Jeremiah 25:16
 Jeremiah 25:16 
New International Version (©2011)
When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them."

New Living Translation (©2007)
When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them."

English Standard Version (©2001)
They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
They will drink, stagger, and go out of their minds because of the sword I am sending among them."

International Standard Version (©2012)
They'll drink, stagger, and act like madmen because of the sword I'm sending among them."

NET Bible (©2006)
When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them."

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
When they drink from it, they will stagger and go insane because of the wars that I'm going to send them.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And they shall drink, and stagger, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

American King James Version
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

American Standard Version
And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the sword, which I shall send among them.

Darby Bible Translation
And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

English Revised Version
And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they shall drink, and be moved, and enraged, because of the sword that I will send among them.

World English Bible
They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Young's Literal Translation
And they have drunk, and shaken themselves and shewn themselves foolish, because of the sword that I am sending among them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:15-29 The evil and the good events of life are often represented in Scripture as cups. Under this figure is represented the desolation then coming upon that part of the world, of which Nebuchadnezzar, who had just began to reign and act, was to be the instrument; but this destroying sword would come from the hand of God. The desolations the sword should make in all these kingdoms, are represented by the consequences of excessive drinking. This may make us loathe the sin of drunkenness, that the consequences of it are used to set forth such a woful condition. Drunkenness deprives men of the use of their reason, makes men as mad. It takes from them the valuable blessing, health; and is a sin which is its own punishment. This may also make us dread the judgments of war. It soon fills a nation with confusion. They will refuse to take the cup at thy hand. They will not believe Jeremiah; but he must tell them it is the word of the Lord of hosts, and it is in vain for them to struggle against Almighty power. And if God's judgments begin with backsliding professors, let not the wicked expect to escape.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - And be moved, and be mad; rather, and reel to and fro, and behave themselves madly. The inspired writers do not scruple to ascribe all phenomena, the "bad" as well as the "good," to a Divine operation. "Shall there be evil in a city, and Jehovah hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6). "An evil spirit from Elohim came upon Saul, and he became frenzied" (1 Samuel 18:10; see also Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 29:10; 1 Kings 22:19-23, and especially the very remarkable prologue of the Book of Job). To understand this form of expression, we must remember the strength of the reaction experienced by the prophets against the polytheism of the surrounding nations. It was not open to them to account for the existence of evil by ascribing it to the activity of various divinities; they knew Jehovah to be the sole cause in the universe. To us, "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," such a doctrine occasions "great searchings of heart," and is sometimes a sore trial of our faith. But the prophets were not logicians, and their faith, compared to ours, was as an oak tree to a sapling; hence they can generally (see, however, Isaiah 63:17) express the truth of the universal causation of Jehovah with perfect tranquility. Because of the sword. Here Jeremiah deserts the figure of the Cup, and, as most commentators think, uses the language of fact. It is not, however, certain that "the sword" means that of God's human instruments; Jehovah himself has a sword (Jeremiah 46:10; Jeremiah 47:6; Jeremiah 50:35-38; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 34:5; and elsewhere), just as he has a hand (Isaiah 8:11; Isaiah 59:1) and an arm (Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 53:1). All these belong to a group of childlike symbolic expressions for the manifestation of the Deity. Jehovah's "sword" is described more fully in Genesis 3:24; it "turns hither and thither," like the lightning - a striking figure of the completeness with which God performs his work of vengeance (see also on ver. 27).


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad,.... The judgments foretold shall come upon them, whether they will or not; which will have such effects upon them, as intoxicating liquor has on drunken persons; make them shake and tremble, and reel to and fro, and toss and tumble about, and behave like madmen:

because of the sword that I will send among them; this explains what is meant by the wine cup of fury, the sword of a foreign enemy that shall enter among them and destroy; and which would make them tremble, and be at their wits' end, like drunken and mad men.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. be moved—reel (Na 3:11).


Jeremiah 25:16 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


The Cup of God's Wrath
15For thus said the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: …

Jeremiah 25:27 "Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.'
Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
Ezekiel 23:33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
Obadiah 1:16 Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
Nahum 3:11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.