Jeremiah 51:41

THE MESSAGE

"Babylon is finished— the pride of the whole earth is flat on her face. What a comedown for Babylon, to end up inglorious in the sewer! Babylon drowned in chaos, battered by waves of enemy soldiers. Her towns stink with decay and rot, the land empty and bare and sterile. No one lives in these towns anymore. Travelers give them a wide berth. I'll bring doom on the glutton god-Bel in Babylon. I'll make him vomit up all he gulped down. No more visitors stream into this place, admiring and gawking at the wonders of Babylon. The wonders of Babylon are no more. Run for your lives, my dear people! Run, and don't look back! Get out of this place while you can, this place torched by God 's raging anger. Don't lose hope. Don't ever give up when the rumors pour in hot and heavy. One year it's this, the next year it's that— rumors of violence, rumors of war. Trust me, the time is coming when I'll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place. I'll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud, with dead bodies strewn all over the place. Heaven and earth, angels and people, will throw a victory party over Babylon When the avenging armies from the north descend on her." God 's Decree!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
How Sheshach has been captured,the praise of the whole earth seized.What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

Hebrew Names Version
How is Sheshakh taken! and the praise of the whole eretz seized! how is Bavel become a desolation among the nations!

King James Version
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

English Standard Version
"How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!

New American Standard Bible
"How Sheshak has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth has been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

New Century Version
"How Babylon has been defeated! The pride of the whole earth has been taken captive. People from other nations are shocked at what happened to Babylon, and the things they see make them afraid.

Amplified Bible
"How Sheshak (Babylon) has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations!

World English Bible
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Geneva Bible (1587)
How is Sheshach taken! and howe is the glory of the whole earth taken! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"How Sheshak has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

Legacy Standard Bible
"How Sheshak has been captured,And the praise of the whole earth been seized!How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

Berean Standard Bible
How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!

Contemporary English Version
All nations now praise Babylon, but when it is captured, those same nations will be horrified.

Complete Jewish Bible
Sheshakh has been captured, the pride of the whole earth seized! Bavel has become an object of horror throughout the nations!

Darby Translation
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

Easy-to-Read Version
"Sheshach will be defeated. The best and proudest country of the whole earth will be taken captive. People from other nations will look at Babylon, and what they see will make them afraid.

George Lamsa Translation
How is the royal city taken! the praise of the whole earth! How has Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

Good News Translation
The Lord says about Babylon: "The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations!

Lexham English Bible
How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become as an object of horror among the nations!

Literal Translation
How Sheshach is captured! And how the praise of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become a ruin among the nations!

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O, how was Sesah wonne? O, how was the glory of ye whole londe taken? how happeneth it, that Babilon is so wondred at amonge the Heithe?

American Standard Version
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Bible in Basic English
How is Babylon taken! and the praise of all the earth surprised! how has Babylon become a cause of wonder among the nations!

JPS Old Testament (1917)
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

King James Version (1611)
How is Sheshach taken? and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised? how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
O howe was Sesach wonne? O howe was the glorie of the whole lande taken? howe happeneth it that Babylon is so wondred at among the heathen?

English Revised Version
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hou is Babiloyne made in to wondre among hethene men?

Update Bible Version
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how has Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Webster's Bible Translation
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

New English Translation
"See how Babylon has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!

New King James Version
"Oh, how Sheshach Jeremiah 25:26)">[fn] is taken!Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized!How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!

New Living Translation
"How Babylon is fallen— great Babylon, praised throughout the earth! Now she has become an object of horror among the nations.

New Life Bible
"How Babylon has been taken, the praise of the whole earth taken! How Babylon has become an object of trouble among the nations!

New Revised Standard
How Sheshach is taken, the pride of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
How hath Sheshach, been captured! How hath the praise of all the earth linen seized! How hath Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

Douay-Rheims Bible
How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?

Revised Standard Version
"How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!

Young's Literal Translation
How hath Sheshach been captured, Yea, caught is the praise of the whole earth, How hath Babylon been for an astonishment among nations.

Contextual Overview

¹There's more. God says more: "Watch this: I'm whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia'— against all who live in that perverse land. I'm sending a cleanup crew into Babylon. They'll clean the place out from top to bottom. When they get through there'll be nothing left of her worth taking or talking about. They won't miss a thing. A total and final Doomsday! Fighters will fight with everything they've got. It's no-holds-barred. They will spare nothing and no one. It's final and wholesale destruction—the end! Babylon littered with the wounded, streets piled with corpses. It turns out that Israel and Judah are not widowed after all. As their God, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well, committed to them even though They filled their land with sin against Israel's most Holy God. ⁶"Get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Run for your lives! Save your necks! Don't linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her as I pay her back for her sins. Babylon was a fancy gold chalice held in my hand, Filled with the wine of my anger to make the whole world drunk. The nations drank the wine and they've all gone crazy. Babylon herself will stagger and crash, senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic! Get anointing balm for her wound. Maybe she can be cured." ⁹ "We did our best, but she can't be helped. Babylon is past fixing. Give her up to her fate. Go home. The judgment on her will be vast, a skyscraper-memorial of vengeance. ¹⁰ " God has set everything right for us. Come! Let's tell the good news Back home in Zion. Let's tell what our God did to set things right. ¹¹"Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! God has stirred up the kings of the Medes, infecting them with war fever: ‘Destroy Babylon!' God 's on the warpath. He's out to avenge his Temple. Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Station guards around the clock. Bring in reinforcements. Set men in ambush. God will do what he planned, what he said he'd do to the people of Babylon. You have more water than you need, you have more money than you need— But your life is over, your lifeline cut." ¹⁴ God -of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn: "I'll fill this place with soldiers. They'll swarm through here like locusts chanting victory songs over you." ¹⁵By his power he made earth. His wisdom gave shape to the world. He crafted the cosmos. He thunders and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches the wind from his warehouse. Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish! god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds, dead sticks— deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. They're nothing but stale smoke. When the smoke clears, they're gone. But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing; he put the whole universe together, With special attention to Israel. His name? God -of-the-Angel-Armies! ²⁰God says, "You, Babylon, are my hammer, my weapon of war. I'll use you to smash godless nations, use you to knock kingdoms to bits. I'll use you to smash horse and rider, use you to smash chariot and driver. I'll use you to smash man and woman, use you to smash the old man and the boy. I'll use you to smash the young man and young woman, use you to smash shepherd and sheep. I'll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen, use you to smash governors and senators. ²⁴ "Judeans, you'll see it with your own eyes. I'll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion." God 's Decree. ²⁵"I'm your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer, you ravager of the whole earth. I'll reach out, I'll take you in my hand, and I'll crush you till there's no mountain left. I'll turn you into a gravel pit— no more cornerstones cut from you, No more foundation stones quarried from you! Nothing left of you but gravel." God 's Decree.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Sheshach: Sheshach was probably an idol worshipped at Babylon, from which the city derived this name; and the festival which was held when the city was taken, when they were heated with wine, was perhaps observed in honour of it. Jeremiah 25:26, Daniel 5:1-3

the praise: Jeremiah 49:25, Jeremiah 50:23, Isaiah 13:19, Isaiah 14:4, Daniel 2:38, Daniel 4:22, Daniel 4:30, Daniel 5:4, Daniel 5:5, Revelation 18:10-19

an astonishment: Jeremiah 51:37, Jeremiah 50:46, Deuteronomy 28:37, 2 Chronicles 7:21, Ezekiel 27:35

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 51:8 - suddenly Nahum 3:7 - Nineveh

Gill's Notes on the Bible

How is Sheshach taken!.... Not the city Shushan, as Sir John Marsham thinks e; but Babylon, as is plain from a following clause; and so the Targum,

"how is Babylon subdued!''

called Sheshach, by a position and commutation of letters the Jews call "athbash"; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel account for it; or else from their idol Shach, the same with Bel, which was worshipped here, and had a temple erected for it; and where an annual feast was kept in honour of it, called the Sacchean feast; and which was observing the very time the city was taken; and may be the true reason of its having this name given it now; :-; the taking of which was very wonderful; and therefore this question is put by way of admiration; it being so well fortified and provided to hold out a long siege:

and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised? for it was taken by stratagem and surprise, before the king and his guards, the army, and the inhabitants of it, were aware; that city, which was matter and occasion of praise to all the world, and went through it; for the compass of it, and height and strength of its walls; the river Euphrates that ran through it, and flowed about it; the temple, palaces, and gardens in it:

how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! or, "a desolation"; and indeed its being a desolation was the reason of its being an astonishment among the nations; who were amazed to see so strong, rich, and splendid a city brought to ruin in a very short time.

e Canon. Chron. p. 607.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sheshach - Babylon: see the Jeremiah 51:1 note.

Surprised - i. e., seized, captured.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 51:41. How is Sheshach taken! — Perhaps the city is here called by the name of its idol.

The praise of the whole earth — One of the seven wonders of the world; superexcellent for the height, breadth, and compass of its walls, its hanging gardens, the temple of Belus, &c., &c.