What Does Jeremiah 51:2 Mean?
And I will send winnowers against Babylon, who will winnow her and empty her land, for on the day of harm they will be against her all around.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.THE KEY
Babylon is winnowed until her land is emptied: the Hebrew uses the same root for the fanners and their act of scattering.
THE MEANING
You see Babylon’s ruin unfold as forces are sent toward her, winnow her, and leave her land empty while pressure closes around her from every side. The verse holds this as a day of trouble, with the violence and totality left intact.
THE ROOT
מְזָרִים
məzārîm
GROWS FROM
זרה
z-r-h
To scatter or winnow by tossing grain so that it is separated.
“winnowers” in this verse is məzārîm. The fanners and the act of fanning grow from the same root: the ones sent to Babylon are named by the scattering they perform. The image carries both separation and dispersal, ending in a land made empty.
ALSO GROWS
zārāh: To scatter or winnow.
זָרָה
This verb appears in the verse as “they shall fan her,” naming the action performed by the fanners.
mizreh: A winnowing shovel or fan.
מִזְרֶה
This tool from the same root makes the image physical: grain is tossed so wind can carry away what has been separated.
וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי
wəšillaḥtî
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
To send forth, release, or let go.
“send” in this verse is wəšillaḥtî. The first action is a sending: the forces that winnow Babylon are dispatched toward her. This root supplies the movement into the scene, while the next root names the scattering that follows.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: To send or send forth.
שָׁלַח
It is the root of “I will send,” the opening action that brings the fanners toward Babylon.
mishloaḥ: A sending forth or dispatch.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This related form keeps the sense of something being sent outward, echoing the forces sent against Babylon.
וִיבֹקְקוּ
wîḇōqəqû
GROWS FROM
בוקק
b-q-q
To empty out or lay waste.
“empty” in this verse is wîḇōqəqû. The verse names emptiness as a further result of the winnowing: the scattering does not leave the land intact. The root makes the outcome explicit, the land is emptied.
ALSO GROWS
bāqaq: To empty or lay waste.
בָּקַק
This is the verb behind “they shall empty,” making depletion a stated action.
bûqāh: Emptiness or desolation.
בּוּקָה
This noun from the same root names the condition the verb brings about: a place left empty.
THE PATTERN
Winnowing changes a place by separating what fills it and carrying part of it away.
I will winnow them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I will make them childless; I will make my people lose the way, since they have not turned from their ways.You will winnow them, and breath will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD, and you will boast in the Set-Apart One of Israel.Whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor, and gather the wheat into his storehouse; but the chaff he will burn up in a fire that cannot be put out.THE THREAD
I will winnow them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I will make them childless; I will make my people lose the way, since they have not turned from their ways.Jeremiah 15:7 uses the same root for the fan and the act of fanning, as Jeremiah 51:2 does for the fanners and their work. That shared seed makes the image unmistakable: winnowing here is scattering with a devastating result.
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