Jeremiah Chapter 51 verse 20 Holy Bible
Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
read chapter 51 in ASV
You are my fighting axe and my instrument of war: with you the nations will be broken; with you kingdoms will be broken;
read chapter 51 in BBE
Thou art my maul, [my] weapons of war: and with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and I will with thee destroy kingdoms;
read chapter 51 in DARBY
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
read chapter 51 in KJV
read chapter 51 in WBT
You are my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
read chapter 51 in WEB
An axe `art' thou to me -- weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces by thee nations, And I have destroyed by thee kingdoms,
read chapter 51 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 20-26. - Israel is now to be Jehovah's hammer, striking down everything, even the Chaldean colossus. But though Babylon may be as great and as destructive as a volcanic mountain, it shall soon be quite burnt out. Verse 20. - My battle axe; or, my mace. The mace (for a picture of which, see Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:459) was a weapon constantly employed by the Assyrians and presumably by the Babylonian kings. The battle axe was much less frequently used. But who is addressed by this terrible title? The commentators are divided, some inclining to Babylon, (1) because Babylon was the last person addressed (see ver. 14), and (2) because a similar title was given to Babylon in Jeremiah 50:23: others to Israel, on the ground that the tenses are the same throughout the passage (vers. 20-24). The latter view is probably the best. How could Babylon be said to shatter her own "governors" and "viceroys" (for the prophet deliberately chooses the Babylonian official names)? The argument from the context is not very weighty; for it is clear that the connection of the parts of this prophecy is very loose. We may assume, then, that ver. 20 begins a fresh paragraph, standing quite apart from that which precedes. The objection of Graf and Keil, is that Israel could not himself be styled a "mace," it being Israel's destiny to be delivered by others. But is not a very similar statement made of Israel in Isaiah 41:15; Psalm 149:7-9? (Kuenen offers a third explanation - Cyrus.) The nations... kingdoms. First the great social organisms are mentioned; next comes the military power; next the population, according to sex, age, and class.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(20) Thou art my battle ax . . .--Better, my mace. The axe is not found on Assyrian monuments as a weapon of war till a comparatively late period. It is a question who is thus addressed--Babylon, or Cyrus as the destroyer of Babylon, or Israel. On the whole, the second seems the more probable answer. The "hammer of the whole earth" is broken by a mightier weapon than itself. (See Note on Jeremiah 50:23.)With thee will I break in pieces . . .--The tense, in this and in the following, should be the present. The force of the verb is multiplied by the emphatic iteration. All obstacles are to be crushed in the victorious march of the conqueror.
