This same God has chosen the Israelite nation, the descendants of Jacob, to be his people (19). 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."

It shall be a final destruction. It is true their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. 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. 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. 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. 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.

36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 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.

If he speak the word, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens (and it is a wonder how they hang there), fed by vapours out of the earth, and it is a wonder how they ascend thence. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. They call it singing; but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is called yelling like lions' whelps. His altars shall be forsaken, none shall regard him any more, and so that idol which was thought to be a wall to Babylon shall fall and fail them. 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. In allusion to this, the New-Testament Babylon is said to sit upon many waters, that is, to rule over many nations, as the other Babylon did, Revelation 17:15. "O destroying mountain " (Jeremiah 51:25). But it now follows, , (87) Many render this passage in the future tense, according to all the Versions and the Targ. 1. Babylon, thinking herself very safe and very great, was very proud; but she will be deceived (Jeremiah 51:53; Jeremiah 51:53): Though Babylon should mount her walls and palaces up to heaven, and though (because what is high is apt to totter) she should take care to fortify the height of her strength, yet all will not do; God will send spoilers against her, that shall break through her strength and bring down her height. 10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. All Babylons gods will be powerless to save. God, by the destruction of Babylon, said to its proud waves, Hitherto shall you come, and no further. 54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: 55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite. It is being crushed like grain trampled on the threshing floor (30-33). 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant. Yet, when it comes, it is a surprising destruction: Babylon has suddenly fallen (Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:8); the destruction came upon them when they did not think of it and was perfected in a little time, as that of the New-Testament Babylon--in one hour,Revelation 18:17. He says then, I have by thee scattered the nations, and by thee have destroyed kingdoms. But as the Chaldeans had enjoyed so many victories and had subjugated so many nations, he adds, I have by thee broken in pieces the horse and his ride,; the chariot and its rider; and then, I have broken in pieces men and women, old men and children, the young men and the maidens, the shepherds and also their flocks He enumerates here almost all kinds of men. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this service. "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. They do it, but God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose, and acting as he directed. Let us then observe here. The in the two following verse Babylon is still addressed. 58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary. 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. 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. 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. We are told what they shall say in their lamentations (Jeremiah 51:41; Jeremiah 51:41): "How is Sheshach taken, and how are we mistaken concerning her! 16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Again the prophet pictures the scene as nations join forces to fight against Babylon (27-29). Babylon is abundant in treasures; and yet "thy end has come, and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee." This they are called to, Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:28. 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. But this is not all; it is not only their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin is approaching, but it is their duty to quit the country too when the ruin is accomplished, and they are set at liberty by the pulling down of the prison over their heads. 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. God declares, God appears against Babylon (Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:25): Behold, I am against thee; and those cannot stand long whom God is against. Keil uses several pages talking about a volcano here; but we believe Robinson was correct when he said, "The language here is purely figurative. Judgment given upon this appeal by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, on behalf of Israel against Babylon. They shall not only live to see those judgments brought upon Babylon, but they shall plainly see them to be the punishment of the wrong they have done to Zion; any man may see it, and say, Verily there is a God that judges in the earth; for just as Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, has not only slain those that were found in arms, but all without distinction, even all the land (almost all were put to the sword), so at Babylon shall fall the slain not only of the city, but of all the country,Jeremiah 51:49; Jeremiah 51:49. He warns the people of Babylon that their end is drawing near and soon enemy soldiers will swarm into their city (11-14). Cyrus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that they measured to the Jews, so that every observer may discern that God is recompensing them for what they did against his people; but Zion's children shall in a particular manner triumph in it (Jeremiah 51:10; Jeremiah 51:10): The Lord has brought forth our righteousness; he has appeared in our behalf against those that dealt unjustly with us, and has given us redress; he has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to us and that we are yet in his eyes a righteous nation. The Targum is, "thou art a scatterer before me, a city in which are warlike arms;''. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders. 3. 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.

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 Chaldeans thought they should never be called to an account for what they had done against God's Israel; but there is a time fixed for vengeance,Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:6. He sits in the throne judging right, is ready to receive complaints, and answers (Jeremiah 51:36; Jeremiah 51:36): "I will plead thy cause. 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. 15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. The strength of the enemy, and their invading them, are here compared to an irruption and inundation of waters (Jeremiah 51:42; Jeremiah 51:42): The sea has come up upon Babylon, which, when it has once broken through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is covered with the multitude of its waves, overpowered by a numerous army; her cities then become a desolation, an uninhabited uncultivated desert, Jeremiah 51:43; Jeremiah 51:43.

28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.