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Wednesday, May 14th, 2025
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Jeremiah 50:12

The city of Babylon was like a mother to you. But it will be disgraced and become nothing but a barren desert.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Torrey's Topical Textbook - Babylon;   Deserts;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Babylon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Desert;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Lance, Lancet;   Persia, Persians;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Mother;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ashamed;   Champaign;   Mother;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
your mother will be utterly humiliated;she who bore you will be put to shame.Look! She will lag behind all the nations—an arid wilderness, a desert.
Hebrew Names Version
your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she who bore you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
King James Version
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.
English Standard Version
your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Behold, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
New American Standard Bible
Your mother will be greatly ashamed, She who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
New Century Version
Your mother will be very ashamed; the woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced. Soon Babylonia will be the least important of all the nations. She will be an empty, dry desert.
Amplified Bible
Your mother [Babylon] shall be greatly shamed; She who gave you birth will be ashamed. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.
World English Bible
your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she who bore you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore your mother shall bee sore confounded, and she that bare you, shall be ashamed: beholde, the vttermost of the nations shalbe a desert, a drie land, and a wildernes.
Legacy Standard Bible
Your mother will be greatly ashamed;She who gave you birth will be humiliated.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,A wilderness, a parched land, and a desert.
Berean Standard Bible
your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who bore you will be disgraced. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Complete Jewish Bible
your mother will be utterly shamed, she who bore you will be disgraced. Here she is! — last among the nations, a desert, parched and barren.
Darby Translation
Your mother hath been sorely put to shame; she that bore you hath been covered with reproach: behold, [she is become] hindmost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Easy-to-Read Version
Now your mother will be very ashamed. The woman who gave you birth will be embarrassed. Babylon will be the least important of all the nations. She will be an empty, dry desert.
George Lamsa Translation
Your mother is exceedingly ashamed; she who bore you is confounded: behold, the last of the nations shall become wilderness, waste, and desolation.
Good News Translation
but your own great city will be humiliated and disgraced. Babylonia will be the least important nation of all; it will become a dry and waterless desert.
Lexham English Bible
your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be humiliated. Look, she will be the least of the nations, a desert, dry land, and wilderness.
Literal Translation
your mother shall be deeply ashamed, she who bore you shall turn pale. Behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Youre mothers shalbe sore confounded, and they that bare you, shal come to shame. She shall be the leest set by amonge the nacions, vyode, waist, & dried vp.
American Standard Version
your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Bible in Basic English
Your mother will be put to shame; she who gave you birth will be looked down on: see, she will be the last of the nations, a waste place, a dry and unwatered land.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
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.
King James Version (1611)
Your mother shalbe sore confounded, she that bare you shalbe ashamed: beholde, the hindermost of the nations shalbe a wildernes, a dry land, & a desert.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Your mothers shalbe sore confounded, and they that bare you shall come to shame, she shalbe the least set by among the nations, voyde, wasted, & dryed vp.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he shall kindle a fire in the houses of their gods, and shall burn them, and shall carry them away captives: and shall search the land of Egypt, as a shepherd searches his garment; and he shall go forth in peace.
English Revised Version
your mother shall be sore ashamed; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Youre modir is schent greetli, and sche that gendride you, is maad euene to dust; lo! sche schal be the last among folkis, and forsakun, with out weie, and drie.
Update Bible Version
your mother shall be completely put to shame; she that bore you shall be confounded: look, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Webster's Bible Translation
Your mother shall be greatly confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations [shall be] a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
New English Translation
But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.
New King James Version
Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, A dry land and a desert.
New Living Translation
But your homeland will be overwhelmed with shame and disgrace. You will become the least of nations— a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
New Life Bible
your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be put to shame. She will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a waste, and a desert.
New Revised Standard
your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Lo, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Your mother, hath turned very pale, She that bare you, hath turned red, - Lo! the last of nations, is - A desert, A parched land, and A waste plain,
Douay-Rheims Bible
Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry.
Revised Standard Version
your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Lo, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness dry and desert.
Young's Literal Translation
Ashamed hath been your mother greatly, Confounded hath she been that bare you, Lo, the hindermost of nations [is] a wilderness, A dry land, and a desert.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Your mother will be greatly ashamed, She who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.

Contextual Overview

9 In the north I am bringing great nations together. They will attack Babylon and capture it. The arrows they shoot are like the best soldiers, always finding their target. 10 Babylonia will be conquered, and its enemies will carry off everything they want. 11 The Lord said: People of Babylonia, you were glad to rob my people. You had a good time, making more noise than horses and jumping around like calves threshing grain. 12 The city of Babylon was like a mother to you. But it will be disgraced and become nothing but a barren desert. 13 My anger will destroy Babylon, and no one will live there. Everyone who passes by will be shocked to see what has happened. 14 Babylon has rebelled against me. Archers, take your places. Shoot all your arrows at Babylon. 15 Attack from every side! Babylon surrenders! The enemy tears down its walls and towers. I am taking my revenge by doing to Babylon what it did to other cities. 16 There is no one in Babylonia to plant or harvest crops. Even foreigners who lived there have left for their homelands, afraid of the enemy armies. 17 Israel is a flock of sheep scattered by hungry lions. The king of Assyria first gobbled Israel down. Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, crunched on Israel's bones. 18 I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, punished the king of Assyria, and I will also punish the king of Babylonia.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mother: Jeremiah 49:2, Galatians 4:26, Revelation 17:5

the hindermost: Jeremiah 25:26, Isaiah 23:13

a wilderness: Jeremiah 50:35-40, Jeremiah 25:12, Jeremiah 51:25, Jeremiah 51:26, Jeremiah 51:43, Jeremiah 51:62-64, Isaiah 13:20-22, Isaiah 14:22, Revelation 18:21-23

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 50:38 - A drought Jeremiah 50:39 - General Jeremiah 51:37 - become Jeremiah 51:47 - her whole Hosea 4:5 - thy

Cross-References

Exodus 20:12
Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.
Acts 7:16
Later their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor.
Ephesians 6:1
Children, you belong to the Lord, and you do the right thing when you obey your parents. The first commandment with a promise says,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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, Revelation 17:5;

she that bare you shall be ashamed; which is the same as before, in different words:

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 Jeremiah 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;

Jeremiah 25:26.

m אחרית גוים "finis seu extremitas gentium", Vatablus, Montanus, Schmidt. n Comment. Ebr. p. 30.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Daniel 2:32, she is now the lowest of earthly powers.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 50:12. 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.


 
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