Jeremiah 50

Babylon Is Taken

The empire that scattered Israel is told it will fall to a coalition from the north, and the Lord promises that Israel and Judah will come back together, weeping, to a covenant that will not be forgotten.

A written oracle sent to Babylon in Zedekiah’s fourth year (Jer. 51:59–64; Zedekiah reigned 597–586 B.C.). The chapter itself gives no date for the fall it describes. Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapters 46–51 are Jeremiah's prophecies against foreign nations, and these two, 50 and 51, are the last of them: a single oracle against Babylon, the power that took Judah captive.

Chapters 46–51 are Jeremiah's prophecies against foreign nations, and these two, 50 and 51, are the last of them: a single oracle against Babylon, the power that took Judah captive. The Church's chapter heading sums up its two halves: “Babylon will be destroyed and never rise again—The scattered people of Israel will be brought again into the lands of their inheritance.”

The oracle was meant to travel. Jeremiah “wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon” and sent it to Babylon with Seraiah, who was to read it there and then sink it in the Euphrates (Jer. 51:59–64). The Bible Dictionary adds that chapters 50–51 “in their present form are later than Jeremiah”; nothing in the notes below depends on that.

The chapter is hard to read as one story, because it moves between Babylon's fall to an invader in the sixth century B.C. and an Israel gathered in the last days. The key is “the dual nature of many prophecies” and “the recurring use of archetypes and metaphors”: Babylon is “not only a national power but… the symbol of worldliness and spiritual wickedness.” Chapter 51 continues the same oracle. This chapter is the first half.

The thread through the chapter

The chapter's argument is that Babylon's fall and Israel's return are one event seen from two sides.

The chapter's argument is that Babylon's fall and Israel's return are one event seen from two sides. The Lord announces the fall twice over, first as a message to all nations (verses 1–3) and then again and again in commands to the attackers and in the sword and the desert that follow (verses 9–16, 21–32, 35–46). Between those blocks, and woven through them, are the people the fall is for: a flock that was lost, scattered by Assyria and then by Babylon (verses 6, 17), who will come back “going and weeping” (verse 4) and will be pardoned (verse 20).

Why Babylon falls is stated in a few words that repeat. She “hath sinned against the LORD” (verse 14), “hath been proud against the LORD” (verse 29), is “most proud” (verses 31–32), and is “the land of graven images” (verse 38). The Lord who humbles her is the one named in verse 34: “Their Redeemer is strong.”

The chapter has to be read on two levels: some verses describe the Babylon of that day taken by nations from the north, while others join her fall to “events that will not occur until the time of the gathering and restoration of Israel and Judah.” Where a verse points past the sixth century, the notes say so and say what the Church's sources base it on.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–3

The word against Babylon

In plain words

This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans. Announce it among the nations and raise a signal; hold nothing back. Say that Babylon is taken and her gods, Bel and Merodach, are shamed and broken. A nation from the north is coming up against her, and the land will be left empty, of people and animals alike.

1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

Context #

Written for Babylon

The words against Babylon were written down and sent to Babylon. Jeremiah “wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon,” and gave it to Seraiah, who went to Babylon…

The words against Babylon were written down and sent to Babylon. Jeremiah “wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon,” and gave it to Seraiah, who went to Babylon with King Zedekiah in the fourth year of his reign, to read it there and then to bind a stone to the book and throw it into the Euphrates: “Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her” (Jer. 51:59–64). The Church edition's footnote at verse 1 points to that account, and chapters 50–51 are taken to be the book Seraiah carried: they were “written and sent to Babylon in the days of Zedekiah.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

Language #

Bel and Merodach

Bel and Merodach stand for Babylon's chief god, so the fall of the city is announced as the fall of its god.

Bel and Merodach stand for Babylon's chief god, so the fall of the city is announced as the fall of its god. Bel is “a Babylonian god, same as Baal,” and “the chief building was the famous temple of Bel.” Merodach is most likely not a second god but another name for the same one: Bel and Merodach “are not different divinities, but merely different names for the chief deity of the Babylonians.” That last point is one commentator's explanation of the double name.

Verse 2 then repeats the point in plain words: “her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.” The chapter comes back to it in verse 38, calling Babylon “the land of graven images.” The Church edition's footnote sends the reader to Isaiah's picture of the same moment, “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts” (Isa. 46:1), where Babylon's gods must be carried off by weary animals instead of carrying their worshippers.

Sources: “Bel”, Bible Dictionary. “Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

Verses 4–7

Israel and Judah return

In plain words

In those days the people of Israel and Judah will come together, weeping, looking for the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and say, “Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.” My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray and they wandered over the hills and forgot where to rest. Everyone who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, “We are not guilty, because they sinned against the Lord, the true home of justice and the hope of their fathers.”

4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

Related Scriptures #

Israel and Judah together

“In those days, and in that time” marks a day when Israel and Judah return together, and the Church reads it as the latter-day gathering: “Israel did not participate in the return…

“In those days, and in that time” marks a day when Israel and Judah return together, and the Church reads it as the latter-day gathering: “Israel did not participate in the return from Babylon, but Israel and Judah will be restored together in the last days.” The Church edition's footnote at this verse points to the same promise of unity in Ezek. 37:22: “And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel… and they shall be no more two nations.”

The weeping is the other half. In the Church's reading it comes from recognition: “They will weep because they will realize that the sufferings they have endured throughout the centuries came about because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall lead them in the last days.” The footnote's other references point the same way: Jer. 31:9, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them,” and Zech. 12:10, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.” That explanation of the tears is an interpretation; the verse itself says only “going and weeping.”

Sources: Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

Related Scriptures #

A covenant not forgotten

The covenant is “perpetual,” the Church edition's footnote notes the word could also be rendered “everlasting,” and the verse says it “shall not be forgotten.”

The covenant is “perpetual,” the Church edition's footnote notes the word could also be rendered “everlasting,” and the verse says it “shall not be forgotten.” In the verse the returning people are the ones who say so: “let us join ourselves to the LORD.” One reading takes it as “the new covenant” that the Lord promises in Jer. 31:31–34, where forgiveness is the heart of it: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Verse 20 of this chapter has the same promise.

God's side of the matter is stated by the risen Lord when He quotes the Father to the Nephites: “I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time” (3 Ne. 20:29).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

Related Scriptures #

Shepherds who led them astray

The people were lost sheep because their shepherds, their leaders, led them the wrong way, and the Church edition's footnote ties this to Nephi's description of the churches and…

The people were lost sheep because their shepherds, their leaders, led them the wrong way, and the Church edition's footnote ties this to Nephi's description of the churches and teachers of the last days (2 Ne. 28:12, with verses 9–16): “they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men” (2 Ne. 28:14).

Verse 7 shows what such a flock suffers. Everyone who found them “devoured them,” and the attackers excused themselves, “We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD.” The footnote reads “We offend not” as “are not guilty.” The enemies use Israel's real sin to justify what they did to her, and the oracle answers by charging Babylon with sin against the Lord in turn (verses 14 and 29).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

Verses 8–16

Leave Babylon, and the attack

In plain words

Get out of Babylon, and be like the lead goats before the flock. I am raising a gathering of great nations from the north against her; she will be taken there, and their arrows do not come back empty. Chaldea will be plundered. You who plundered my people and grew fat and loud are going to be ashamed; your mother is disgraced, and the last of the nations becomes a dry wilderness. Because of the Lord's anger no one will live there, and everyone passing by will be appalled. Surround her, archers, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Shout against her: she surrenders, her foundations fall, her walls come down. This is the Lord's vengeance; do to her what she did. Cut off the sower and the harvester; for fear of the sword everyone will flee home to his own people and land.

8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.

Latter-day Prophets #

Go out of Babylon

The command to leave Babylon becomes, in a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, a command to the Saints.

The command to leave Babylon becomes, in a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, a command to the Saints. Received at Hiram, Ohio, on 3 November 1831, when the elders wanted to know about “preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, and concerning the gathering,” it says: “Go ye out from Babylon. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord,” and, “Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon” (D&C 133:5; D&C 133:14). In D&C 1:16 Babylon means “the world.”

The same connection is drawn for this chapter, with a pointer to D&C 133:14: “Here Babylon is seen not only as a national power but as the symbol of worldliness and spiritual wickedness.” On the parallel command in Jer. 51:6 it adds that “because Babylon is also a symbol of the world, a charge was given Israel to flee from her wickedness and to be responsible for saving their own souls.” The revelation adds a caution that the verse does not: “let not your flight be in haste” (D&C 133:15).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

Context #

A coalition from the north

The invader is not one nation but “an assembly of great nations,” and the coalition is identified as the army of Cyrus, which “was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians,…

The invader is not one nation but “an assembly of great nations,” and the coalition is identified as the army of Cyrus, which “was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, &c. Though all these did not come from the north; yet they were arranged under the Medes, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon.” That explanation comes from an older Bible commentary, which the Church's manual quotes for this verse; it reconciles the word “north” with a coalition that did not all come from there.

“North” has a history in this book. Babylon was itself “the families of the north” that the Lord sent against Judah: “I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant” (Jer. 25:9). The Church edition's footnote at verse 3 sends the reader to Jer. 51:48, where the destroyers “shall come unto her from the north.” The direction that once brought ruin to Jerusalem now brings it to Babylon.

Sources: Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible … with a Commentary and Critical Notes, Online at Bible Hub (Clarke's Commentary). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

12 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.

13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

Verses 17–20

A scattered flock gathered and pardoned

In plain words

Israel is a scattered sheep driven off by lions: first the king of Assyria devoured him, and last Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon broke his bones. So I will punish the king of Babylon as I punished the king of Assyria. I will bring Israel back to his own pasture, to Carmel and Bashan, Mount Ephraim and Gilead, and he will be satisfied. In those days people will look for Israel's guilt and Judah's sins and find none, because I will forgive those I leave as a remnant.

17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

Context #

Assyria, then Babylon

The sheep was scattered in two stages, by two empires. Assyria carried off Israel, the northern kingdom, in 740 and 721 B.C., and Babylon took Judah: “in 597 B.C.

The sheep was scattered in two stages, by two empires. Assyria carried off Israel, the northern kingdom, in 740 and 721 B.C., and Babylon took Judah: “in 597 B.C. and again in 586 B.C. there were large deportations under Nebuchadnezzar” (the same king the verse calls Nebuchadrezzar). In verse 18 the Lord says he will punish Babylon “as I have punished the king of Assyria,” and in verse 33 the people of both are said to have been “oppressed together,” though by two captors.

Sources: “Captivities of the Israelites”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

Witness of Christ #

Sought for, and none

The verse promises complete forgiveness: when the Lord looks for Israel's sin, none will be found, “for I will pardon them whom I reserve.”

The verse promises complete forgiveness: when the Lord looks for Israel's sin, none will be found, “for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” It is one of the verses that join Babylon's fall to “events that will not occur until the time of the gathering and restoration of Israel and Judah”: in that future Israel “will be brought again to their lands of inheritance (see v. 19) and will be forgiven (see v. 20).” Verse 4 and verse 20 open with the same words, “In those days, and in that time.”

The wording is close to the promise of the new covenant: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34). The pardon does not come from Israel's record, which in verses 6–7 is of sheep gone astray, but from the Lord who says “I will pardon.”

Verses 21–32

Babylon's pride and fall

In plain words

Attack the land of Merathaim and the people of Pekod; destroy them utterly, as I commanded. The sound of battle and great ruin is in the land. How the hammer of the whole earth is broken and Babylon has become a horror among the nations! I set a trap and you were caught without knowing it, because you fought the Lord. He has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his anger. Come against her from every side, break open her granaries, pile her up in heaps and leave nothing. Slaughter her young bulls; their day has come. Refugees will arrive in Zion telling of the Lord's vengeance for his temple. Call the archers; surround her; repay her for her pride against the Holy One of Israel. Her young men will fall in the streets and her soldiers will be silenced. “I am against you, you arrogant one; your day has come. The proud will stumble and fall, and no one will lift him up. I will light a fire in his cities that burns up everything around.”

21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

Language #

Merathaim and Pekod

Merathaim and Pekod are probably not place names but names coined for the occasion, meaning “double rebellion” and “visitation,” so the verse commands the attack on Babylon under…

Merathaim and Pekod are probably not place names but names coined for the occasion, meaning “double rebellion” and “visitation,” so the verse commands the attack on Babylon under symbolic names. On this reading they are “two names specially formed for the occasion”: Merathaim “means ‘double rebellion,’ or ‘double obstinacy,’” and the verse is rendered “against the inhabitants of visitation.” This is one commentator's reading of the Hebrew.

What the “double” refers to is not settled: “The only doubtful points are in what respect Babylon showed double obstinacy, and what Jeremiah had in his mind at the time.” The sense of the command does not depend on it. Babylon is to be attacked as the land of rebellion against the Lord, which is how the chapter has described her.

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Related Scriptures #

The hammer is broken

Babylon is punished even though the Lord used her, because scripture gives her role a limit and an end.

Babylon is punished even though the Lord used her, because scripture gives her role a limit and an end. Nebuchadrezzar was the Lord's instrument against Judah, “my servant” (Jer. 25:9); and the same prophecy says the instrument would be called to account: “when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity” (Jer. 25:12).

Isaiah says the same of Assyria, “the rod of mine anger” (Isa. 10:5), and then, “I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks” (Isa. 10:12). The charge in this chapter is pride: “she hath been proud against the LORD” in verse 29 and “O thou most proud” in verse 31. A nation can be used and still be accountable for its own pride.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.

25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

Context #

The vengeance of his temple

The vengeance “of his temple” is the Lord's repayment of Babylon for what she did to His house in Jerusalem.

The vengeance “of his temple” is the Lord's repayment of Babylon for what she did to His house in Jerusalem. Babylon had carried off temple vessels years before the city fell, while prophets in Jerusalem were promising that “the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon” (Jer. 27:16); at the fall, Nebuzar-adan “burned the house of the LORD” (Jer. 52:13), and the Chaldeans broke up its bronze pillars, stands, and sea and “carried all the brass of them to Babylon” (Jer. 52:17).

The next chapter uses the same words for the Lord's purpose against Babylon, “it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple” (Jer. 51:11), and has the exiles lament that “strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house” (Jer. 51:51). Read this way, the refugees of verse 28 bring Zion word that the Lord has “avenged on Babylon the burning of His temple by the Chaldeans”; that last phrase is one commentator's.

29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

Verses 33–34

Their Redeemer

In plain words

The people of Israel and Judah have been oppressed together, and their captors held them and refused to let them go. But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will argue their case to the end, to give rest to the land and turmoil to the people of Babylon.

33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

Witness of Christ #

Their Redeemer is strong

The Redeemer who “shall throughly plead their cause” is the Lord Jesus Christ: Israel “will be led by the Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 34).

The Redeemer who “shall throughly plead their cause” is the Lord Jesus Christ: Israel “will be led by the Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 34). He is the advocate with the Father (see D&C 29:5) and pleads our cause before Him.” In the revelation cited there, He says, “I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 29:5).

The Church edition's footnote sends verse 34 to Isaiah's “thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people” (Isa. 51:22). In Jeremiah's own words the Redeemer who pleads for Israel against Babylon is the one who will also say “I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee” (Jer. 51:36). The same Lord is advocate to His people and adversary to the power that held them.

Verses 35–40

A sword and a desert

In plain words

A sword is against the Chaldeans, her officials and wise men, her liars, her warriors, her horses and chariots, the mixed peoples in her midst, and her treasures. A drought is on her waters, because it is a land of idols, and they are mad over their images. So desert animals will live there and it will never again be inhabited, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them. No one will live there.

35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

Related Scriptures #

As God overthrew Sodom

Isaiah makes the same comparison, so Babylon's end is told twice by two prophets: “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God…

Isaiah makes the same comparison, so Babylon's end is told twice by two prophets: “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isa. 13:19; the Church edition's footnote also points to Gen. 19:24). Verse 3 of this chapter, where “none shall dwell therein,” is footnoted to the next verse of Isaiah, “It shall never be inhabited” (Isa. 13:20).

The ancient fall is read as a pattern: “the downfall anciently of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was a prototype of the future downfall of ‘Babylon the Great’ (see Revelation 18–19).” The Lord says the same in this dispensation: “even Babylon the great, which shall fall” (D&C 1:16).

Verses 41–46

The nation from the north

In plain words

A people is coming from the north, a great nation, with many kings stirred up from the ends of the earth. They carry bow and spear, they are cruel and show no mercy, their sound is like the sea, and they ride horses, arrayed for battle against you, Daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report; his hands go limp and anguish seizes him like a woman in labor. Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a strong dwelling, I will chase them from her in a moment. Who is the chosen one I may appoint over her? Who is like me, who can summon me, and what shepherd can stand before me? So hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon: even the youngest of the flock will drag them away. At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth shakes and the cry is heard among the nations.

41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

Related Scriptures #

Words once said of Zion

Verses 41–43 repeat a passage Jeremiah spoke about Jerusalem, and the repetition reverses its target.

Verses 41–43 repeat a passage Jeremiah spoke about Jerusalem, and the repetition reverses its target. In Jer. 6:22–24 the Lord says of Zion, “a people cometh from the north country… They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea.” The Church edition's footnote at verse 41 points to it. Here the same words describe the army coming for Babylon, and the last line changes owner: “our hands wax feeble” (Jerusalem) becomes “his hands waxed feeble” (Babylon's king).

Verses 44–46 likewise repeat, almost word for word, the Lord's words against Edom in Jer. 49:19–21. The oracle against Babylon is built in part from sentences the Lord had already spoken against Zion and against Edom; now Babylon hears them.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Related Scriptures #

That shepherd

The Lord asks who is the chosen man He will appoint over Babylon, and what shepherd can stand before Him.

The Lord asks who is the chosen man He will appoint over Babylon, and what shepherd can stand before Him. The Church edition's footnote on “shepherd” in this verse points to Isaiah's naming of Cyrus: “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built” (Isa. 44:28). The footnotes for verse 38 point to the verse just before it, “That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers” (Isa. 44:27), together with Jer. 51:36.

The footnote is a cross-reference, not an identification; no source read for this chapter says the chosen man is Cyrus. In the verse the questions read as a challenge: “who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?” The same sentence stands in Jer. 49:19 about Edom, so the question is not peculiar to Babylon.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 50

The Redeemer is named in verse 34: “Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name.” The Church reads Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, who leads Israel back and pleads their cause, “the advocate with the Father,” and the Lord says of Himself in this dispensation, “I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 29:5). In the same reading the chapter's promises belong together: Israel “will be forgiven (see v. 20). They will be led by the Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 34).” The promise to Israel after her return is stated by the risen Lord to the Nephites: “I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people” (3 Ne. 20:29).

Worth exploring next

The scroll sunk in the Euphrates. Read Jer. 51:59–64, then the rest of the oracle in Jer. 51.
Isaiah on Babylon. Read Isa. 13, Isa. 14, Isa. 46, and Isa. 47 beside this chapter.
Leave Babylon. Read D&C 133:4–15, and compare Jer. 51:6.
The new covenant. Read Jer. 31:31–34 and ask how verse 5 and verse 20 here depend on it.
Babylon the Great. Read Rev. 18, the fall of “Babylon the Great,” of which Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was a prototype.

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible … with a Commentary and Critical Notes, Online at Bible Hub (Clarke's Commentary).
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
“Bel”, Bible Dictionary.
“Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.
“Captivities of the Israelites”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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