One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.
Parallel translations
- WEB One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.
- KJV One 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,
- NKJV One runner will run to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
- NASB One courier runs to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to end;
- NLT The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured.
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
Messenger after messenger runs to tell the king of Babylon that his city is captured on every side. The fall comes so fast that the king learns it from a flood of breathless reports.
Overview
The relay of runners conveys the suddenness and totality of Babylon's capture, surrounding her before defenses can respond, echoing the historical fall of the city in a single night. The king, like his soldiers, is overtaken before he can act. The verse dramatizes how swiftly God's judgment can fall, urging readiness and refuge in the Lord before the day of reckoning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Chr 30:6So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, which read: “Children of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that He may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped the grasp of the kings of Assyria.
- 2 Sam 18:19–31Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”
- Esth 3:13–15And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.
- Esth 8:10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.
- Dan 5:2–5Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
- 1 Sam 4:12–18That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
- Job 9:25My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
- Dan 5:30That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,
- Jer 50:43The king of Babylon has heard the report, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Jer 4:20Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
- Esth 8:14The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.
- Isa 21:3–9Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Jer 50:24I 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.
- Isa 47:11–13But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
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 51:31 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.