Deep Dive

Jeremiah 51:40

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I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.

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Commentaries

Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.

Matthew Henry Bible Commentaryv. 40

The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction of Babylon's fall, to which other prophets also bore witness. He is very copious and lively in describing the foresight God had given him of it, for the encouragement of the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it and was to be the result of it. Here is, I. The record of Babylon's doom, with the particulars of it, intermixed with the grounds of God's controversy with her, many aggravations of her fall, and great encouragements given thence to the Israel of God, that suffered such hard things by her (v. 1-58). II. The representation and ratification of this by the throwing of a copy of this prophecy into the river Euphrates (Jer 51:59-64).

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Original language

The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).

Strong's Concordancev. 40

יָרַד (yârad, H3381) — to descend (literally, to go downwards; or conventionally to a lower region, as the… כַּר (kar, H3733) — a ram (as full-grown and fat), including a battering-ram (as butting); hence, a meadow… טָבַח (ṭâbach, H2873) — to slaughter (animals or men) אַיִל (ʼayil, H352) — properly, strength; hence, anything strong; specifically a chief (politically); also a… עַתּוּד (ʻattûwd, H6260) — prepared, i.e. full grown; spoken only (in plural) of he-goats, or (figuratively) leaders…

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Cross-references

Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.

Jeremiah 50:27rank 3

Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come— the time of their punishment.

Isaiah 34:6rank 2

The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It drips with fat— with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Psalms 37:20rank 2

But the wicked and enemies of the LORD will perish like the glory of the fields. They will vanish; like smoke they will fade away.

Psalms 44:22rank 2

Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Ezekiel 39:18rank 2

You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.

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