Jeremiah 50:38
New International Version
A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.

New Living Translation
A drought will strike her water supply, causing it to dry up. And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them.

English Standard Version
A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.

Berean Standard Bible
A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.

King James Bible
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

New King James Version
A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, And they are insane with their idols.

New American Standard Bible
“A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of idols, And they go insane at frightful images.

NASB 1995
“A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols.

NASB 1977
“A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols.

Legacy Standard Bible
A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of graven images, And they are mad over terrifying idols.

Amplified Bible
“A drought on her waters, and they will dry up! For it is a land of [worthless] idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols [those objects of terror in which they foolishly trust].

Christian Standard Bible
A drought will come on her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they go mad because of terrifying things.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
A drought will come on her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they go mad because of terrifying things.

American Standard Version
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A sword on her waters, and they shall dry up, because it is a land of carvers of images, and they boast in idols

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven images; and in the islands, where they boasted.

Contemporary English Version
Your rivers and canals will dry up. All of this will happen, because your land is full of idols, and they have made fools of you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because it is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things.

English Revised Version
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A drought will diminish their water supply, and it will dry up. Babylon is a land of idols, statues that will go crazy with fear.

Good News Translation
Bring a drought on its land and dry up its rivers. Babylonia is a land of terrifying idols that have made fools of the people.

International Standard Version
A drought against her waters. They'll dry up. For it's a land of idols, and they go mad over their terrifying images.

JPS Tanakh 1917
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; For it is a land of graven images, And they are mad upon things of horror.

Literal Standard Version
A sword [is] on her waters, and they have been dried up, | For it [is] a land of carved images, | And they boast themselves in idols.

Majority Standard Bible
A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.

New American Bible
A drought upon the waters, and they dry up! For it is a land of idols, soon made frantic by phantoms.

NET Bible
A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear.

New Revised Standard Version
A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they go mad over idols.

New Heart English Bible
A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they glory over idols.

Webster's Bible Translation
A drouth is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

World English Bible
A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.

Young's Literal Translation
A sword is on her waters, and they have been dried up, For it is a land of graven images, And in idols they do boast themselves.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Destruction of Babylon
37A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered. 38A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols. 39So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there and ostriches will dwell there. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.…

Cross References
Revelation 16:12
And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.

Isaiah 44:27
who says to the depths of the sea, 'Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,'

Isaiah 46:1
Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.

Isaiah 46:6
They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

Jeremiah 51:32
The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified."

Jeremiah 51:36
Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.

Jeremiah 51:52
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.


Treasury of Scripture

A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad on their idols.

A drought

Jeremiah 50:12
Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

Jeremiah 51:32-36
And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted…

Isaiah 44:27
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

the land

Jeremiah 50:2
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

Jeremiah 51:44,47,52
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall…

Isaiah 46:1-7
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast

mad

Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Isaiah 44:25
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Jump to Previous
Boast Dried Drought Drouth Dry Drying Engraved Fearsome Fixed Frightful Gods Graven Horror Idols Images Mad Minds Sword Terror Themselves Waters
Jump to Next
Boast Dried Drought Drouth Dry Drying Engraved Fearsome Fixed Frightful Gods Graven Horror Idols Images Mad Minds Sword Terror Themselves Waters
Jeremiah 50
1. The judgment of Babylon and the redemption of Israel














(38) A drought is upon her waters.--Better, A sword. The Hebrew word for "drought" has the same consonants as that for "sword," with different vowel-points. In the original text the form of the two words must have been identical, as the vowel-points were of later introduction. The editors of the present text were probably guided by the thought that the context in this case determined the meaning of the word as meaning "drought," and not a "sword." So in Deuteronomy 28:22 the text of the Authorised version gives "sword," and the margin "drought." There is, however, a certain loss of rhetorical emphasis in the change of the word with which the three previous verses had begun. The "waters" include the canals of Babylon as well as the Euphrates.

They are mad upon their idols.--The word for "idols" means literally "terrors," or "objects of terror," as in Psalm 88:16; Job 20:25, and this is the only place in which it is used of the objects of worship. In Genesis 14:5; Deuteronomy 2:10-11 it appears as the name of the Emim, probably as meaning "the terrible, or gigantic ones." Here it seems used for the colossal figures--winged bulls, human-headed lions, and the like--which were the objects of Babylonian worship. (See note on Jeremiah 49:16.) . . .

Verse 38. - A drought. The Maasoretic critics, in their prosaic realism, were unable to see how a "sword" could be "upon the waters;" hence they altered khereb into khoreb. But the sword is merely a symbol of the Divine vengeance, and may be interpreted differently according to the exigencies of the context. Render, Sword upon the waters. They are mad upon their idols; rather, through Terrors they befool themselves. "Terrors" is a synonym for the gods of the heathen, which inspired a feeling of awe rather than affection, unlike Jehovah as he revealed himself through the authors of the psalms and prophecies.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
A drought
חֹ֥רֶב (ḥō·reḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2721: Dryness, drought, heat

[is] upon
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

her waters,
מֵימֶ֖יהָ (mê·me·hā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

and they will be dried up.
וְיָבֵ֑שׁוּ (wə·yā·ḇê·šū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3001: To be ashamed, confused, disappointed, to dry up, wither

For
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

it
הִ֔יא (hî)
Pronoun - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

is a land
אֶ֤רֶץ (’e·reṣ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of graven images,
פְּסִלִים֙ (pə·si·lîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 6456: An idol, image

and [the people] go mad
וּבָאֵימִ֖ים (ū·ḇā·’ê·mîm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 367: Fright, an idol

over idols.
יִתְהֹלָֽלוּ׃ (yiṯ·hō·lā·lū)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1984: To shine


Links
Jeremiah 50:38 NIV
Jeremiah 50:38 NLT
Jeremiah 50:38 ESV
Jeremiah 50:38 NASB
Jeremiah 50:38 KJV

Jeremiah 50:38 BibleApps.com
Jeremiah 50:38 Biblia Paralela
Jeremiah 50:38 Chinese Bible
Jeremiah 50:38 French Bible
Jeremiah 50:38 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Jeremiah 50:38 A drought is on her waters (Jer.)
Jeremiah 50:37
Top of Page
Top of Page