Jeremiah 51:8

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.Wail for her;get balm for her wound—perhaps she can be healed.

Hebrew Names Version
Bavel is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

King James Version
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

English Standard Version
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.

New American Standard Bible
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.

New Century Version
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been broken. Cry for her! Get balm for her pain, and maybe she can be healed.

Amplified Bible
Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered! Wail for her [if you care to]! Get balm for her [incurable] pain; Perhaps she may be healed.

World English Bible
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howle for her, bring balme for her sore, if she may be healed.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.

Legacy Standard Bible
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;Wail over her!Take balm for her pain;Perhaps she may be healed.

Berean Standard Bible
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.

Contemporary English Version
But suddenly, Babylon will fall and be destroyed. I, the Lord , told the foreigners who lived there, "Weep for the city! Get medicine for its wounds; maybe they will heal."

Complete Jewish Bible
Bavel has suddenly fallen. She is broken; wail for her. Bring healing ointment for her wounds; perhaps she can be healed.

Darby Translation
Babylon is suddenly fallen and ruined. Howl over her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Easy-to-Read Version
But Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Cry for her! Get medicine for her pain, and maybe she can be healed.

George Lamsa Translation
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; wail for her, take balm for her wound; perhaps she may be healed.

Good News Translation
Babylonia has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and maybe it can be healed.

Lexham English Bible
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed.

Literal Translation
Suddenly Babylon has fallen, and it is broken. Wail for her, take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But sodenly is Babilon fallen, and destroyed. Mourne for her, brynge plasters for hir woundes, yf she maye peraduenture be healed agayne.

American Standard Version
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Bible in Basic English
Sudden is the downfall of Babylon and her destruction: make cries of grief for her; take sweet oil for her pain, if it is possible for her to be made well.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed, wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

King James Version (1611)
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howle for her, take balme for her paine, if so be she may be healed.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But sodaynly is Babylon fallen and destroyed: mourne for her, bryng plasters for her woundes, yf she may peraduenture be healed agayne.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
by provoking me with the works of your hands, to burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which ye entered to dwell there, that ye might be cut off, and that ye might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

English Revised Version
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Babiloyne felle doun sudenli, and is al to-brokun; yelle ye on it, take ye recyn to the sorewe therof, if perauenture it be heelid.

Update Bible Version
Babylon has suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.

Webster's Bible Translation
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, it may be she may be healed.

New English Translation
But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!

New King James Version
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.

New Living Translation
But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her. Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed.

New Life Bible
All at once Babylon has fallen and been broken. Cry over her with a loud voice. Bring healing oil for her pain. It may be that she will be healed.

New Revised Standard
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered; wail for her! Bring balm for her wound; perhaps she may be healed.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Suddenly, hath Babylon fallen and been broken, - Howl ye over her Fetch balsam for her pain, Peradventure she shall be healed!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.

Revised Standard Version
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.

Young's Literal Translation
Suddenly hath Babylon fallen, Yea, it is broken, howl ye for it, Take balm for her pain, if so be it may be healed.

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

suddenly: Jeremiah 51:41, Jeremiah 50:2, Isaiah 21:9, Isaiah 47:9, Revelation 14:8, Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:8

howl: Jeremiah 48:20, Jeremiah 48:31, Isaiah 13:6, Isaiah 13:7, Ezekiel 27:30-32, Ezekiel 30:2, Daniel 5:24, Daniel 5:31, Revelation 18:9-11, Revelation 18:17-19

take balm: Jeremiah 8:22, Jeremiah 30:12-15, Jeremiah 46:11, Nahum 3:19

Reciprocal: Exodus 10:7 - that Egypt Jeremiah 49:3 - Howl Jeremiah 50:3 - which Jeremiah 50:24 - and thou wast Lamentations 2:13 - who can Ezekiel 30:21 - it shall not Micah 7:10 - she that Habakkuk 2:8 - the violence Zechariah 9:5 - and be Mark 5:26 - had suffered Revelation 18:10 - for

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed,.... Or "broken" g; even into shivers, as a cup is; for when it had been used to answer the purposes designed by the Lord, he let it fall cut of his hands at once, and it was broken; or rather he dashed it in pieces, as a potter's vessel. The destruction of Babylon was brought about in a very short time, considering the strength of it; and was unexpected by the inhabitants of it, and by the nations round about; but, when it was come, it was irreparable: so the destruction of mystical Babylon will be in one hour, and it will be an utter and entire destruction,

Revelation 18:8;

howl for her; as the inhabitants of Babylon, and her friends and allies that loved her, did no doubt; and as the kings and merchants of the earth, and others, will howl for spiritual Babylon, Revelation 18:9;

take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed: or balsam; see

Jeremiah 46:11; which is said by way of derision and mockery, as Kimchi and Abarbinel observe; or in an ironical and sarcastic manner; suggesting, that, let what means soever be made use of, her wound was incurable, her ruin inevitable, and her case irrecoverable.

g תשבר "confracta est", Schmidt; "fracta est", Cocceius; "contrita est", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Destroyed - literally, broken, as was the hammer Jeremiah 50:23. The cup, though of metal, is thrown down so violently as to be shattered by the fall.

Howl for her - The persons addressed are the many inhabitants of Babylon who were dragged from their homes to people its void places, and especially the Israelites. They have dwelt there long enough to feel pity for her, when they contrast her past magnificence with her terrible fall. Compare Jeremiah 29:7.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 51:8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed — These appear to be the words of some of the spectators of Babylon's misery.