Jeremiah 51:11

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Make bright the arrows; take up the body-covers: the Lord has been moving the spirit of the king of the Medes; because his design against Babylon is its destruction: for it is the punishment from the Lord, the payment for his Temple.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הָבֵ֣רוּ הַחִצִּים֮ מִלְא֣וּ הַשְּׁלָטִים֒ הֵעִ֣יר יְהוָ֗ה אֶת־ר֙וּחַ֙ מַלְכֵ֣י מָדַ֔י כִּֽי־עַל־בָּבֶ֥ל מְזִמָּת֖וֹ לְהַשְׁחִיתָ֑הּ כִּֽי־נִקְמַ֤ת יְהוָה֙ הִ֔יא נִקְמַ֖ת הֵיכָלֽוֹ׃

Transliteration

Hāvērû the-ḥiṣṣîm, milʾû the-šĕlāṭîm. Hēʿîr YHWH ʾet-rûaḥ malḵê Māday, for-against-Bāvel mĕzimmātô to-destroy-her, for-niqmat YHWH hîʾ, niqmat hêḵālô.

Grammar Details

• *Hāvērû*: hiphil imperative, masculine plural - sharpen/polish
• *ḥiṣṣîm*: masculine plural noun with definite article - the arrows
• *milʾû*: qal imperative, masculine plural - fill
• *šĕlāṭîm*: masculine plural noun with definite article - the shields/quivers
• *Hēʿîr*: hiphil perfect, 3rd masculine singular - has stirred up
• *YHWH*: proper noun - Yahweh/the LORD
• *ʾet*: direct object marker
• *rûaḥ*: feminine singular construct - spirit of
• *malḵê*: masculine plural noun construct - kings of
• *Māday*: proper noun - Media/Medes
• *Bāvel*: proper noun - Babylon
• *mĕzimmātô*: feminine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his purpose/device
• *niqmat*: feminine singular construct - vengeance of
• *hîʾ*: 3rd feminine singular pronoun - it (is)
• *hêḵālô*: masculine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his temple

Word Meanings

• *Hāvērû*: sharpen/polish/make bright
• *šĕlāṭîm*: shields/quivers
• *Hēʿîr*: stirred up/aroused/awakened
• *mĕzimmātô*: his device/his purpose/his plan
• *niqmat*: vengeance of/retribution of/revenge of

Referenced Verses

• Jer 46:4 : 4 Make the horses ready, and get up, you horsemen, and take your places with your head-dresses; make the spears sharp and put on the breastplates.
• Jer 50:45 : 45 So give ear to the decision of the Lord which he has made against Babylon, and to his purposes designed against the land of the Chaldaeans; Truly, they will be pulled away by the smallest of the flock; truly, he will make waste their fields with them.
• Jer 46:9 : 9 Go up, you horses; go rushing on, you carriages of war; go out, you men of war: Cush and Put, gripping the body-cover, and the Ludim, with bent bows.
• Jer 50:9 : 9 For see, I am moving and sending up against Babylon a band of great nations from the north country: and they will put their armies in position against her; and from there she will be taken: their arrows will be like those of an expert man of war; not one will come back without getting its mark.
• Jer 50:14-15 : 14 Put your armies in position against Babylon on every side, all you bowmen; let loose your arrows at her, not keeping any back: for she has done evil against the Lord. 15 Give a loud cry against her on every side; she has given herself up, her supports are overturned, her walls are broken down: for it is the payment taken by the Lord; give her payment; as she has done, so do to her.
• Jer 50:25 : 25 From his store-house the Lord has taken the instruments of his wrath: for the Lord, the Lord of armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldaeans.
• Jer 50:28-29 : 28 The voice of those who are in flight, who have got away safe from the land of Babylon, to give news in Zion of punishment from the Lord our God, even payment for his Temple. 29 Send for the archers to come together against Babylon, all the bowmen; put up your tents against her on every side; let no one get away: give her the reward of her work; as she has done, so do to her: for she has been uplifted in pride against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
• Jer 51:12 : 12 Let the flag be lifted up against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, put the watchmen in their places, make ready a surprise attack: for it is the Lord's purpose, and he has done what he said about the people of Babylon.
• Jer 51:24 : 24 And I will give to Babylon, and to all the people of Chaldaea, their reward for all the evil they have done in Zion before your eyes, says the Lord.
• Jer 51:27-29 : 27 Let a flag be lifted up in the land, let the horn be sounded among the nations, make the nations ready against her; get the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her, make ready a scribe against her; let the horses come up against her like massed locusts. 28 Make the nations ready for war against her, the king of the Medes and his rulers and all his captains, and all the land under his rule. 29 And the land is shaking and in pain: for the purposes of the Lord are fixed, to make the land of Babylon an unpeopled waste.
• Jer 51:35 : 35 May the violent things done to me, and my downfall, come on Babylon, the daughter of Zion will say; and, May my blood be on the people of Chaldaea, Jerusalem will say.
• Hab 2:17-20 : 17 For the violent acts against Lebanon will come on you, and the destruction of the cattle will be a cause of fear to you, because of men's blood and the violent acts against the land and the town and all who are living in it. 18 What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice? 19 A curse on him who says to the wood, Awake! to the unbreathing stone, Up! let it be a teacher! See, it is plated with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy Temple: let all the earth be quiet before him.
• Zech 12:2-3 : 2 See, I will make Jerusalem a cup of shaking fear to all the peoples round about, when Jerusalem is shut in. 3 And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of great weight for all the peoples; all those who take it up will be badly wounded; and all the nations of the earth will come together against it.
• Zech 14:2 : 2 For I will get all the nations together to make war against Jerusalem; and the town will be overcome, and the goods taken from the houses, and the women taken by force: and half the town will go away as prisoners, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the town.
• Zech 14:12 : 12 And this will be the disease which the Lord will send on all the peoples which have been warring against Jerusalem: their flesh will be wasted away while they are on their feet, their eyes will be wasted in their heads and their tongues in their mouths.
• Rev 17:16-17 : 16 And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will be turned against the evil woman, and will make her waste and uncovered, and will take her flesh for food, and will have her burned with fire. 17 Because God has put it in their hearts to do his purpose, and to be of one mind, giving their kingdom to the beast, till the words of God have effect and are complete.
• 1 Kgs 11:14 : 14 So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom.
• 1 Kgs 11:23 : 23 And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah:
• 1 Chr 5:26 : 26 And the God of Israel put an impulse into the heart of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who took them away as prisoners, all the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to Halah and Habor and Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.
• 2 Chr 36:22 : 22 Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the words which the Lord had said by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the Lord, and he made a public statement and had it given out through all his kingdom and put in writing, saying,
• Ezra 1:1 : 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord given by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the Lord, so that he made a public statement through all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying,
• Ps 74:3-9 : 3 Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place; 4 Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen. 5 They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees. 6 Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades. 7 They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth. 8 They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land. 9 We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long. 10 O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever? 11 Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?
• Ps 83:3-9 : 3 They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place. 4 They have said, Come, let us put an end to them as a nation; so that the name of Israel may go out of man's memory. 5 For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you: 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; 8 Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. (Selah.) 9 Do to them what you did to the Midianites; what you did to Sisera and Jabin, at the stream of Kishon:
• Isa 10:26 : 26 And the Lord of armies will be shaking a whip against him, as when he overcame Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his rod will be lifted up against them as it was against the Egyptians.
• Isa 13:17-18 : 17 See, I am driving the Medes against them, who put no value on silver and have no pleasure in gold. 18 In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body.
• Isa 21:2 : 2 A vision of fear comes before my eyes; the worker of deceit goes on in his false way, and the waster goes on making waste. Up! Elam; to the attack! Media; I have put an end to her sorrow.
• Isa 21:5 : 5 They make ready the table, they put down the covers, they take food and drink. Up! you captains; put oil on your breastplates.
• Isa 41:25 : 25 I have sent for one from the north, and from the dawn he has come; in my name he will get rulers together and go against them; they will be like dust, even as the wet earth is stamped on by the feet of the potter.
• Isa 45:1 : 1 The Lord says to the man of his selection, to Cyrus, whom I have taken by the right hand, putting down nations before him, and taking away the arms of kings; making the doors open before him, so that the ways into the towns may not be shut;
• Isa 45:5 : 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but me: I will make you ready for war, though you had no knowledge of me:
• Isa 46:11 : 11 Sending for a bird of strong flight from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country; I have said it, and I will give effect to it; the thing designed by me will certainly be done.