Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they will lift up a shout against you.’
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they will lift up a shout against you.’
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The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
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The LORD of hosts hath sworn by Himself: Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm, and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 51:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 49:13 For I have sworn by myself,” says Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.”
- Jeremiah 50:15 Shout against her all around. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks have fallen. Her walls have been thrown down, for it is the vengeance of Yahweh. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.
- Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.
- Amos 6:8 “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
- Judges 6:5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
- Jeremiah 46:23 They will cut down her forest,” says Yahweh, “though it can’t be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
- Jeremiah 51:27 “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!
- Joel 1:4-7 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness. He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
- Joel 2:3-4 A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them. Their appearance is as the appearance of horses, and they run as horsemen.
- Nahum 3:15-17 There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust. You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away. Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
- Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet more fully confirms what he had said…
The Prophet more fully confirms what he had said by introducing God as making an oath; and it is the most solemn manner of confirmation when God swears by his own name. But he speaks of God in the language of men when he says that he swears by his own soul; for it is a kind of protestation when men swear by their own souls, as though they laid down or pledged their own life. Whoever then swears by his own soul, means that as his own life is dear to him, he thus lays it down as a pledge, that were he to deceive by perjury, God would be an avenger and take it away. This is suitable to men, not to God; but what does not properly belong to God is transferred to him; nor is this uncommon, as we have seen it in other places. And the more familiar is the manner of speaking adopted by God, the more it ought to touch men when he makes himself like them, and in a manner assumes their person as though he lived in the midst of them.
But we must still remember why the Prophet introduces God as making an oath, even that all doubtfulness might be removed, and that more credit might be given to his prophecy; for it not only proceeded from God, but was also sealed by an oath. If I shall not fill Babylon, he says, with men as with locusts
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The multitude of enemies is here opposed to the multitude of the citizens, which was very large. For we have said elsewhere that Babylon surpassed all other cities, nor was it less populous than if it were all extensive country. As then it was full of so many defenders, it might have been objected and said, “Whence can come such a number of enemies as can be sufficient to put to flight the inhabitants? for were a large army to enter, it would yet be in great danger in contending with so vast a multitude.” But the Prophet compares here the Persians and the Medes to locusts; and we know that Cyrus collected from various nations a very large army, nay, many armies. Fulfilled then was what had been predicted by the Prophet, for Cyrus made up his forces not only from one people, but he brought with him almost all the Medes, and also led many troops from other barbarous nations. Hence then it happened, that what had been said by Jeremiah was proved by the event.
He also adds, that they would be victorious; for by the vintage song, or shout, he no doubt means a song or shout of triumph. But this song, הידד, eidad, was then in use among the Jews. Then as they did after vintage sing in token of joy, so also conquerors, exulting after victory over their enemies, had a triumphant song. And the Greek translators have rendered it κέλευσμα, or κελευμα, which is properly the song of sailors; when they see the harbor they exult with joy and sing, because they have been delivered from the dangers of the Sea, and also have completed their sailing, which is always perilous, and have come to the harbor where they more fully enjoy life, where they have pleasant air, wholesome water, and other advantages. But the simple meaning of the Prophet is, that when the Persians and the Medes entered Babylon, they would become immediately victorious, so that they would exult without a contest and without any toil, and sing a song of triumph. The Prophet now confirms his prophecy in another way, even by extolling the power of God, —
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 Hebrew, his soul.
Hebrew, his soul.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 51:14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by…
Jer 51:14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
Ver. 14. Surely I will fill thee with men as with caterpillers.] So they shall seem both for multitude and humming noise, barritu militari.
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They shall lift up a shout against thee.] As peasants did at their harvest home. See Jer 48:33.
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 Lord, that is able to bring to pass…
The Lord, that is able to bring to pass what he saith, hath sworn by his life, or by himself; see the like phrase Jer 22:5; 44:26; 49:13 Amo 4:2; 6:8; Isa 45:23; that is, the thing next mentioned shall come to pass as certainly as that there is a God in heaven, or that God liveth.
Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; I will bring against thee a great army, that shall be like a swarm of caterpillars, and shall come against thee in such numbers as caterpillars use to come, and for the same end, to eat thee up and destroy thee; and as soldiers use do when they go on to fight their enemies, or to assault cities, they shall make a great shout against thee.
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 The Lord hath sworn by himself, saying,.... Or, "by…
The Lord hath sworn by himself, saying,.... Or, "by his soul" or "life" (q); which is himself, than which he cannot swear by a greater, Heb 6:13; and the certain performance of what he swears unto need not be doubted of; and indeed the design of the oath is to assure of the truth of the thing, about which, after this, there ought to be no hesitation:
surely I fill thee with men as with caterpillars; or "locusts" (r); march in vast numbers, and make sad desolation where they come; and to which a numerous army may fitly be compared; and which are here meant, even the army of Cyrus, that should enter Babylon, and fill it, as it did. So the Targum,
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"the Lord of hosts hath sworn by his word, if I fill them with armies of many people as locusts:''
and they shall lift up a shout against thee; as soldiers, when they make the onset in battle; or as besiegers, when they make their attack on a city; or as when grape gatherers bring in their vintage, or tread out their wine, to which the allusion is: it signifies that her enemies should get an entire victory, and triumph over her.
(q) "per animam suam", Pagninus, Cocceius, Schmidt. (r) "ut, vel quasi brucho", V. L. Cocceius, Montanus, Grotius, Schmidt.
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 14. I will fill thee with men] By…
Verse 14. I will fill thee with men] By means of these very waters through the channel of thy boasted river, thou shalt be filled with men, suddenly appearing as an army of locusts; and, without being expected, shall lift up a terrific cry, as soon as they have risen from the channel of the river.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Rather, “Surely I have filled thee with men as…
Rather, “Surely I have filled thee with men as with locusts, and they shall sing over thee the vintage-song.” The vintage-shout suggests the idea of trampling Babylon under foot, as the vintagers trample the grapes; a metaphor of the divine wrath.
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 Himself. Septuagint, "his hand" lifted up, or by his…
Himself. Septuagint, "his hand" lifted up, or by his power. --- Locusts. Their ravages were equally dreaded, Joel ii. 4., and Judges vi. 5.
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 by himself--literally, "by His soul" (Sa2 15:21; Heb 6:13).
by himself--literally, "by His soul" (Sa2 15:21; Heb 6:13).
fill . . . with caterpillars--locusts (Nah 3:15). Numerous as are the citizens of Babylon, the invaders shall be more numerous.
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 14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn — The…
14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn — The solemnity of oathtaking is employed in announcing this destruction.
By himself — The margin is more exactly literal and more expressive, by his soul.
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Caterpillars — Rather, locusts.
Shall lift up a shout — Literally, the vintage song. The “vintage song” is, in the nature of the case, a battle song, and suggests that the men with which Babylon is filled, trample her under foot, thus executing the wrath of God upon her.
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 14. I will fill, etc.] rather, Though I have…
14. I will fill, etc.] rather, Though I have filled thee (better, thou art filled) with men (i.e. innumerable inhabitants), as with locusts (viz. in point of numbers), they (the assailants) shall lift up, etc.
cankerworm] the locust in its early (pupa) stage. Cp. Jer_51:27, where see note.
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a shout] the vintage song, See on Jer_25:30.
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 (14) The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself.—This…
(14) The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself.—This is, as in Jer_49:13; Amo_6:8, the most solemn form of affirmation. Compare Heb_6:13, and Note on Jer_49:13.
Surely I will fill thee with men, as with Caterpillers.—Better, with grasshoppers or locusts, the fullest type of the swarms of the destroyer (Nah_3:15). The “Surely” answers to the Hebrew “For if,” as giving the condition on which the shouting depends.
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They shall lift up a shout against thee.—The thought is the same as in Jer_25:30. The “shout” is that of those who tread the grapes in the wine-press, and that, as in Isa_63:2-3, is the received symbol of conquest and destruction.
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 Surely I will fill thee, etc. This is the…
Surely I will fill thee, etc. This is the rendering of Hitzig and Graf; the enemies are compared to locusts, as in Jer_46:23. But the expression, "to fill a city with men," is more naturally taken of the increase of the population of the city; and it is better to render, with Ewald and Keil, "Even though or, "Surely even though I have filled thee with men, as with locusts, they shall raise over thee the cheer of the vintage;" i.e. the millions of Babylon"s population will not save her from the most utter ruin. For the vintage cheer, see on Jer_25:30; and for the figures, see especially, Isa_63:1-6.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.