Jeremiah 51:14
◄  Jeremiah 51:14  ►
New International Version (©2011)
The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The LORD of Heaven's Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: "Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you."

English Standard Version (©2001)
The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself: "Surely I will fill you with a population like locusts, And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you."

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will sing the victory song over you.

International Standard Version (©2012)
The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sworn by himself: "I'll surely fill you with soldiers like a swarm of locusts, and they'll sing songs of victory over you."

NET Bible (©2006)
The LORD who rules over all has solemnly sworn, 'I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. They will raise up shouts of victory over it.'

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The LORD of Armies has taken an oath on himself: "I will certainly fill you with many enemy armies. They will swarm like locusts. People will shout their victory over you."

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

American King James Version
The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

American Standard Version
Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself,'saying , Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying : I will fill thee with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout against thee.

Darby Bible Translation
Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, I will assuredly fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall raise a shout against thee.

English Revised Version
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the cankerworm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

Webster's Bible Translation
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall raise a shout against thee.

World English Bible
Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

Young's Literal Translation
Sworn hath Jehovah of Hosts by Himself, That, Surely I have filled thee with men as the cankerworm, And they have cried against thee -- shouting.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

51:1-58 The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again. Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the same with the New Testament Babylon, Re 18:9,19. The ruin of all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and superstition, the persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to destruction as ancient Babylon. Then will vast multitudes mourn for sin, and seek the Lord. Then will the lost sheep of the house of Israel be brought back to the fold of the good Shepherd, and stray no more. And the exact fulfilment of these ancient prophecies encourages us to faith in all the promises and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Surely I will fill thee, etc. This is the rendering of Hitzig and Graf; the enemies are compared to locusts, as in Jeremiah 46:23. But the expression, "to fill a city with men," is more naturally taken of the increase of the population of the city; and it is better to render, with Ewald and Keil, "Even though [or, 'Surely even though'] I have filled thee with men, as with locusts, they shall raise over thee the cheer of the vintage;" i.e. the millions of Babylon's population will not save her from the most utter ruin. For the vintage cheer, see on Jeremiah 25:30; and for the figures, see especially, Isaiah 63:1-6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord hath sworn by himself, saying,.... Or, "by his soul" or "life" (q); which is himself, than which he cannot swear by a greater, Hebrews 6:13; and the certain performance of what he swears unto need not be doubted of; and indeed the design of the oath is to assure of the truth of the thing, about which, after this, there ought to be no hesitation:

surely I fill thee with men as with caterpillars; or "locusts" (r); march in vast numbers, and make sad desolation where they come; and to which a numerous army may fitly be compared; and which are here meant, even the army of Cyrus, that should enter Babylon, and fill it, as it did. So the Targum,

"the Lord of hosts hath sworn by his word, if I fill them with armies of many people as locusts:''

and they shall lift up a shout against thee; as soldiers, when they make the onset in battle; or as besiegers, when they make their attack on a city; or as when grape gatherers bring in their vintage, or tread out their wine, to which the allusion is: it signifies that her enemies should get an entire victory, and triumph over her.

(q) "per animam suam", Pagninus, Cocceius, Schmidt. (r) "ut, vel quasi brucho", V. L. Cocceius, Montanus, Grotius, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 51:14 Parallel Commentaries
Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Severe Judgment against Babylon
…12Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. 13O you that dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness. 14The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

Psalm 105:34 He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number;
Jeremiah 49:13 I swear by myself," declares the LORD, "that Bozrah will become a ruin and a curse, an object of horror and reproach; and all its towns will be in ruins forever."
Jeremiah 51:27 "Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
Amos 6:8 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself--the LORD God Almighty declares: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it."
Nahum 3:15 There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down-- they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts!