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Jeremiah 50:16

in Jeremiah 50

Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time. In the face of the oppressor’s sword, each will turn to his own people, each will flee to his own land.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

KJV

Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

This verse in Jeremiah 50

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Cut off the sower from in Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest,.... Both sower and reaper: the walls of Babylon took in a large compass of land, where there were corn fields; and which, as Curtius (s) observes, would yield a sufficiency to hold out a siege against an enemy; but being taken, the husbandman would not be spared, as used to be, but should be cut off, and so none to till the ground, or to reap what was upon it; and thus, in course, would be, desolate, as before threatened.

This site's exposition

Chaldea shall be a spoil

on Jeremiah 50:10-20

Chaldea's fall is stated plainly, a spoil for the nations who plundered others, her walls thrown down and her army cut off at harvest time as a reaper cuts a field. Verse 17 folds Israel's whole exile history into one line, a scattered sheep driven first by the lion of Assyria and then broken in the teeth of Nebuchadrezzar's Babylon, the two empires that afflicted the same flock named together. The chapter turns without warning to forgiveness at verse 20, the iniquity of Israel sought for and not found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve, the same full pardon the new covenant of chapter 31 promises tied here to Babylon's own overthrow.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

This was threatened before concerning Egypt, ch. xlvi. The procuring provoking cause of this destruction. It comes from God's displeasure; it is because of the wrath of the Lord that Babylon shall be wholly desolate (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

The population is to be destroyed so utterly that the rich fields of Babylonia are to remain untilled. They shall turn - The full force of the words will be seen if it be remembered that it had been the policy of Nebuchadnezzar to compel citizens selected from the vanquished nations to settle in Babylonia.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Babylon had the extent rather of a nation than of a city. Therefore grain was grown within the city wall sufficient to last for a long siege [ARISTOTLE, Politics, 3.2;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-brackets

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Cut off the sower - Destroy the gardens and the fields, that there may be neither fruits nor tillage.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּרְת֤וּcut off

    kirtuH3772288 times

  • זוֹרֵ֙עַ֙[the] sower

    zorea'H223256 times

  • מִבָּבֶ֔לfrom Babylon

    mibavelH894262 times

  • וְתֹפֵ֥שׂand [one who] wields

    vetofesH861065 times

  • מַגָּ֖לa sickle

    magalH4038

  • בְּעֵ֣תat a time of

    beetH6256296 times

  • קָצִ֑ירharvest

    katzirH710554 times

  • מִפְּנֵי֙from before

    mipeneiH64402123 times

  • חֶ֣רֶב[the] sword of

    cherevH2719413 times

  • הַיּוֹנָ֔הthe oppressor

    haiyonahH323820 times

  • אִ֤ישׁeveryone

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • עַמּוֹ֙people his

    amoH59711873 times

  • יִפְנ֔וּthey will turn

    yifnuH6437135 times

  • וְאִ֥ישׁand everyone

    veishH3761663 times

  • לְאַרְצ֖וֹto own land his

    leartzoH7762504 times

  • יָנֻֽסוּ׃ סthey will flee

    yanusuH5127159 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Isaiah 13:14

    Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 22:17

      So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”

    • 1 Kings 22:36

      As the sun was setting, the cry rang out in the army: “Every man to his own city, and every man to his own land!”

  • Through

    Jeremiah 46:16

    They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 51:9

      “We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Joel 1:11

    Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 14:3–4

      The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 51:9

    “We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 13:14

      Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.

    • Revelation 18:5

      For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

    • Jeremiah 46:16

      They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 25:38

    He has left His den like a lion, for their land has been made a desolation by the sword of the oppressor, and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 4:7

      A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and…

About Jeremiah

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.