Jeremiah 51:2
◄  Jeremiah 51:2  ►
New International Version (©2011)
I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Foreigners will come and winnow her, blowing her away as chaff. They will come from every side to rise against her in her day of trouble.

English Standard Version (©2001)
and I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land, when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate her land; For on every side they will be opposed to her In the day of her calamity.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
I will send strangers to Babylon who will scatter her and strip her land bare, for they will come against her from every side in the day of disaster.

International Standard Version (©2012)
I'll send foreigners to Babylon, and they'll winnow her, and devastate her land. They'll come against her from every side on the day of her disaster.

NET Bible (©2006)
I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
I will send people to winnow Babylon, to winnow it and strip its land bare. They will attack it from every direction on the day of trouble.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And will send unto Babylon winnowers, that shall winnow her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

American King James Version
And will send to Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

American Standard Version
And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction.

Darby Bible Translation
and I will send unto Babylon strangers, who shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

English Revised Version
And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall fan her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Webster's Bible Translation
And will send to Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her on all sides.

World English Bible
I will send to Babylon strangers, who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.

Young's Literal Translation
And I have sent to Babylon fanners, And they have fanned it, and they empty its land, For they have been against it, Round about -- in the day of evil.

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 2. - Farmers. This is supported by the Septuagint, Peshito, Targum, Vulgate, according to the Massoretic pointing, however, we should render "enemies." Possibly the prophet intended to suggest both meanings, a and o being so nearly related. Shall empty her land. The original has a much mere striking word, shall pour out (for the figures, comp. Jeremiah 48:12), which occurs again in similar contexts in Isaiah 24:1; Nahum 2:3 (Hebrew, 2).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will send unto Babylon farmers, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land,.... Or, "strangers that shall fan her" (c); meaning the Medes and Persians, who should be like a strong wind upon the mountains, where corn, having been threshed, was fanned, and the chaff carried away by the wind; and such would the Chaldeans be in the hand of the Persians, scattered and dispersed among the nations as chaff with the wind, and their cities be emptied of inhabitants, and of their wealth and riches. The Targum is,

"I will send against Babylon spoilers, that shall spoil and exhaust the land:''

for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about; in the time of the siege they shall surround her on all sides, so that none might escape; as Babylon had been a fanner of the Lord's people, now she should be fanned herself, and stripped of all she had; see Jeremiah 15:7.

(c) "alienos", Cocceius; some in Vatablus; so Kimchi, Ben Melech, Abendana.

Jeremiah 51:2 Parallel Commentaries
Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Severe Judgment against Babylon
1Thus said the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the middle of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2And will send to Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his brigandine: and spare you not her young men; destroy you utterly all her host. …

Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Jeremiah 15:7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.