Jeremiah 51:33
in Jeremiah 51For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
KJV
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
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This verse in Jeremiah 51
Commentary
7 notes on this verseFor thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... "The Lord of hosts", the Lord God omnipotent, and can do all things; "the God of Israel", and therefore will plead their cause, and take vengeance on Babylon: the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; on which the nations of the earth had been threshed, or punished and destroyed; and now she was like a threshing floor, unto which should be gathered, and on which should be laid, her king, princes, and the people of the land, and be there beat and crushed to pieces.
This site's exposition
The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting
on Jeremiah 51:30-33
Couriers run to tell the king “that his city has been captured from end to end.” Herodotus reports that the city was so large its center did not know its outskirts had fallen. Verse 33 closes with the threshing floor: “In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
[Daniel 5:30-31] "On that same night Belshazzar, King of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom at the age of sixty-two." Josephus writes in his tenth book of the Jewish Antiquities that when Babylon had been laid under siege by the Medes and Persians, that is, by Darius and Cyrus, Belshazzar, King of Babylon, fell into such forgetfulness of his own situation as to put on his celebrated banquet and drink from the vessels of the Temple, and even while he was besieged he found leisure for banqueting.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The threshing-floor is prepared. Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat of war, and her people, like corn in harvest, are ripe for destruction," Rev. xiv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Translate, “The daughter of Babylon is as a threshing-floor at the time when it is trampled,” i. e., trodden hard in readiness for the threshing: “yet a little while and the harvest-time” shall come to her, i. e., overtake her. In the East, the grain when reaped is carried at once to the threshing-floor, a level spot carefully prepared beforehand, usually about 50 feet in diameter, and trampled hard. The grain after it has been beaten out by a sledge drawn over it by oxen is separated from the chaff and stored up in granaries.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her--rather, "like a threshing-floor at the time of threshing," or "at the time when it is trodden." The treading, or threshing, here put before the harvest, out of the natural order, because the prominent thought is the treading down or destruction of Babylon.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor - The threshing wheel is gone over her; she is trodden under foot.
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּי֩ | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹ֨ה | khoh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֜ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֤ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָאוֹת֙ | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֣י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| בָּבֶ֕ל | bavel | Babylon | H894 → | 262 times |
| כְּגֹ֖רֶן | kegoren | [will be] like a threshing floor | H1637 → | |
| עֵ֣ת | ʾet | a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| הִדְרִיכָ֑הּ | hidrikhah | [when] someone treads down it | H1869 → | 62 times |
| ע֣וֹד | od | yet | H5750 → | 490 times |
| מְעַ֔ט | meat | a little | H4592 → | |
| וּבָ֥אָה | uvaah | and it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עֵֽת־ | ʾet- | [the] time of | H6256 → | 296 times |
| הַקָּצִ֖יר | hakatzir | the harvest | H7105 → | 54 times |
| לָֽהּ׃ | lah | to <the> it |
כִּי֩for
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֹ֨הthus
khohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֜רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֤הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָאוֹת֙of hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
בָּבֶ֕לBabylon
bavelH894 →262 times
כְּגֹ֖רֶן[will be] like a threshing floor
kegorenH1637 →
עֵ֣תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
הִדְרִיכָ֑הּ[when] someone treads down it
hidrikhahH1869 →62 times
ע֣וֹדyet
odH5750 →490 times
מְעַ֔טa little
meatH4592 →
וּבָ֥אָהand it will come
uvaahH935 →2568 times
עֵֽת־[the] time of
ʾet-H6256 →296 times
הַקָּצִ֖ירthe harvest
hakatzirH7105 →54 times
לָֽהּ׃to <the> it
lah
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
Micah 4:13Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:15–16
Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 2:44
In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms…
- Isaiah 41:15–16
Through
Joel 3:13Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
it leads to
- Revelation 14:15–20
Then another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud, “Swing Your sickle and reap, because the time has come to harvest; for…
- Hosea 6:11
Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.
- Mark 4:29
And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
- Isaiah 63:3
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and…
- Revelation 14:15–20
Through
Isaiah 21:10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
it leads to
- Micah 4:13
Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD,…
- Micah 4:13
Through
Hosea 6:11Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.
it leads to
- Joel 3:13
Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
- Joel 3:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FIVE; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.