Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh declares judgment against Babylon and the people of Leb-kamai, announcing the stirring up of a destroyer in the context of Babylon’s impending day of disaster.
The words — מֵעִיר (me.'Ir) = [am] about to rouse/stir up, and הִנְ/נִי (hi./Ni) = behold/I, framing the declaration as an imminent divine action.
The thread — The motif of God orchestrating destructive forces appears in Amos 3:6, Hosea 13:15, and Jeremiah 4:11.
Why it lands — It requires recognizing that the fall of Babylon is divinely commanded, demanding a clear-eyed assessment of historical events as instruments of judgment.
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
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;
- Hosea 13:15 Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
- Amos 3:6 If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
- Isaiah 13:3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jeremiah 49:36 I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam’s exiles will not go.
- 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.
- Jeremiah 50:14 Line up in formation around Babylon, all you who draw the bow! Shoot at her! Spare no arrows! For she has sinned against the LORD.
- Jeremiah 50:21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 50:24 I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.