Bible Strands
Jeremiah 51:2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to the exiled community, pronouncing immediate judgment on Babylon right after stirring up a destroyer against it.
The words — The text highlights זָרִים (za.Rim), meaning "strangers," and זֵרוּ (ze.Ru), meaning "they will winnow," describing the foreign armies God will dispatch to scatter the city.
The thread — The winnowing metaphor recurs in Jeremiah 15:7 and Isaiah 41:16, while Matthew 3:12 applies the identical agricultural image to final divine judgment.
Why it lands — The verse demands that readers identify conquest as a precise judicial act, requiring them to attribute Babylon's sudden collapse to divine command rather than accidental warfare.
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
And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 15:7 I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- 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 50:29 Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 50:32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities to consume all those around him.”
- 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.
- Ezekiel 5:12 A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.