I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren’t aware. You are found, and also caught, because you have fought against Yahweh.
- BSB I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.
- NKJV I have laid a snare for you; You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, And you were not aware; You have been found and also caught, Because you have contended against the Lord.
- NASB “I set a trap for you and you were also caught, Babylon, While you yourself were not aware; You have been found and also seized Because you have engaged in conflict with the Lord.”
- NLT Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you. You are caught, for you have fought against the Lord.
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
God set a snare and caught Babylon unawares because she fought against Him. Her downfall comes from opposing the LORD Himself.
Overview
Babylon is trapped before she realizes it, exposing the false security of her pride. The decisive charge is that 'you have fought against Yahweh.' Ultimately every act of cruelty against God's people is resistance to God, and such defiance can only end in capture and ruin (Acts 9:4-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Dan 5:30–31In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
- Job 9:4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
- Job 40:2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
- Job 40:9Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
- Jer 51:57And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- 2 Th 2:4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
- Isa 45:9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
- Jer 51:8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
- Exod 10:3And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
- Isa 21:3–5Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
- Rev 18:7–8How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
- Isa 13:11And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
- Jer 51:31–39One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
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 50:24 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.