“They will not take from you even a stone for a corner Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB They shall not take cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate for ever,” says Yahweh.
- KJV And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
- BSB No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV They shall not take from you a stone for a corner Nor a stone for a foundation, But you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.
- NLT You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says 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
No stone of Babylon will be reused for cornerstone or foundation; she will be desolate forever. Her ruin will be so complete that nothing usable remains.
Overview
Building stones were precious, so to say none will be salvaged signals utterly permanent desolation. The 'forever' marks Babylon's downfall as final, never to be rebuilt to her former glory. This permanence contrasts with the everlasting kingdom and the chief Cornerstone, Christ, on whom God builds a temple that will never fall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 13:19–22Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Jer 50:12–13your mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
- Jer 51:43Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass by it.
- Rev 18:20–24“Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
- Isa 14:23“I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 34:8–17For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Jer 51:37Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
- Jer 51:29The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
- Jer 50:40–41As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says Yahweh, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.
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 51:26 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.