24.And I will render to Babylon And to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evil which they have done in Sion, Before your eyes, saith Jehova. The threshing-floor is prepared. 18 They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. Note, Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we may and must remember the Lord our God; and in the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is seasonable to remember the Lord. 52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. "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; and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin; and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies. I. 20 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; 21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; 22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; 23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. "In token that the whole land shall be confounded and all her slain shall fall and that throughout all the country the wounded shall groan, I will do judgment upon her graven images," Jeremiah 51:47; Jeremiah 51:47 and again Jeremiah 51:52; Jeremiah 51:52. He puts them in mind of the inducements they had to return: "Remember the Lord afar off, his presence with you now, though you are here afar off from your native soil; his presence with your fathers formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off from the ruins of it." Zion and Jerusalem shall say, "Let the violence done to me and my children, that are my own flesh, and pieces of myself, and all the blood of my people, which they have shed like water, be upon them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and let it be required at their hands." The Chaldeans rise up against God by falling down before idols, and against them God will raise up destroyers, for he will be too hard for those that contend with him. 11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. Or, Thou art my maul, weapons of war etc. He has the command of all the creatures that he has made (Jeremiah 51:16; Jeremiah 51:16); his providence is a continued creation. But between the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen there is no comparison (Jeremiah 51:19; Jeremiah 51:19): The portion of Jacob is not like them; the God who speaks this and will do it is the former of all things and the Lord of all hosts, and therefore can do what he will; and there is a near relation between him and his people, for he is their portion and they are his; they put a confidence in him as their portion and he is pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as the lot of his inheritance; and therefore he will do what is best for them. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. When God employed them against other nations they had spirit and strength to act offensively, and went on with admirable resolution, conquering and to conquer; but now that it comes to their turn to be reckoned with all their might and courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none of all their men of might and mettle have found their hands to act so much as defensively. Jeremiah 50:23; Isaiah 10:5). St. Jerome says that in his time, though the ruins of Babylon's walls were to be seen, yet the ground enclosed by them was a forest of wild beasts. 43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. God makes sure that in the end justice is done (10).Jeremiah then pictures the army of Medes and Persians preparing for the final attack on Babylon. Let a standard be set up, under which to enlist soldiers for this expedition; let a trumpet be blown to call men together to it and animate them in it; let the nations, out of which Cyrus's army is to be raised, prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of Ararat, and Minni, and Ashkenaz, of Armenia, both the higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phrygia and Bithynia, send in their quota of men for his service; let general officers be appointed and the cavalry advance; let the horses come up in great numbers, as the caterpillars, and come, like them, leaping and pawing in the valley; let them lay the country waste, as caterpillars do (Joel 1:4), especially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains prepare nations against Babylon, for the service is great and there is occasion for many hands to be employed it. 1. God will make thorough work of it; for, as he will perform what he has purposed, so he will perfect what he has begun. For (Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:25) Babylon has been a destroying mountain, very lofty and bulky as a mountain, and destroying all the earth, as the stones that are tumbled from high mountains spoil the grounds about them; but now it shall itself be rolled down from its rocks, which were as the foundations on which it stood.

4. The idols are falsehood, they are vanity, they are the work of errors; when they come to be visited (to be examined and enquired into) they perish, that is, their reputation sinks and they appear to be nothing; and those that make them are like unto them. The Lord God of recompences, the God to whom vengeance belongs, will surely requite (Jeremiah 51:56; Jeremiah 51:56), will pay them home; he will render unto Babylon all the evil they have done in Zion (Jeremiah 51:24; Jeremiah 51:24); he will return it in the sight of his people. Let it therefore be spoken of to his praise: Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God, that others may be invited to join with us in praising him. They were a provoking people and their sings were a great offence to God, as a holy God, and as their God, their Holy One; and therefore he justly delivered them up into the hands of their enemies, and might justly have abandoned them and left them to perish in their hands; but God deals better with them than they deserve, and, notwithstanding their iniquities and his severities, Israel is not forsaken, is not cast off, though he be cast out, but is owned and looked after by his God, by the Lord of hosts.

Note, if men will not set a measure to their covetousness by wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it by his judgments. People shall not care for having any thing to do with Babylon, or whatever belonged to it. God has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:11), Darius and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine instinct; for God's device is against Babylon to destroy it. The compass of the city, within the walls, was 385 furlongs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the walls were 200 cubits high, and fifty cubits broad, so that two chariots might easily pass by one another upon them. They call it singing; but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is called yelling like lions' whelps. "[11] Why did the Lord choose such a metaphor? Again (Jeremiah 51:33; Jeremiah 51:33), "Babylon is like a threshing-floor, in which the people of God have been long threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time has come that she shall herself be threshed and her sheaves in her; her princes and great men, and all her inhabitants, shall be beaten in their own land, as in the threshing-floor.

Lightnings and rain seem contraries, as fire and water, and yet they are produced together; and the wind, which seems arbitrary in its motions, and we know not whence it comes, is yet, we are sure, brought out of his treasuries. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders. 2. 2. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Babylon's fall, and it is the same that we have with respect to the New-Testament Babylon,Revelation 18:9; Revelation 18:19. Though the invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they shall destroy the images and temples of the gods of Babylon, as an earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit deities. It is a gradual destruction, which, if they had pleased, they might have foreseen and had warning of; for (Jeremiah 51:46; Jeremiah 51:46) "A rumor will come one year that Cyrus is making vast preparations for war, and after that, in another year, shall come a rumour that his design is upon Babylon, and he is steering his course that way;" so that when he was a great way off they might have sent and desired conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too secure, to do that, and their hearts were hardened to their destruction. Let not any doubt but that he who has determined to destroy Babylon is able to make his words good, for, 1. See how that may fall into a general contempt which has been universally cried up. The repetition of these things here, which were said before, intimates both the certainty and the importance of them, and obliges us to take special notice of them; God hath spoken once; yea, twice have we heard this, that power belongs to God, power to destroy the most formidable enemies of his church; and if God thus speak once, yea, twice, we are inexcusable if we do not perceive it and attend to it. Omit the will in will I break. The crushing of the nations was going on at the time when the prophet wrote. It is now a burning mountain, like tna and the other volcanoes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about them. The slain shall fall in great abundance throughout the land of the Chaldeans; multitudes shall be thrust through in her streets,Jeremiah 51:4; Jeremiah 51:4. It is a certain destruction; the doom has passed and it cannot be reversed; a divine power is engaged against it, which cannot be resisted (Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:8): Babylon is fallen and destroyed, is as sure to fall, to fall into destruction, as if it were fallen and destroyed already; though when Jeremiah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was in the height of its power and greatness. The king of Babylon, who should have been observing the approaches of the enemy, was himself at such a distance from the place where the attack was made that it was a great while ere he had notice that the city was taken; so that those who were posted near the place sent one messenger, one courier, after another, with advice of it, Jeremiah 51:31; Jeremiah 51:31. The comes, naturally, a summary of the whole, . 41 How is Sheshach taken! , and consider Cyrus to be intended by the hammer; but they render , by, or with thee, contrary to the Targ. We have before seen that God roots up what he has planted, (Jeremiah 45:4;) and then we have seen the metaphor of the potter and his vessels. 50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. The prophet gives an account of him from the description he had formerly given of him, and of his sovereignty and victory over all pretenders (Jeremiah 10:12-16), which was there intended for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters and the confirmation of God's Israel in the faith and worship of the God of Israel; and it is here repeated to show that God will convince those by his judgments who would not be convinced by his word that he is God over all. It is to be a universal destruction.

35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. They shall see that God is making Babylon a desolation, and therein is performing what he has purposed; and then the mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight,Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:30. There is the sound of a cry, a great outcry coming from Babylon (Jeremiah 51:54; Jeremiah 51:54), lamenting this great destruction, the voice of mourning, because the Lord has destroyed the voice of the multitude, that great voice of mirth which used to be heard in Babylon, Jeremiah 51:55; Jeremiah 51:55. The Lord addressed an entity, that He did not identify in these verses, as His "war-club" or "shatterer" (cf. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her by the Israel of God. Most commentators consider that Babylon was the mace of God. He shows at the same time that God executed his judgments on all nations by means of Babylon. At length they sleep a perpetual sleep, and never awake from their wine, the wine of God's wrath, for it is to them an opiate that lays them into a fatal lethargy. It is their wisdom, when the ruin is approaching, to quit the city and retire into the country (Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:6): "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and get into some remote corner, that you may save your lives, and may not be cut off in her iniquity." This is said by the Lord, either to Cyrus, as some, to which our version inclines, whom God made use of as an instrument to subdue nations and kingdoms, and destroy them; see Isaiah 45:1; or rather Babylon, and the king of it, who had been the hammer of the earth, Jeremiah 50:23; as it may be rendered here, "thou [art] my hammer" s; or, "hast been"; an instrument in his hands, of beating the nations to pieces, as stones by a hammer, and of destroying them, as by weapons of war: this, and what follows, are observed to show, that though Babylon had been used by the Lord for the destruction of others, it should not be secure from it itself, but should share the same fate; unless this is to be understood of the church of God, and kingdom of Christ, which in the latter day will break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, Daniel 2:44; which sense seems to have some countenance and confirmation from Jeremiah 51:24 "in your sight". God is his God still, and will act for him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. 15 million Ukrainian are displaced by Russia's war. 27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. The Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God's people (Jeremiah 15:7; Jeremiah 15:7) and to empty them, and now they shall themselves be in like manner despoiled and dispersed. 5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. The foot-posts shall meet at the court from several quarters with this intelligence to the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, and there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the conquerors, but they will be at the other end quickly. He will blow away the former in judgment, but will preserve the latter for himself (51:1-5).God had used Babylon to punish other nations, but now Babylon itself will suffer Gods wrath. u "ut dissiparem", Junius Tremellius "ut dispergam", Schmidt. Yet some understand this as spoken by the forces they had hired for their assistance, declaring that they had done their best to save her from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and therefore they might as well go home to their respective countries; "for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and it is in vain to withstand it or think to avert it." 1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2 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. 38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith Jehovah.". Scatter is according to the Sept. , the Syr. Though it be now in ruins, yet favour its dust (Psalms 102:14); though few of you ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had concerning it from those that wept when they remembered Zion; and think of Jerusalem until you come up to a resolution to make the best of your way thither." She is complained of for her inveterate malice against Israel. He shall disgorge what he has so greedily regaled himself with. It shall be a final destruction. Other nations had been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals to him (Jeremiah 51:34; Jeremiah 51:35): "The king of Babylon has devoured me, and crushed me, and never thought he could do enough ruin to me; he has emptied me of all that was valuable, has swallowed me up as a dragon, or whale, swallows up the little fish by shoals; he has filled his belly, filled his treasures, with my delicates, with all my pleasant things, and has cast me out, cast me away as a vessel in which there is no pleasure; and now let them be accountable for all this." We now understand the design of this passage, though the Prophet employs different words. When the enemy had found ways to ford Euphrates, which was thought impassable, yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable, they are the broad walls of Babylon or (as the margin reads it), the walls of broad Babylon. Note, When the city of our solemnities is out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind; and it will be of great use to us, in our journey through this world, to let the heavenly Jerusalem come often into our mind. So also now God shows that the destruction was as it were in his hand, because the Chaldeans had not raised themselves to eminence through their own power, but he had raised them, and employed them for his own purpose. 29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

This same God has chosen the Israelite nation, the descendants of Jacob, to be his people (19). He says that Babylon was a hammer and weapons of war to break in pieces the nations. When, therefore, they heard this, it was no small consolation; it kept them from succumbing under their miseries, and from being swallowed up with sorrow and despair. He would use this entity to destroy nations, armies, and people of all ages and all types. It is probable that they were drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas. Let those who shall be in Judea flee to the mountains,Matthew 24:16. So will this world be at the end of time. This they are told, Jeremiah 51:50; Jeremiah 51:51: "You Israelites, who have escaped the sword of the Chaldeans your oppressors, and of the Persians their destroyers, now that the year of release has come, go away, stand not still; hasten to your own country again, however you may be comfortably seated in Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is." He has wind and rain at his disposal. The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name. 1. He warns the people of Babylon that their end is drawing near and soon enemy soldiers will swarm into their city (11-14). The Targum is, "thou art a scatterer before me, a city in which are warlike arms;''. 45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. All the verbs are in the past tense: "With thee have I broken in pieces," &c., &c. When a farmer, after reaping his harvest, winnows the wheat, he throws it into the air so that as the wind blows away the chaff, he can gather the grain for himself. God having taken away their strength and spirit, so that they have remained in their holds, not daring so much as to peep forth, the might both of their hearts and of their hands fails; they become as timorous as women, so that the enemy has, without any resistance, burnt her dwelling-places and broken her bars. t "Dispersi, perdidi", Lutherus "conquassavi", Munster; "dissipavi", Piscator. 39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant. Verse Jeremiah 51:20. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their inability to make head against this threatening destroying force. Note, Those who have not grace enough to keep their temper in temptation should have wisdom enough to keep out of the way of temptation. III. They are brought down like lambs to the slaughter (Jeremiah 51:40; Jeremiah 51:40), in such great numbers, so easily, and the enemies make no more of killing them than the butcher does of killing lambs. 3. To this he answers (Jeremiah 51:52; Jeremiah 51:52) that the God of Israel will now triumph over the gods of Babylon, and so that reproach will be for ever rolled away. 49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. s "malleus es, [vel] fuisti mihi", Pagninus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt. The Prophet here obviates the doubts of many; for as he had spoken of the destruction of Babylon, it might have been readily objected, that the monarchy which was fortified by so many defenses, and which had subjugated all the neighboring nations, was impregnable. They do it, but God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose, and acting as he directed. Babylon is abundant in treasures; and yet "thy end has come, and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee." 2. The walls of their city fail them, Jeremiah 51:58; Jeremiah 51:58. Similarly, when God winnows Babylon he will make a separation between the Babylonians and his own people. Note, Ruin is not far off from those that lie under the guilt of wrong done to God's people. and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! "Thou shalt be desolate forever, saith Jehovah " (Jeremiah 51:26). Let us then observe here. It is to the same purport with Jeremiah 51:56-58; Jeremiah 51:56-58. Leave it with me; I will in due time plead it effectually and take vengeance for thee, and every drop of Jerusalem's blood shall be accounted for with interest." Note, God's counsel shall stand, and according to it all hearts shall move. 3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. It is a righteous destruction. Ed. Well, says God, in their heat, when they are inflamed (Isaiah 5:11) and their heads are hot with hard drinking, I will make their feasts, I will give them their portion. V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this service. Bel was the principal idol that the Babylonians worshipped, and therefore that is by name here marked for destruction (Jeremiah 51:44; Jeremiah 51:44): I will punish Bel, that great devourer, that image to which such abundance of sacrifices are offered and such rich spoils dedicated, and to whose temple there is such a vast resort. The forces of Babylon were God's weapons of war, tools in his hand, with which he broke in pieces, and knocked down, nations and kingdoms,--horses and chariots, which are so much the strength of kingdoms (Jeremiah 51:21; Jeremiah 51:21),-- man and woman, young and old, with which kingdoms are replenished (Jeremiah 51:22; Jeremiah 51:22),-- the shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen, with which kingdoms are maintained and supplied, Jeremiah 51:23; Jeremiah 51:23. "[12] There are other phases of these prophecies against Babylon that indicate quite clearly that there would be a long period during which Babylon would be the "hindermost" of nations, and that the total desolation promised would be accomplished gradually, but that it would last forever. Some say that there was a threefold wall about the inner city and the like about the outer, and that the stones of the wall, being laid in pitch instead of mortar (Genesis 11:3), were scarcely separable; and yet these shall be utterly broken, and the high gates and towers shall be burnt, and the people that are employed in the defence of the city shall labour in vain in the fire; they shall quite tire themselves, but shall do no good. In short, the Prophet takes away the false opinion which might have otherwise disturbed weak minds, as though Babylon was wholly invincible. They shall have the satisfaction to see their cause pleaded with jealousy.

And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight saith Jehovah. He is the God who controls history, and therefore he may use any nation to punish another, according to his purposes (20-23).Babylon will be punished because of the way it has treated Judah (24). Though God had told them that Cyrus should be their deliverer, and Babylon's destruction their deliverance, yet they had been told also that in the peace there of they should have peace, and therefore the alarms given to Babylon would put them into a fright, and perhaps they might not have faith and consideration enough to suppress those fears, for which reason they are here advised to get out of the hearing of the alarms. 12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. and the Versions, which is rendered in thee, i.e. VII. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. Babylon was the hammer which God had employed, Jeremiah 50:23) but he would hereafter employ, as it were, a hammer, or a scatterer, in Babylon itself, . Note, Those that have carried all before them a great while will yet at length meet with their match, and their day also will come to fall; the rod will itself be thrown into the fire at last.