Bible Strands
Jeremiah 50:44
Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Judah and the surrounding nations regarding the imminent fall of Babylon. The speaker is YHWH declaring His sovereign judgment against the Babylonian empire.
The words — The text uses הִנֵּה (hi.neh, "behold") and אַרְיֵה ('ar.yeh, "lion") to frame the imagery of a sudden, predatory invasion. יַעֲלֶה (ya.'a.leh, "goes up") and גְּאֹן (ge.'on, "thicket") describe the lion's emergence from the Jordan region toward a fertile pasture.
The thread — This lion metaphor recurs in Jeremiah 49:19 to describe God's judgment on Edom. The rhetorical question "who is like Me?" echoes Exodus 15:11 and Psalms 89:6, which contrast YHWH's unmatched sovereignty with all other deities and powers.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that human rulers cannot resist divine judgment, regardless of their military strength. It requires the reader to acknowledge God's unilateral authority to dismantle empires without opposition.
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, 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?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- Exodus 15:11 Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
- Psalms 89:6 For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?
- Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
- Isaiah 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who treads the clay.
- Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.
- Isaiah 46:9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
- Isaiah 46:11 I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.
- Numbers 16:5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.
- Job 41:10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?