarous nation; but the kingdom of Darius was very wide. There is then no doubt but that he brought with him many kings, who yet obeyed his authority. But we may take רבים, rebim, in the sense of being strong. However this may be, the Prophet means that the Chaldeans would have to carry on war, not with one nation or one king, but with many nations and with many kings, or certainly with mighty kings. Hence he mentions the sides of the earth, by which phrase he reminds us that the army would come, not from one country but from remote parts; and though the distance might be great, yet the Prophet says, that they would all come together to attack the Chaldeans.
We now see that what afterwards happened is represented as in a picture, in order that the event itself might confirm the Jews, not only in the truth announced by Jeremiah, but also in the whole law and worship of God; for this prophecy was ratified to the faithful when they found that Jeremiah, a faithful interpreter of the law, had thus spoken. And then his doctrine availed also for another purpose, even that the people might know that they rebelled against God when they obstinately resisted the holy Prophet; for we know that they were extremely disobedient. They were then proved, by what happened, to have been guilty of having contended with God in their pertinacious wickedness and contempt. There was afterwards given them a sure ground of hope; for as Jeremiah had spoken of the destruction of Babylon, so, on the other hand, he had promised a return to the Jews. They had then reason to look for restoration, when they saw fulfilled what Jeremiah had spoken.
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By the word raised, he expresses something more than by the word come: he says that people would come, and adds, that they would be raised up or roused; he intimates that they would not come of themselves, but by the hidden influence of God, because this war was not carried on merely by men. Cyrus indeed, led by insatiable avarice and ambition, was guided by his own inclination to undertake this war; and he made no end of his cruelty, until he at length miserably died, for he never ceased to shed innocent blood everywhere. But yet the Lord made use of these kings and nations to destroy Babylon: they were in reality the scourges of God, and accordingly he says, that they were roused from the sides of the earth, that is, from the most distant places.
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 Meaning, that the Persians should gather their army of…
Meaning, that the Persians should gather their army of many nations.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 50:41 Behold, a people shall come from the…
Jer 50:41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Ver. 41. Behold, a people shall come from the north.] As Jer 50:3; Jer 50:9; Jer 6:22.
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 The Medes and Persians with their armies, who shall…
The Medes and Persians with their armies, who shall also have many other kings who, from the several parts of the earth, shall join with them and help them.
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 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and…
Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation,.... The Modes and Persians, whose country lay north of Babylon: See Gill on Jer 50:9;
and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth; the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, Jer 51:27; and of the Armenians and other nations that Cyrus had subdued and brought with him in his army against Babylon, as Xenophon (s) relates. Ten kings shall be raised up against mystical Babylon, and hate her, and burn her with fire, Rev 17:12.
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(s) Cyropaedia, l. 5. c. 15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 41. Behold, a people shall come from the…
Verse 41. Behold, a people shall come from the north] This and the two following verses are nearly the same with Jer 6:22-24. But here, destroyers against Babylon are intended; there, destroyers against Jerusalem.
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 50:41-46. Behold, a people shall come from the…
Jer 50:41-46. Behold, a people shall come from the north — Namely, the Medes; and a great nation — That is, who are a great nation; for this is no more than an explicative of the foregoing sentence. And many kings — Namely, the kings of the Persians, Armenians, Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and others who fought under Cyrus’s banner, as allies or friends to him. Their voice shall roar like the sea — The noise of an army is fitly compared to the roaring of the sea when it rages and is tempestuous. Every one put in array — In exact and firm order, as if the whole host were but one man. The king of Babylon hath heard, &c. — Belshazzar was of himself a weak and dissolute prince, and was soon routed in the field; and so dismayed that he shut himself up in Babylon. Behold, he shall come up like a lion — See notes on Jer 49:19-21, where we have applied unto Edom what is here spoken against Babylon. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard, &c. — These words are intended to express the greatness of the destruction of Babylon, which should be such as should make all that part of the world to shake and tremble; and the nations, whether near or far remote, should be astonished at the downfall of so great a city and potent an empire.
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 An application to Babylon of the doom against Jerusalem…
An application to Babylon of the doom against Jerusalem Jer 6:22-24.
Jer 50:41
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The coasts of the earth - See the Jer 6:22 note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 41 Behold, a people cometh from the north,
10. NON TU, SED TIBI
Jer_50:41-46
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41 Behold, a people cometh from the north,
And a great host and many kings break up from the ends of the earth.
42 Bow and lance they bear,
Cruel are they33 and without compassion.
Their sound roareth like the sea,
And on horses they ride equipped like a man for the battle
Against thee, thou daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them,
And his hands are feeble;
Anguish hath seized him, trembling as a parturient.
44 Behold, like a lion he ascends
From the pride of Jordan to the evergreen pasturage,
For in a twinkling I drive her34 from thence,
And—who is chosen? Him I set over her.
For who is like me, and who will order me?
And who is the shepherd who may stand before me?
45 Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah that he hath counselled against Babylon,
And his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans:
Yea, they will be dragged away, the weak little sheep,
Yea, the pasturage will be amazed concerning them.
46 With the cry, “Babylon is taken,” the earth trembles,
And a crying is heard35 among the nations.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This entire passage consists of quotations, Jer_50:41-43 being taken from Jer_6:22-24, Jer_50:44-46 from Jer_49:19-21. As the prophet has already repeatedly designated the enemy as one coming from the north, it was natural to apply the former prophecy of the enemy threatening Judah from the north to Babylon, and it must also be admitted that the prophet would find it appropriate to transfer the prophecy of the chosen instrument for the destruction of Edom (Jer_49:19-21) to the similarly chosen instrument of the destruction of Babylon. Although thus the quotations here are accumulated to a degree greater than heretofore, I am yet convinced (contrary to my former view in Der proph. Jer. u. Bab., S. 128 ff.) that the passage is genuine and original. The idea of the unity of God’s judgments and of just recompense was to be represented here. This would receive no detriment, even if every single feature of the former prophecies did not seem adapted to be applied to Babylon. This, however, is not the case, for we find in the text such modifications as the application to Babylon required; daughter of Babylon, Jer_50:42; King of Babylon, Jer_50:43; against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans, Jer_50:45; Babylon is taken, Jer_50:46; among the nations, for, in the Red Sea, Jer_50:46. What is not altered is not then opposed, according to the author’s judgment, to its application to Babylon. The figure in Jer_50:44 a is therefore not inappropriate. The pride of Jordan and evergreen pasturage belong to the picture. The lion, which, from the reed-thickets on the Jordan, falls upon the flocks feeding near the bank (comp. rems. on Jer_49:19), is a figure which may be applied to any case of overpowering hostile attack. Likewise the description of the northern people (Jer_6:23) is by no means so special that it may not be applied to any people advancing with warlike impetuosity. Moreover, Jeremiah, when he wrote Jer_6:22-24, neither had the Chaldeans specially in view, nor are they so very different from their neighbors, the Medes.
The addition and many kings in Jer_50:41 is thus explained, that in the conception of the prophet the picture was present of a host of enemies, composed of many different elements (comp. Jer_51:27-28).
Footnotes:
[33]Jer_50:42.—אכזרי המה. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., §105, 4, b, 2.
[34]Jer_50:44.—ארוצם is probably only a mistake, and is therefore to be read with the Keri אֲרִיצֵמ (comp. אֲרִיצֶנּוּ Jer_49:19).
[35]Jer_50:46.—נשׁמע is occasioned by Jer_49:21, and moreover comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 60, 4.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Compare Jer 6:22-24). The very language used to describe…
(Compare Jer 6:22-24). The very language used to describe the calamities which Babylon inflicted on Zion is that here employed to describe Babylon's own calamity inflicted by the Medes. Retribution in kind.
kinds--the allies and satraps of the various provinces of the Medo-Persian empire: Armenia, Hyrcania, Lydia, &c.
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coasts--the remote parts.
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 THE AGENTS OF THIS DESTRUCTION, Jer_50:41-46.
THE AGENTS OF THIS DESTRUCTION, Jer_50:41-46.
41-46. A people shall come from the north, etc. — A more particular description of the agents of Babylon’s overthrow, consisting, however, almost exclusively of the materials found in previous passages.
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 41. a people] the Persians. See reference in mg.
41. a people] the Persians. See reference in mg.
from the north] Cp. Jer_50:9.
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41–43. A repetition, with the necessary changes, of Jer_6:22-24, where Jerusalem is the object of the threat. See notes there.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Jer_51:4. The instruments of the judgment. The section is…
Jer_51:4. The instruments of the judgment. The section is partly a cento from other prophecies. Thus vers. 41-43 are a repetition of Jer_6:22-24, except that what is there said of Jerusalem is here applied to Babylon; and vers. 44-46 of Jer_49:19-21, the reference, however, being in the latter passage to Edom. In ver. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon would be more literally rendered, At the cry, Babylon is taken.
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 General Information:
General Information:
These verses are almost identical to Jeremiah 6:22 and Jeremiah 6:23. See how you translated those verses.
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See, a people is coming
Yahweh speaks to the people of Babylon. This can be made clear. AT: "See, people of Babylon, a people is coming" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
See, a people
"Pay attention, because what I am about to say is both true and important: a people"
a great nation and many kings
This phrase refers to the time when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. Here "nation" represents their armies. AT: "the armies of a great nation and many kings" (See: Synecdoche)
are being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth
Being "stirred up" represents being urged to take action. AT: "are preparing to come from the most distant places on earth" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
They will pick up bows and spears
"The soldiers will carry bows and spears"
Their sound is like the sea roar
The loud noise that the soldiers make is compared to the loud noise of the sea. AT: "The sound that they make is very loud, like the sound of the sea" (See: Simile)
they are riding on horses, set out in order as men for battle
The phrase "set out in order" means that they have organized themselves and are riding in rows. The phrase "as men for battle" indicates that they are ready to fight. AT: "they are riding on horses in their assigned rows, and they are ready to fight"
daughter of Babylon
This phrase refers to the Babylonian people. (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
nation
king
bow and arrow
spear
compassion
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.