“How the hammer of the whole earth Has been cut off and broken! How Babylon has become An object of horror among the nations!
Parallel translations
- WEB How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
- KJV How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
- BSB How the hammer of the whole earth lies broken and shattered! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
- NKJV How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
- NLT Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth, lies broken and shattered. Babylon is desolate among the nations!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Babylon, once the hammer that shattered the nations, is itself cut apart and broken. The instrument of God's judgment is now judged.
Overview
Babylon had been the 'hammer of the whole earth,' the tool God used to crush other nations. Now that hammer is broken and the city lies desolate. The reversal teaches that those whom God uses for judgment remain accountable, and that no human power can presume on its own indispensability (Isaiah 10:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 51:20–24“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms.
- Isa 14:12–17How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
- Isa 14:4–6that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
- Rev 18:16saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 50:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.