Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionBel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.GBel crumples, Nebo collapses — their idols handed over to beast and cattle; the very things you once bore in procession are now heaped as burden upon exhausted animals.
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G MessageBel has fallen, Nebo has crumbled — their idols loaded onto the backs of pack animals; what was once carried in triumph now becomes a burden too heavy to bear.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleBel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
Footnotes
Bel (בֵּל) is the Babylonian title 'Lord' — borne by Marduk, supreme deity of Babylon, and cognate with the Hebrew Ba'al. Nebo (נְבֹו) is Nabu, god of scribal wisdom and prophecy. The irony cuts deep: the lord of all gods and the god of wisdom cannot save themselves. This verse also mocks the great Babylonian New Year procession (akitu), in which these very idols were paraded in triumph through the city streets — now ignominiously loaded onto pack animals in retreat. FOG keeps the verbal force percussive ('crumples,' 'collapses'); FOG Message draws out the full reversal — what was paraded in glory now becomes mere baggage.
