Bible Strands
Jeremiah 50:38
A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Jeremiah pronounces this oracle against Babylon as part of a broader declaration of the nation's coming desolation. The message is directed to the Babylonian empire and its idolatrous systems at a moment of prophetic warning.
The words — The Hebrew חֹרֶב (ḥōrēḇ) denotes a devastating drought, paired with יָבֵשׁוּ (yāḇēšû) to describe the complete drying up of the land’s waters. This imagery directly condemns אֶרֶץ פְּסִלִים (ʾereṣ pesilîm), a land of carved idols, as the stated cause of the coming desiccation.
The thread — The motif of waters being dried up appears in Isaiah 44:27 where God commands the depths of the sea to be dry, and in Revelation 16:12 where the Euphrates is dried to prepare a way. Jeremiah 50:2 frames this judgment as a public proclamation to the nations against Babylon.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that idolatry precipitates divine judgment, leaving the land barren and uninhabitable as stated in the surrounding context. It requires the reader to see the direct correlation between worshiping carved images and the loss of life-sustaining resources.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 44:27 who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’
- Revelation 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.
- Jeremiah 51:47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
- Jeremiah 51:52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
- Isaiah 44:25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
- Isaiah 46:1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Jeremiah 50:12 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.
- Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Jeremiah 51:32 The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”