Jeremiah 50:38
in Jeremiah 50A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols.
KJV
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
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This verse in Jeremiah 50
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up,.... Either on the waters of the land of Chaldea in general, from whence should follow barrenness, and so a want of the necessaries of life; hence Kimchi interprets it of a consumption of riches, and all good things; or on the waters of Babylon, the river Euphrates, which ran through it; the channel of which was diverted by Cyrus, and drained and made so dry, that he marched his army up it into the city.
This site's exposition
A sword is upon the Chaldeans
on Jeremiah 50:35-40
The sword refrain sweeps through Babylon class by class, princes, wise men, horses and chariots, treasures, seven strokes in five verses naming everyone from the court's counselors to its wealth. Verse 38 adds a drought upon her waters, dried up, which later history reads literally, Cyrus's forces diverting the Euphrates to enter the city by its own riverbed, the detail the bench treats as prophecy matched by the event. The comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah at verse 40, no man to abide there, states the permanence of the desolation the same way chapter 49 states it for Edom.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Dried - This phrase has a plain reference to Cyrus's stratagem used in the surprize of Babylon; one part of it was fortified by the great river Euphrates, which Cyrus diverted by cutting several channels, 'till he had drained it so low, that it became passable for his army; others think that a want of rain is here threatened.
): The waters shall be dried up, the water that secures the city. Cyrus drew the river Euphrates into so many channels as made it passable for his army, so that they got with ease to the walls of Babylon, which, if was thought, that river had rendered inaccessible.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
But this madness is wickedness, for which sinners will be certainly and severely reckoned with. The judgments of God upon them for these sins are such as will quite lay them waste and ruin them.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A drought is upon her waters - May not this refer to the draining of the channel of the Euphrates, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on Jer 50:24 (note). The original is, however, חרב chereb, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
This was due to its network of water-courses from the Euphrates for irrigation, traces of which [LAYARD] are seen still on all sides, but dry and barren (Isa 44:27). their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are more calculated to frighten than to attract (Jer 51:44, 47, 52;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A drought - Rather, “a sword,” i. e., military skill and forethought. They are mad upon their idols - Omit their. The word for idols, literally terrors Psa 88:16 is used in this one place only of objects of worship. Probably it refers to those montrous forms invented as representations of their deities.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֹ֥רֶב | chorev | a drought | H2721 → | 16 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | against | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֵימֶ֖יהָ | meimeiha | waters its | H4325 → | 581 times |
| וְיָבֵ֑שׁוּ | veyaveshu | and they will dry up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶ֤רֶץ | ʾeretz | [is] a land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| פְּסִלִים֙ | pesilim | idols | H6456 → | 23 times |
| הִ֔יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וּבָאֵימִ֖ים | uvaeimim | and in <the> terrors | H367 → | |
| יִתְהֹלָֽלוּ׃ | yitholalu | they will act like mad people | H1984 → | 165 times |
חֹ֥רֶבa drought
chorevH2721 →16 times
אֶל־against
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֵימֶ֖יהָwaters its
meimeihaH4325 →581 times
וְיָבֵ֑שׁוּand they will dry up
veyaveshuH3001 →59 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֶ֤רֶץ[is] a land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
פְּסִלִים֙idols
pesilimH6456 →23 times
הִ֔יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
וּבָאֵימִ֖יםand in <the> terrors
uvaeimimH367 →
יִתְהֹלָֽלוּ׃they will act like mad people
yitholaluH1984 →165 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Jeremiah 50:2“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 21:9
Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 51:47
Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 46:1
Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Isaiah 21:9
Through
Revelation 16:12And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:36
Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 9:14
saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
- Jeremiah 51:36
Through
Isaiah 44:27who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
it leads to
- Isaiah 42:15
I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 42:15
Through
Jeremiah 51:47Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:2
“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced,…
- Jeremiah 51:52
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
- Jeremiah 50:2
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.