Jeremiah 51:42
in Jeremiah 51The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
KJV
The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
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This verse in Jeremiah 51
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe sea is come up upon Babylon,.... A vast army, comparable to the great sea for the multitude thereof, even the army of the Medes and Persians under Cyrus; so the Targum, "a king with his armies, which are numerous like the waters of the sea, is come up against Babylon:'' she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof; being surrounded, besieged, surprised, and seized upon by the multitude of soldiers in that army, which poured in upon it unawares.
This site's exposition
How Sheshach has been captured!
on Jeremiah 51:41-44
Sheshach is Babel written in the Atbash cipher, the alphabet reversed, as in 25:26. “The sea has come up over Babylon,” and her cities become “a land where no one lives.” The LORD will make Bel “spew out what he swallowed,” and “even the wall of Babylon will fall.”
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
): The sea has come up upon Babylon, which, when it has once broken through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is covered with the multitude of its waves, overpowered by a numerous army; her cities then become a desolation, an uninhabited uncultivated desert,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The sea--the host of Median invaders. The image (compare Jer 47:2; Isa 8:7, 8) is appropriately taken from the Euphrates, which, overflowing in spring, is like a "sea" near Babylon (Jer 51:13, 32, 36).
The sea is come up - A multitude of foes have inundated the city.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
By a grand metaphor the invading army is compared to the sea.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָלָ֥ה | ʾalah | it will go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּבֶ֖ל | bavel | Babylon | H894 → | 262 times |
| הַיָּ֑ם | haiyam | the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| בַּהֲמ֥וֹן | bahamon | with [the] tumult of | H1995 → | 83 times |
| גַּלָּ֖יו | galav | waves its | H1530 → | 34 times |
| נִכְסָֽתָה׃ | nikhsatah | it will be covered | H3680 → | 152 times |
עָלָ֥הit will go up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּבֶ֖לBabylon
bavelH894 →262 times
הַיָּ֑םthe sea
haiyamH3220 →396 times
בַּהֲמ֥וֹןwith [the] tumult of
bahamonH1995 →83 times
גַּלָּ֖יוwaves its
galavH1530 →34 times
נִכְסָֽתָה׃it will be covered
nikhsatahH3680 →152 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
Luke 21:25There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
it leads to
- Isaiah 13:10
For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
- Joel 2:30–31
I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
- Revelation 6:12–14
And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
- Daniel 12:1
“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning…
- Isaiah 24:23
The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.
- Isaiah 13:10
Through
Psalms 42:7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
it leads to
- Jonah 2:3
For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.
- Psalms 69:14–15
Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Jonah 2:3
Through
Psalms 93:3The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
it leads to
- Psalms 96:11
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea resound, and all that fills it.
- Psalms 96:11
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, 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.