Jeremiah 51:23
in Jeremiah 51With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
KJV
I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
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This verse in Jeremiah 51
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock,.... Or, have broken; which Abarbinel thinks respects the Arabians particularly, who were shepherds, and dwelt in tents; but it rather signifies shepherds and their flocks in general; who were killed or scattered wherever his armies came, which spared none, even the most innocent and useful, and though unarmed: and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; with which he ploughed his ground: signifying by this, as well as the former, that those were not spared, by which kingdoms were supported and maintained, as shepherds and husbandmen: and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers; by whom kingdoms and states are governed and protected.
This site's exposition
You are My war club, My weapon for battle
on Jeremiah 51:20-23
“You are My war club, My weapon for battle,” and Barnes and Keil give two readings: Babylon or the Medes named in verse 11. “With you I shatter” comes nine times, through nations, kingdoms, horse and rider, and governors. Whoever the club is, the LORD is the one who shatters.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Nor can any think it will exempt them from God's judgments that they have been instrumental in executing his judgments on others. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her by the Israel of God. She is complained of for her incorrigible wickedness (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Break in pieces - The sense of all these three verses is the same; that God had made use, and was still making use of the Babylonians to destroy many nations, to spoil much people, wasting their goods, routing their armies, killing all sorts of their inhabitants.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Captains ... rulers - Jer 51:28. Pashas and Sagans. The prophet dwells at length upon Babylon’s destructiveness.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנִפַּצְתִּ֤י | venipatzti | and I smash | H5310 → | 22 times |
| בְךָ֙ | vekha | by <the> you | ||
| רֹעֶ֣ה | roeh | shepherd | H7462 → | 177 times |
| וְעֶדְר֔וֹ | veedro | and flock his | H5739 → | 38 times |
| וְנִפַּצְתִּ֥י | venipatzti | and I smash | H5310 → | 22 times |
| בְךָ֖ | vekha | by <the> you | ||
| אִכָּ֣ר | ʾikar | a farmer | H406 → | 7 times |
| וְצִמְדּ֑וֹ | vetzimdo | and team his | H6776 → | |
| וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣י | venipatzti | and I smash | H5310 → | 22 times |
| בְךָ֔ | vekha | by <the> you | ||
| פַּח֖וֹת | pachot | governors | H6346 → | 28 times |
| וּסְגָנִֽים׃ | useganim | and officials | H5461 → | 17 times |
וְנִפַּצְתִּ֤יand I smash
venipatztiH5310 →22 times
בְךָ֙by <the> you
vekha
רֹעֶ֣הshepherd
roehH7462 →177 times
וְעֶדְר֔וֹand flock his
veedroH5739 →38 times
וְנִפַּצְתִּ֥יand I smash
venipatztiH5310 →22 times
בְךָ֖by <the> you
vekha
אִכָּ֣רa farmer
ʾikarH406 →7 times
וְצִמְדּ֑וֹand team his
vetzimdoH6776 →
וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣יand I smash
venipatztiH5310 →22 times
בְךָ֔by <the> you
vekha
פַּח֖וֹתgovernors
pachotH6346 →28 times
וּסְגָנִֽים׃and officials
useganimH5461 →17 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 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 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…
- 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 51:39
While 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…
- Psalms 76:5–6
The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
- Jeremiah 46:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; 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.