Jeremiah 50 · Verse 38

Jeremiah 50:38

A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
Jeremiah 50:38, King James Version

Jeremiah 50:38 in other translations

BSBA drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
WEBA drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.
ASVA drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols.
YLTA sword is on her waters, and they have been dried up, For it is a land of graven images, And in idols they do boast themselves.
DARBYa drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad after frightful idols.
BBEA sword is on her waters, drying them up; for it is a land of images, and their minds are fixed on false gods.
WebsterA drouth is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

What does Jeremiah 50:38 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
38. drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the three previous verses, "A sword." However, all the pointed manuscripts read, "A drought," as English Version. Cyrus turned off the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel and so marched through the dried-up bed into the city (Jr 51:32). Babylonia once was famed for its corn, which often yielded from one to two hundredfold [Herodotus]. This was due to its network of water-courses from the Euphrates for irrigation, traces of which [Layard] are seen still on all sides, but dry and barren (Is 44:27). their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are more calculated to frighten than to attract (Jr 51:44, 47, 52; Da 3:1). Mere bugbears with which to frighten children.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 38 A drought is upon her waters - May not this refer to the draining of the channel of the Euphrates, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on Jer 50:24 (note). The original is, however, חרב chereb, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 50:33-46

It is Israel's comfort in distress, that, though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong. This may be applied to believers, who complain of the dominion of sin and corruption, and of their own weakness and manifold infirmities. Their Redeemer is able to keep what they commit to him; and sin shall not have dominion over them. He will give them that rest which remains for the people of God. Also here is Babylon's sin…

Read the full comment on Jeremiah 50:33-46 →

Jeremiah 50:38 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

חֹ֥רֶבCho.reva droughtH2721
אֶל\־'el-againstH413
מֵימֶ֖יהָmei.Mei.hawaters itsH4325
וְיָבֵ֑שׁוּve.ya.Ve.shuand they will dry upH3001
כִּ֣יkiforH3588
אֶ֤רֶץ'E.retz[is] a land ofH776
פְּסִלִים֙pe.si.LimidolsH6456
הִ֔יאHi'itH1931
וּבָאֵימִ֖יםu.va.'ei.Mimand in <the> terrorsH367
יִתְהֹלָֽלוּ\׃yit.ho.La.luthey will act like mad peopleH1984

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 50:38

  • Jeremiah 50:2

    Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

  • Isaiah 44:27

    That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

  • Revelation 16:12

    And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

  • Jeremiah 51:52

    Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

  • Jeremiah 51:47

    Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

  • Jeremiah 50:12

    Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

  • Daniel 5:4

    They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

  • Acts 17:16

    Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

  • Habakkuk 2:18-19

    What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

  • Jeremiah 51:7

    Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

  • Revelation 17:5

    And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

  • Jeremiah 51:44

    And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A drought.
12; 51:32-36; Isa 44:27; Re 16:12; 17:15,16
the land.
2; 51:44,47,52; Isa 46:1-7; Da 3:1-30; 5:4; Hab 2:18,19; Re 17:5
mad.
51:7; Isa 44:25; Ac 17:16

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 50:37

    A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

  • Jeremiah 50:38

    A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

  • Jeremiah 50:39

    Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

Read all of Jeremiah 50

Jeremiah 50:38 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Sequedad sobre sus aguas, y secaránse: porque tierra es de esculturas, y en ídolos enloquecen.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		la sécheresse est sur ses eaux, et elles tarissent; car c’est un pays d’images taillées, et ils sont fous de leurs affreuses idoles.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Dürre über seine Gewässer, daß sie austrocknen! Denn es ist ein Land der geschnitzten Bilder, und sie rasen durch ihre erschreckenden Götzen
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Siccitas super aquas ejus erit, et arescent, quia terra sculptilium est, et in portentis gloriantur.