Jeremiah Chapter 51 verse 8 Holy Bible
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
read chapter 51 in ASV
Sudden is the downfall of Babylon and her destruction: make cries of grief for her; take sweet oil for her pain, if it is possible for her to be made well.
read chapter 51 in BBE
Babylon is suddenly fallen and ruined. Howl over her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
read chapter 51 in DARBY
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
read chapter 51 in KJV
read chapter 51 in WBT
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
read chapter 51 in WEB
Suddenly hath Babylon fallen, Yea, it is broken, howl ye for it, Take balm for her pain, if so be it may be healed.
read chapter 51 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - Destroyed. The Hebrew, more forcibly, has "is broken." The Authorized Version wished, perhaps, to avoid the objection that a golden cup could not, properly speaking, be broken. But if we once begin to harmonize the language of Hebrew poetry, we shall have no end. It is not the cup which falls, but the state, considered as a house (the "breach" of God's people is constantly referred to; e.g. Psalm 60:2; Isaiah 30:26). Howl for her. Sympathetic bystanders are dramatically appealed to. From the next verse it would seem that they are the various foreigners who, whether by choice or force, have been resident in Babylon, and who have acquired an interest in her fate. Hitzig thinks the foreign mercenaries (Jeremiah 50:37) or allies are specially referred to. Take balm for her pain (comp. Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11). The images of fracture and wound are combined, as in Isaiah 30:26.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Babylon is suddenly fallen . . .--The form of announcement seems taken in part from Isaiah 21:9.Take balm for her pain . . .--The words are significant. The captive people are not invited simply to raise a shout of triumph at the fall of their oppressor: they are to "take balm" (comp. the use of the same image in Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11), and try to heal her. They are still to "seek the peace of the city" (Jeremiah 29:7), to render kindly service, to pour balm into the bleeding wounds.
