Bible Strands
Jeremiah 51:30
The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces judgment against Babylon as its military collapses and the city falls, directly following the earth trembling at God’s decree of desolation (Jeremiah 51:29) and preceding the couriers announcing the city’s capture (Jeremiah 51:31).
The words — חָדְלוּ (cha.de.Lu) means "they will cease" and נָשְׁתָה (na.she.Tah) means "it will be dry," describing how Babylon’s warriors stop fighting and their strength dries up as they remain in their strongholds.
The thread — The collapse of military power and the burning of gates parallels the fall of Nineveh in Nahum 3:13, the terror of Babylon’s warriors in Jeremiah 50:36, and the limp hands and melted hearts of Isaiah 13:7.
Why it lands — The text states that Babylon’s warriors stop fighting, remain in their strongholds, dry up in strength, and face burning homes and broken gates before noting the parallel collapse of earthly powers in other prophetic judgments. This requires readers to acknowledge that human military might cannot withstand divine judgment and to place trust solely in God’s sovereign control over nations.
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
The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
Cross-references
- Nahum 3:13 Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
- Jeremiah 50:36 A sword is against her false prophets, and they will become fools. A sword is against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror.
- Isaiah 13:7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
- Isaiah 19:16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.
- Lamentations 2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
- Psalms 76:5 The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
- Isaiah 45:1 This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
- Jeremiah 48:41 Kirioth has been taken, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
- Amos 1:5 I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.
- Psalms 107:16 For He has broken down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.