You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
Parallel translations
- WEB You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
- KJV Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
- NKJV You who have escaped the sword, Get away! Do not stand still! Remember the Lord afar off, And let Jerusalem come to your mind.
- NASB You who have escaped the sword, Go! Do not stay! Remember the Lord from far away, And let Jerusalem come to your mind.
- NLT Get out, all you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch—flee while you can! Remember the Lord, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.”
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
Those who escaped the sword are urged not to linger but to remember the Lord and keep Jerusalem in mind. Survivors are called to flee Babylon and return their hearts to God and Zion.
Overview
The exiles are exhorted not to grow comfortable in Babylon but to keep alive their longing for Jerusalem and devotion to the Lord. Remembering God 'from afar' nurtures hope and homeward direction. This pilgrim mindset, looking beyond exile to the city of God, prefigures the believer's call to set the mind on the heavenly Jerusalem secured in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Jer 44:28Those who escape the sword will return from Egypt to Judah, few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah who went to dwell in the land of Egypt will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs!
- Ps 122:6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.
- Ezra 1:3–5Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
- Isa 51:11So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- Rev 18:4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.
- Dan 9:2–3in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
- Isa 52:11–12Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
- Jer 51:45Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD.
- Ps 102:13–14You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come.
- Zech 2:7–9“Get up, O Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the Daughter of Babylon!”
- Jer 50:8Flee from the midst of Babylon; depart from the land of the Chaldeans; be like the he-goats that lead the flock.
- Deut 30:1–4“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,
- Ps 137:5–6If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
- Jer 51:6Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
- Neh 1:2–4Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
- Jer 31:21“Set up the roadmarks, establish the signposts. Keep the highway in mind, the road you have traveled. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to these cities of yours.
- Jer 29:12–14Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Neh 2:3–5and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
- Dan 9:16–19O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.
- Isa 52:2Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit on your throne, O Jerusalem. Remove the chains from your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.
- Deut 4:29–31But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Isa 48:20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
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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 51:50 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
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