Bible Strands
Jeremiah 50:41
Behold, an army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are stirred up from the ends of the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks this declaration concerning Babylon, addressing Judah and the surrounding nations at the moment He announces the city’s complete desolation, immediately following a comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah.
The words — הִנֵּ֛ה (hi.Neh) = behold/there! and מִ/צָּפ֑וֹן (mi./tza.Fon) = from the north. These terms anchor the prophecy in an immediate, geographically specific divine warning.
The thread — The image of a northern army and summoned nations recurs in Jeremiah 6:22, Jeremiah 51:27, and Isaiah 13:2, consistently marking God’s judgment on arrogant kingdoms through coordinated foreign military force.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept the certainty of the announced judgment, recognize the scale of the opposing forces, and take prophetic warning as a factual declaration rather than a mere possibility.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:27 “Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts.
- Isaiah 13:2 Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
- Jeremiah 6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jeremiah 50:9 For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They will line up against her; from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.
- Isaiah 13:17 Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
- Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”
- 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.’
- Jeremiah 51:1 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer.
- Jeremiah 51:11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD—vengeance for His temple.
- Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.