Jeremiah 51:3

KJV1611 – Modern English

Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his armor; and do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אֶֽל־יִדְרֹ֤ךְ *ידרך הַדֹּרֵךְ֙ קַשְׁתּ֔וֹ וְאֶל־יִתְעַ֖ל בְּסִרְיֹנּ֑וֹ וְאַֽל־תַּחְמְלוּ֙ אֶל־בַּ֣חֻרֶ֔יהָ הַחֲרִ֖ימוּ כָּל־צְבָאָֽהּ׃

Transliteration

Against-yidrōḵ haddōrēḵ qaštô and-against-yitʿal in-siryōnô and-not-taḥmĕlû against-baḥûreyhā; haḥărîmû all-ṣĕvāʾāh.

Grammar Details

• *yidrōḵ*: qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - he will tread/bend
• *haddōrēḵ*: qal participle with definite article - the one treading/bending
• *qaštô*: noun feminine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his bow
• *yitʿal*: hitpael imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - he will raise himself/exalt himself
• *siryōnô*: noun masculine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his coat of mail/armor
• *taḥmĕlû*: qal imperfect, 2nd masculine plural - you shall spare/have compassion
• *baḥûreyhā*: masculine plural noun with 3rd feminine singular suffix - her young men
• *haḥărîmû*: hiphil imperative, masculine plural - destroy completely/devote to destruction
• *ṣĕvāʾāh*: masculine singular noun with 3rd feminine singular suffix - her army/host

Word Meanings

• *yidrōḵ*: let him tread/let him bend/let him not tread (with negative)
• *yitʿal*: let him lift himself up/let him not exalt himself (with negative)
• *siryōnô*: his coat of mail/his armor/his brigandine
• *haḥărîmû*: devote to destruction/utterly destroy/put under the ban

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her entire army.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Against [him that] bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against [him that] lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Morouer, the LORDE hath sayde vnto the bowe men, & to them yt clymme ouer the walles in brest plates: Ye shal not spare hir yongeme, kyll downe all hir hoost.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Also to the bender that bendeth his bowe, and to him that lifteth himselfe vp in his brigandine, will I say, Spare not her yong men, but destroy all her hoste.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Moreouer the Lorde wyll say vnto the the bowmen, & to them that aduaunce them selues in their armoure: Ye shall not spare her young men, kyll downe all her hoast.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  Against [him that] bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against [him that] lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't you spare her young men; destroy you utterly all her host.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  Let not the treader tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail, Nor have ye pity on her young men, Devote ye to destruction all her host.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Against `him that' bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against `him that' lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Against [him that] bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against [him that] lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  Against her the bow of the archer is bent, and he puts on his coat of metal: have no mercy on her young men, give all her army up to the curse.

• World English Bible (2000)

  Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy her whole army.

Referenced Verses

• Jer 46:4 : 4 Harness the horses; and get up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the armor.
• Jer 50:14 : 14 Put yourselves in battle array against Babylon all around: all you that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against the LORD.
• Jer 50:21 : 21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
• Jer 50:27 : 27 Slay all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
• Jer 50:29-30 : 29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all you that bend the bow, camp against it all around; let none of them escape: repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.
• Jer 50:41-42 : 41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. 42 They shall hold the bow and the spear: they are cruel, and will show no mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one set in order, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
• Jas 2:13 : 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
• Deut 32:25 : 25 The sword outside, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the nursing child also with the man of gray hairs.
• Ps 137:9 : 9 Happy shall he be who takes and dashes your little ones against the stones.
• Isa 13:10-18 : 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light: the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it will be as the hunted roe, and as a sheep that no man takes up: every man will turn to his own people, and everyone will flee to his own land. 15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through; and everyone who is joined to them will fall by the sword. 16 Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Their bows will dash the young men to pieces; and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare children.
• Jer 9:21 : 21 For death has climbed up into our windows, and has entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.