Bible Strands
Jeremiah 51:37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD pronounces judgment against Babylon, declaring its total desolation immediately after promising to dry up its waters and avenge His people.
The words — The text uses לְ/גַלִּים (le./ga.Lim) for "heaps of stones" and שַׁמָּ֥ה (sha.Mah) for "a horror" to describe the city's future state.
The thread — This desolation motif echoes in Revelation 18:2, which calls Babylon a lair for demons, and Jeremiah 18:16, which describes a land made a perpetual object of scorn. It also connects to Jeremiah 25:9, where the LORD summons northern kingdoms and Nebuchadnezzar to execute this judgment.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader acknowledge the absolute certainty of God's judgment on oppressive powers, requiring an honest assessment of human pride against divine sovereignty.
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 Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Cross-references
- Revelation 18:2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- Jeremiah 18:16 They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 51:25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
- Revelation 18:21 Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.
- 2 Chronicles 29:8 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.
- Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 14:23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Jeremiah 19:8 I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.