Jeremiah 51:39
in Jeremiah 51While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.
KJV
In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.
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This verse in Jeremiah 51
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
In their heat ... - While, like so many young lions, they are in the full glow of excitement over their prey, God prepares for them a drinking-bout to end in the sleep of death. Compare Dan 5:1.
This site's exposition
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me
on Jeremiah 51:34-40
Zion speaks, “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me.” The LORD answers as the Redeemer of 50:34, “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf.” Babylon’s feast ends in a sleep from which they “never wake up,” and they go down “like lambs to the slaughter.”
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Heat - When they shall grow hot with wine, I will make them a feast of another nature. Interpreters judge that Belshazzar, Dan. v, 1, made a feast to a thousand of his Lords, when he and his wives, and concubines, drank wine in the vessels belonging to the temple, during which feast the city was taken.
): They shall roar together like lions, as men in their revels do, when the wine has got into their heads. They call it singing; but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is called yelling like lions' whelps. It is probable that they were drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
In their heat I will make their feasts,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In their heat I will make their feasts--In the midst of their being heated with wine, I will give them "their" potions,--a very different cup to drink, but one which is their due, the wine cup of My stupefying wrath (Jer 25:15;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In their heat I will make their feasts - It was on the night of a feast day, while their hearts were heated with wine and revelry, that Babylon was taken; see Dan 5:1-3. This feast was held in honor of the goddess Sheshach, (or perhaps of Bel), who is mentioned, Jer 51:41, as being taken with her worshippers. As it was in the night the city was taken, many had retired to rest, and never awoke; slain in their beds, they slept a perpetual sleep.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּחֻמָּ֞ם | bechumam | when getting heated they | H2552 → | |
| אָשִׁ֣ית | ʾashit | I will make | H7896 → | 83 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִשְׁתֵּיהֶ֗ם | mishteihem | feast their | H4960 → | |
| וְהִשְׁכַּרְתִּים֙ | vehishkartim | and I will make drunk them | H7937 → | 19 times |
| לְמַ֣עַן | lemaan | so that | H4616 → | 272 times |
| יַעֲלֹ֔זוּ | yaalozu | they may celebrate | H5937 → | 16 times |
| וְיָשְׁנ֥וּ | veyashenu | and they will sleep | H3462 → | |
| שְׁנַת־ | shenat- | a sleep of | H8142 → | 23 times |
| עוֹלָ֖ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָקִ֑יצוּ | yakitzu | they will awake | H6974 → | 22 times |
| נְאֻ֖ם | neum | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
בְּחֻמָּ֞םwhen getting heated they
bechumamH2552 →
אָשִׁ֣יתI will make
ʾashitH7896 →83 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִשְׁתֵּיהֶ֗םfeast their
mishteihemH4960 →
וְהִשְׁכַּרְתִּים֙and I will make drunk them
vehishkartimH7937 →19 times
לְמַ֣עַןso that
lemaanH4616 →272 times
יַעֲלֹ֔זוּthey may celebrate
yaalozuH5937 →16 times
וְיָשְׁנ֥וּand they will sleep
veyashenuH3462 →
שְׁנַת־a sleep of
shenat-H8142 →23 times
עוֹלָ֖םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָקִ֑יצוּthey will awake
yakitzuH6974 →22 times
נְאֻ֖ם[the] utterance of
neumH5002 →376 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
Nahum 1:10For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.
it leads to
- Micah 7:4
The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time…
- Nahum 3:11
You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
- Micah 7:4
Through
Jeremiah 25:27“Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the…
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:16
You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover…
- Jeremiah 25:16
And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
- Habakkuk 2:16
Through
Jeremiah 51:57I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:18
As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.
- Jeremiah 48:15
Moab has been destroyed and its towns have been invaded; the best of its young men have gone down in the slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 46:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.