Jeremiah 51:13 · World English Bible
Jeremiah 51:13 Meaning You Who Dwell on Many Waters
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
What does Jeremiah 51:13 mean?
Abhijjhā: Covetousness The measure of thy covetousness is a cup that Babylon has been filling for years, one greedy reach at a time. The wanting itself is what is being measured, not the treasures, and the cup is now full to the brim.
From the Buddhism reading below.
Jeremiah 51:13 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Buddhism
BUDDHISM
Buddhism
Abhijjhā: Covetousness
The measure of thy covetousness is a cup that Babylon has been filling for years, one greedy reach at a time. The wanting itself is what is being measured, not the treasures, and the cup is now full to the brim. A bucket under a steady drip fills whether you watch it or not.
Lobha: Greed
Dwelling on many waters and abundant in treasures, the city built its whole seat on getting and keeping more. Greed always wants the next thing, so no heap of treasure is ever quite enough to stop the reaching. Salt water drunk for thirst only leaves the throat drier.
Kamma: The ripening of deeds
Thine end is come is the harvest of a long sowing, the day the filled measure finally tips and pours. Deeds gather quietly like grain in a bin until the weight of them settles the account. The seed planted in spring keeps its own calendar and comes due in the fall.
Anicca: Impermanence
Even a city rich upon many waters meets the word that its end has come, for no fortune outlasts the tide it sits on. What looks unshakable is only slower to fall, never exempt. The high wall casts a long shadow right up until the hour it lies in the dust.
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Live Jeremiah 51:13 today
- Before you buy the thing sitting in your cart tonight, close the tab and give it a day. Watch what the wanting does when you stop feeding it: that is the whole lesson, and it costs nothing.
- When someone tells you about their new place, their raise, their trip, say congratulations and mean it, then catch the small sting that comes after. You can feel it without letting it pick your next purchase or your next comparison.
- In the push to hit the number at work, ask quietly what happens the day you hit it. The target moves, and knowing that in advance keeps you from handing your whole week to a line that was always going to be redrawn.
What is the cup I have been filling without ever checking how full it is?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 46
There is no greater misfortune than not knowing when you have enough. The one who learns where enough sits is the only one who is ever rich.
Stoicism · Seneca
It is not the small purse that makes a person poor but the large appetite. However much you pour in, a mind shaped around wanting stays as empty as it started.
Bhagavad Gita 3
Desire is a fire that burns hotter for every offering thrown on it. Feeding it looks like satisfying it, right up to the moment you realize the flame has only grown.
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