Her cities now lie in ruins; she is a dry wasteland where no one lives or even passes by.
Parallel translations
- WEB Her 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.
- KJV Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
- BSB Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.
- NKJV Her cities are a desolation, A dry land and a wilderness, A land where no one dwells, Through which no son of man passes.
- NASB “Her cities have become an object of horror, A dry land and a desert, A land in which no one lives And through which no one of mankind passes.
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's cities become a desolation, a dry and barren desert where no one lives or passes by. The land is left utterly empty and abandoned.
Overview
From the imagery of overwhelming waters the picture shifts to a parched, lifeless desert, both conveying total desolation. No inhabitant remains and no traveler ventures through. The completeness of this judgment fulfills God's word against Babylon and stands as a perpetual witness that rebellion against God ends in barrenness, while life is found only in Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Isa 13:20It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
- Jer 2:6They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’
- 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 50:39–40Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein; and it will be inhabited no more forever; neither will it be lived in from generation to generation.
- Jer 50:12your 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 51:37Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
- Ezek 29:10–11therefore, behold, I am against you, and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 51:43 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.