Jeremiah 51:20

The NET Bible®

"Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You are my war club,my weapons of war.With you I will smash nations;with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.

Hebrew Names Version
You are my battle-ax and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

King James Version
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

English Standard Version
"You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms;

New American Standard Bible
He says, "You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms.

New Century Version
"You are my war club, my battle weapon. I use you to smash nations. I use you to destroy kingdoms.

Amplified Bible
"You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-axe and weapon of war— For with you I shatter nations, With you I destroy kingdoms.

World English Bible
You are my battle-ax and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thou art mine hammer, and weapons of warre: for with thee will I breake the nations, & with thee wil I destroy kingdomes,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He says, "You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms.

Legacy Standard Bible
He says, "You are My instrument of shattering, My weapon of war;And with you I shatter nations,And with you I destroy kingdoms.

Berean Standard Bible
"You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord said: Babylonia, you were my hammer; I used you to pound nations and break kingdoms,

Complete Jewish Bible
"[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war — with you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;

Darby Translation
Thou art my maul, [my] weapons of war: and with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and I will with thee destroy kingdoms;

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord says, "Babylon, you are my club. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.

George Lamsa Translation
Prepare weapons of war, for with you will I scatter the nations and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

Good News Translation
The Lord says, "Babylonia, you are my hammer, my weapon of war. I used you to crush nations and kingdoms,

Lexham English Bible
He says, "You are a war club for me, a weapon of battle, and I smash nations with you, and I destroy kingdoms with you.

Literal Translation
You are My war club and weapons of war, for with you I will shatter nations and with you I will destroy kingdoms.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou breakest my weapens of warre, & yet thorow the I haue scatred the nacions & kyngdomes:

American Standard Version
Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Bible in Basic English
You are my fighting axe and my instrument of war: with you the nations will be broken; with you kingdoms will be broken;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thou art My maul and weapons of war, and with thee will I shatter the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

King James Version (1611)
Thou art my battel-axe and weapons of warre: for with thee will I breake in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdomes;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou hast ben mine hammer and weapons for warre: for with thee haue I broken the people in peeces, and with thee haue I destroyed kyngdomes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Then Jeremias answered all the people, the mighty men, and the women, and all the people that returned him these words for answer, saying,

English Revised Version
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou hurtlist doun to me the instrumentis of batel, and Y schal hurtle doun folkis in thee, and Y schal leese rewmes in thee;

Update Bible Version
You are my battle-ax and weapons of war: and with you I will break in pieces the nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms;

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou [art] my battle-ax [and] weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

New King James Version
"You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you I will destroy kingdoms;

New Living Translation
"You are my battle-ax and sword," says the Lord . "With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms.

New Life Bible
He says, "You are My battle-ax which I use in war. With you I destroy countries. With you I destroy nations.

New Revised Standard
You are my war club, my weapon of battle: with you I smash nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A war-club, art thou for me, Weapons of war; Therefore will I Beat down with thee - nations, and Destroy with thee - kingdoms;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms:

Revised Standard Version
"You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms;

Young's Literal Translation
An axe [art] thou to me -- weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces by thee nations, And I have destroyed by thee kingdoms,

THE MESSAGE
God 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.

Contextual Overview

¹ The Lord says, "I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. ² I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. ³ Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy her whole army. ⁴ Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia, mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ⁵ "For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the Lord who rules over all. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶ Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins. For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done. ⁷ Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord 's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad. ⁸ But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed! ⁹ Foreigners living there will say, ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let's leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.' ¹⁰ The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let's go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done!'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

art: Jeremiah 50:23, Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:15, Isaiah 13:5, Isaiah 14:5, Isaiah 14:6, Isaiah 37:26, Isaiah 41:15, Isaiah 41:16, Micah 4:13, Zechariah 9:13, Zechariah 9:14, Matthew 22:7

with thee: or, in thee, or, by thee

break: Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 25:11, Jeremiah 27:5-7

Reciprocal: Job 34:24 - break Psalms 72:4 - break Psalms 94:5 - break Isaiah 13:3 - mighty ones Isaiah 14:4 - How Isaiah 14:12 - weaken Isaiah 14:16 - Is this Isaiah 45:1 - to subdue Isaiah 45:7 - I make Peace Isaiah 46:11 - Calling Isaiah 47:3 - I will take Isaiah 48:14 - he will do Jeremiah 5:10 - ye up Jeremiah 25:14 - I Jeremiah 25:34 - the days of your Jeremiah 27:6 - my Jeremiah 46:22 - and come Jeremiah 47:6 - thou sword Jeremiah 50:25 - opened Jeremiah 51:25 - which destroyest Lamentations 3:11 - pulled Ezekiel 21:3 - will draw Ezekiel 21:11 - to give Ezekiel 21:31 - and skilful Ezekiel 30:11 - the terrible Micah 2:13 - breaker Nahum 2:1 - He that dasheth in pieces Zephaniah 2:12 - my Revelation 13:7 - and power

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou [art] my battle axe [and] weapons of war,.... This is said by the Lord, either to Cyrus, as some, to which our version inclines, whom God made use of as an instrument to subdue nations and kingdoms, and destroy them; see Isaiah 45:1; or rather Babylon, and the king of it, who had been the hammer of the earth, Jeremiah 50:23; as it may be rendered here, "thou [art] my hammer" s; or, "hast been"; an instrument in his hands, of beating the nations to pieces, as stones by a hammer, and of destroying them, as by weapons of war: this, and what follows, are observed to show, that though Babylon had been used by the Lord for the destruction of others, it should not be secure from it itself, but should share the same fate; unless this is to be understood of the church of God, and kingdom of Christ, which in the latter day will break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, Daniel 2:44; which sense seems to have some countenance and confirmation from Jeremiah 51:24 "in your sight". The Targum is,

"thou art a scatterer before me, a city in which are warlike arms;''

which seems to refer to Babylon:

for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; or, "with thee I have broke in pieces, [and] have destroyed"; the future instead of the past t; as the nations and kingdoms of Judea, Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and others: or, "that I may break in pieces" u, c. and so it expresses the end for which he was a hammer, as well as the use he had been or would be of.

s מפץ אתה לי "malleus es, [vel] fuisti mihi", Pagninus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt. t "Dispersi, perdidi", Lutherus "conquassavi", Munster; "dissipavi", Piscator. u ונפצתי "ut dissiparem", Junius Tremellius "ut dispergam", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, Thou art my maul, weapons of war etc. The maul or mace Proverbs 25:18 only differs from the hammer Jeremiah 50:23 in being used for warlike purposes.

Omit the “will” in “will I break.” The crushing of the nations was going on at the time when the prophet wrote. Most commentators consider that Babylon was the mace of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 51:20. Thou art my battle axe — I believe Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is called, Jeremiah 50:23, the hammer of the whole earth. Others think the words are spoken of Cyrus. All the verbs are in the past tense: "With thee have I broken in pieces," &c., &c.