Jeremiah 51:31
 Jeremiah 51:31 
New International Version (©2011)
One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,

New Living Translation (©2007)
The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured.

English Standard Version (©2001)
One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side;

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
One courier runs to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to end;

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.

International Standard Version (©2012)
One runner runs to meet another runner, and one messenger to meet another messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been seized from one end to the other.

NET Bible (©2006)
One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Runners run to meet runners. Messengers follow messengers. They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side,

American King James Version
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

American Standard Version
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

Douay-Rheims Bible
One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one end to the other:

Darby Bible Translation
Courier runneth to meet courier, and messenger to meet messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is taken from end to end;

English Revised Version
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

Webster's Bible Translation
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

World English Bible
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

Young's Literal Translation
Runner to meet runner doth run, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For, captured hath been his city -- at the extremity.

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 31. - One post shall run to meet another, etc. The wall being broken through at various points, couriers would meet each other on their way to the royal palace. This was itself a fortress in the centre of the city, on the Euphrates. The newly discovered cylinder inscription, however, shows that Nabonidus, the last King of Babylon, was not actually in the city at the time of the capture. At one end; rather, from end to end (see on Jeremiah 50:26).


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another,.... That is, one post should be after another, and one messenger after another, post upon post, and messenger upon messenger, as fast as they could run; when one had been with his message, and delivered it, and returned, he meets another; or they met one another, coming from different places:

to show the king of Babylon his city is taken at one end; or, "at the end" (l); we render it "one end", as Kimchi does; at the end where Cyrus's army first landed, when they came up the channel of the river Euphrates they had drained. And so Herodotus (m) says, that when the Babylonians, which inhabited the "extreme parts" of the city, were taken, they that were in the middle of it were not sensible of it, because of the greatness of the city; and the rather, because they were engaged that night in feasting and dancing. Nay, Aristotle (n) says, it was reported that one part of the city was taken three days before the other end knew it, it being more like a country than a city; which does not seem credible, nor is it consistent with the Scripture account of it; however, it was taken by surprise, and some parts of it before the king was aware of it; who very probably had his palace in the middle of it, whither these messengers ran one after another, or from different parts, to acquaint him with it.

(l) "a fine", Montanus; "ab extremitate", Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, De Dieu, Schmidt. (m) L. 1. sive Clio, c. 191. (n) Politic. l. 3. c. 3.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31. (See on [1004]Jer 50:24).

One post—One courier after another shall announce the capture of the city. The couriers despatched from the walls, where Cyrus enters, shall "meet" those sent by the king. Their confused running to and fro would result from the sudden panic at the entrance of Cyrus into the city, which he had so long besieged ineffectually; the Babylonians had laughed at his attempts and were feasting at the time without fear.

taken at one end—which was not known for a long time to the king and his courtiers feasting in the middle of the city; so great was its extent that, when the city was already three days in the enemy's hands, the fact was not known in some parts of the city [Aristotle, Politics, 3.2].


Jeremiah 51:31 Parallel Commentaries

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Babylon's Punishment
30The mighty men of Babylon have declined to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken. 31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. …

2 Samuel 18:19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, "Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies."
2 Chronicles 30:6 At the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: "People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Jeremiah 50:2 "Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, 'Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.'
Jeremiah 50:24 I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.
Jeremiah 50:43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Jeremiah 51:32 the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified."
Daniel 5:30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain,