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Jeremiah 51:40

Old Testament Major Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Jeremiah 51:40 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
Jeremiah 51:40 — American Standard Version

Context — Jeremiah 51

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions` whelps.
39When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.
40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
41How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
42The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
43Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, etc.] To the place of slaughter; who shall be able to make no more resistance than lambs. This explains what is meant by being made drunk, and sleeping a perpetual sleep, even destruction and death: like rams with he goats; denoting the promiscuous destruction of the prince and common people together.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Lambs ... rams ... he goats - i. e., all classes of the population (see Isaiah 34:6 note). return to 'Top of Page'”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“Jer 50:27; Psa 37:20, Psa 44:22; Isa 34:6; Eze 39:18 Jeremiah 51:41”
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Related study paths

Read Jeremiah 51 in contextBrowse Hebrew word studiesOpen this verse in the study reader

Sources and verification