The Utter Destruction of Babylon
Jer 51:1 This is what the LORD says: “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.
Jer 51:2 I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.
Jer 51:3 Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.
Jer 51:4 They will fall down slain in Babylon, fatally wounded in her streets.
Jer 51:5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.
Jer 51:6 “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves.
Jer 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
Jer 51:8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
Jer 51:9 “‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’
Jer 51:10 “‘The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.’
Jer 51:11 “Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.
Jer 51:12 Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The LORD will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon.
Jer 51:13 You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed.
Jer 51:14 The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.
Jer 51:15 “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Jer 51:16 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Jer 51:17 “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
Jer 51:18 They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
Jer 51:19 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance— the LORD Almighty is his name.
Jer 51:20 “You are my war club, my weapon for battle— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,
Jer 51:21 with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,
Jer 51:22 with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and young woman,
Jer 51:23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.
Jer 51:24 “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
Jer 51:25 “I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
Jer 51:26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
Jer 51:27 “Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
Jer 51:28 Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.
Jer 51:29 The land trembles and writhes, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand— to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.
Jer 51:30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.
Jer 51:31 One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
Jer 51:32 the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
Jer 51:33 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
Jer 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
Jer 51:35 May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.
Jer 51:36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
Jer 51:37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
Jer 51:38 Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.
Jer 51:39 But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.
Jer 51:40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
Jer 51:41 “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
Jer 51:42 The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.
Jer 51:43 Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.
Jer 51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.
Jer 51:45 “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 51:46 Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
Jer 51:47 For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fa s the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
Jer 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem.”
Jer 51:51 “We are disgraced, for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”
Jer 51:52 “But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
Jer 51:53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the LORD.
Jer 51:54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
Jer 51:55 The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound.
Jer 51:56 A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.
Jer 51:57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
Jer 51:58 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”
Jer 51:59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign.
Jer 51:60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon.
Jer 51:61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.
Jer 51:62 Then say, ‘LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’
Jer 51:63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
Jer 51:64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.'” The words of Jeremiah end here.
1 The severe judgment of God against Babylon in revenge of Israel. 59 Jeremiah delivered the book of this prophecy to Seraiah, to be cast into Euphrates, in token of the perpetual sinking of Babylon.
The Utter Destruction of Babylon
Jer 51:1 This is what the LORD says: “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.
Jer 51:2 I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.
The picture is that of the Oriental method of separating the wheat from the chaff after the tramping of oxen had threshed the grain. The mixture of grain and chaff was thrown into the air; the grain, being heavier, fell to the ground, while the wind carried the chaff away. So the Babylonians were to be scattered by the “destroying wind” of the Persians.
Jer 51:3 Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.
The passage may possibly be understood to indicate the ease with which the Babylonians were eventually overcome. It appeared that the enemies needed scarcely to arm themselves for the battle.
A recent translation of the so-called Cyrus Cylinder, a pro-Persian account in cuneiform of the capture of Babylon, describes the Medo-Persian army advancing on the city: “His [Cyrus’] widespread troops … strolled along, their weapons packed away. Without any battle, he [Marduk, god of Babylon] made him enter his town Babylon” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, ed., p. 315). See further on ch. 50:43.
Jer 51:5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.
Jer 51:6 “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves.
In the book of Revelation the great Antichristian power is described under the figure of ancient Babylon (see Rev. 17; 18; see on Isa. 13:4; Jer. 50:1). Compare especially Rev. 18:4.
Jer 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
Compare ch. 25:15–29, where the various nations are asked to drink of the wine of the wrath of God, indicative of their destruction by the rising Babylonian Empire. That power in turn must now drink of the same cup.
Under the figure of ancient Babylon, John the revelator describes the intoxicating power and final fall of spiritual Babylon (Rev. 14:8, 10; 16:19–21; 17; 18).
Jer 51:9 “‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’
Healed Babylon. By the Captivity God purposed not only to bring Israel to repentance but also to acquaint with the true religion the Babylonians and other nations whom the Jews would meet in their exile. Through such men as Daniel and Ezekiel, the Babylonians were given the opportunity to know and to follow Jehovah. Their failure to do this was a contributing factor in their downfall.
Jer 51:11 “Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.
Medes. The question may be raised as to why both Isaiah (Isa. 13:17) and Jeremiah name the Medes as the conquerors of Babylon, when historical sources point to the conquest as having been accomplished by a coalition of Medes and Persians, in which the latter were the dominant power.
The answer may lie in the fact that in Isaiah’s time the Medes were already known as a people, though scarcely a united nation, and that by Jeremiah’s time they constituted a powerful empire to the north and west of Babylon, whereas in the days of neither of these prophets would a reference to the Persians have been very meaningful to the readers.
For the earlier history of the Medes and Persians, see on Dan. 2:39. It was not until 553 or 550 b.c., 40 years or more after the giving of Jeremiah’s prophecy, that Cyrus II, vassal king of Anshan under Media, and later king of Persia, asserted his independence and launched forth on a series of conquests that before his death saw the establishment of the Persian Empire, the greatest that to that time had existed.
Thus, in Jeremiah’s time the Medes still loomed larger in the consciousness of the neighbouring peoples, and the term Medes was used to refer to the united peoples of Media and Persia in the time of Daniel (see on Dan. 6:8).
Temple. The Babylonians concretely demonstrated their rejection of Yahweh by their destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Consequently, they were to suffer “the vengeance of the Lord.”
Jer 51:13 You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed.
13. Many waters. See on Jer. 50:12, 38; cf. Rev. 17:1; see on Jer. 51:6.
Jer 51:14 The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.
14. Sworn by himself. Compare ch. 49:13.
Troops. The invading armies that overthrew Babylon.
Jer 51:15 “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
15. He hath made. Verses 15–19 are almost identical with ch. 10:12–16 (see comments there).
Jer 51:17 “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
18. Their visitation. See on ch. 46:21.
Jer 51:18 They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
Jer 51:19 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance— the LORD Almighty is his name.
The wicked inherit their portion, or share, in this life (see Ps. 17:14), but the Lord Himself, who has formed all things, is the inheritance of His people (see Ps. 119:57; 142:5).
Jer 51:20 “You are my war club, my weapon for battle— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,
The best conclusion seems to be that God is here speaking to Babylon, and describing the various ways by which the Babylonians would bring judgments upon the nations.
Jer 51:23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.
Governor. From the Heb. pachah. This word is derived from the Assyrian paḫâtu, and denotes a provincial governor, or satrap (see Neh. 2:7; Esther 3:12; Haggai 1:1).
Official. From the Heb. sagan. This word is derived from the Assyrian shakenu, and denotes a lesser official, a prefect (see Neh. 2:16).
Jer 51:24 “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
Repay. The fact that the depredations of the Babylonians had been used by God to punish evil and to bring His people to repentance in no way lessened the responsibility of the Babylonians for their wicked deeds (see AA 581). Every man is held responsible for his own evil choices. Though God may overrule an evil deed for a beneficial end (Ps. 76:10), this in no way makes Him responsible for the sin. God often makes the devices of the enemy serve purposes of mercy (see DA 471).
Before your eyes. This verse is addressed to the Jews.
Jer 51:25 “I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
Destroying mountain. The reference is plainly to Babylon, but inasmuch as the city was situated in completely flat country, the expression must be understood figuratively of her great dominating power. Daniel uses a similar figure for God’s kingdom (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45; cf. Rev. 17:9, 10).
Jer 51:26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
This verse must not be taken literally in the sense that the building materials of the ruined city of Babylon would never be used again for construction purposes. Much of it was taken to build Seleucia, and some has been used in medieval and modern times by Arabs in the construction of several villages, which are now within the outer limits of ancient Babylon.
The verse is to be understood rather as a figurative statement that the ancient Babylonian Empire would never be re-established, and that the city would end in ruins and never be restored to its former glory and importance (see on ch. 50:12).
Jer 51:27 “Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
Ararat. This refers to the kingdom known in Assyrian inscriptions as Urartu, located in eastern Armenia to the northwest of Lake Van. In 2 Kings 19:37 and Isa. 37:38, where the Hebrew reads literally, “land of Ararat,” the KJV, following the LXX, translates the expression “the land of Armenia.” Cyaxares (c. 625–585 b.c.) incorporated Urartu into the Median Empire.
Minni. In Assyrian inscriptions, Mannai, a people living south and southeast of Lake Urmiah. They are also known as Manneans and Munna.
Ashchenaz. The Ashkuza, a people living southeast of Lake Urmiah (see on Gen. 10:3). Scholars identify them with the Scythians, a rapacious people of uncertain origin who swept into Mesopotamia from central Asia in the 7th century b.c. Herodotus (i. 95 ff.) states that for 28 years (653–625 b.c.) they dominated and plundered Media (see George C. Cameron, History of Early Iran, pp. 176, 232).
Then Cyaxares, the Median king, conquered them and they became his allies. It seems to have been from the Scythians that the Medes learned prowess with the bow, for which they became renowned (see Jer. 51:11). The Scythians were allied with the Medes and the Babylonians in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire at the end of the 7th century, and appear in v. 27 again as a Median ally in the destruction of Babylonia.
Commander. Heb. ṭiphsar, probably from the Assyrian ṭupsharru, “a tablet writer,” “a scribe.” Throughout the ancient Near East the “scribe” implied much more than merely one skilled in the art of writing. Scribes held positions of relatively great importance, and the term here used signifies a military officer of high rank.
Jer 51:28 Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.
28. Medes. See on v. 11.
Captains … rulers. See on v. 23.
Jer 51:30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.
Both the cuneiform records of the fall of Babylon and the Biblical account indicate that the Babylonians made no determined effort to withstand the Medo-Persian conquest.
The cuneiform account, as contained in the so-called Nabonidus Chronicle, records only one real battle, that at Opis, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, a site identified with the later Seleucia (Tell Umair).
Another cuneiform document, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, declares that “without any battle, he [Marduk, the god of Babylon] made him [Cyrus] enter his town Babylon” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, ed., p. 315). There is some indication also that Cyrus, who led the attack, may have had contact with the priests of Marduk within the city, who thoroughly disliked the reigning king, Nabonidus. In this case treachery may have played a definite part in the fall of the city.
The Biblical narrative depicts the king, Belshazzar, at a drunken feast the night the city was taken (Dan. 5; see on Jer. 50:43).
Their strongholds. The city of Babylon was extraordinarily well fortified. Excavations have shown that there was an extensive double outer wall, possibly with a rubble fill between, all with a total base width of 96 ft. (about 29 m.); also around the Inner City a double wall and a moat formed by water from the river. Also within the latter wall was the royal citadel, further fortified
The Greek historians Herodotus (i. 190, 191) and Xenophon (Cyropaedia vii. 5. 1–36) both state that when attacked by the Medes and Persians, the Babylonians took refuge within their walls, thinking themselves able to withstand a protracted siege.
Set on fire. That is, the invading armies have burned.
Jer 51:31 One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
Verses 31, 32 portray the confusion among the servants of the king when they realize that the attackers have gained access to their supposedly impregnable city.
Jer 51:32 the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
Herodotus and Xenophon (see references under “their holds,” Jer. 51:30) state that the attackers gained entrance by diverting the water of the river, which flowed through the city, sufficiently to allow troops to enter by way of the river bed.
Jer 51:33 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
Harvest. The harvest of Babylon was reaped by her enemies when they despoiled her (see Isa. 17:5; cf. Joel 3:13).
JeJer 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
Jer 51:36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
Sea. Heb. yam, sometimes used in reference to rivers (see Isa. 19:5; Nahum 3:8, where yam is used of the Nile). That such is the thought of the prophet here seems evident from the fact that Babylonia was characterized by its system of rivers and canals (see on Jer. 50:12, 38).
Jeremiah’s reference here may be to the diverting of the waters of the Euphrates, by which means the Medo-Persian troops gained entrance to Babylon (see on v. 32).
It is an interesting fact also, though perhaps not the intent of this prophecy, that the Euphrates River, which in ancient times flowed through the heart of the city and made it a great centre of commerce, now follows a new course some distance to the west of the ruins of Babylon.
The piers of the famous bridge that once spanned the river in the center of the city are now lying in dry ground. See Babylon and Environs.
Jer 51:37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. 37. Shall become heaps. See on ch. 50:13.
Dragons. Heb. tannim, “jackals” (see on ch. 49:33).
Jer 51:39 But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.
When Babylon fell, the leaders of the nation were inflamed with revelling and carousing (see Dan. 5). Herodotus (i. 191) states that “by reason of its [the city’s] great extent, when they who were at the extremities were taken, those of the Babylonians who inhabited the centre knew nothing of the capture (for it happened to be a festival); but they were dancing at the time, and enjoying themselves, till they received certain information of the truth. And thus, Babylon was taken” (Henry Cary, trans.).
Rejoice. The prophet portrays the irony of the drunken Babylonians’ exaltation on the very eve of their destruction.
While in their drunken stupor the Babylonians would be slain and thus sleep the “perpetual sleep” of death. The phrase “not awake” means that they would not wake as does the drunken man after the effects of his intoxication have worn off. Inasmuch as all the wicked are raised at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:5), it is necessary to assign to the ‘olam of Jer. 51:39 the meaning of limited duration.
Jer 51:40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
Lambs. The lambs, rams, and he-goats probably designate the various classes in the population of Babylon, the “he goats” representing the leaders (see Isa. 34:6; Eze. 39:18).
Jer 51:41 “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
Sheshach. This name is believed by some to be another cipher (see on v. 1; ch. 25:26).
Jer 51:42 The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.
The sea. A strikingly similar statement is found in a cuneiform inscription on a clay barrel known as the Cyrus Cylinder. This pro-Persian account of the conquest of Babylon depicts Cyrus’ army on its march to Babylon: “His widespread troops—their number, like that of the water of a river, could not be established—strolled along, their weapons packed away” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, ed., p. 315).
Jer 51:43 Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.
43. Desolation. See on ch. 50:12, 13.
44. Bel. See on ch. 50:2.
Jer 51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.
What he has swallowed. That is, the nations and spoils that had been gathered into Babylon. When the Persians took over the rule, they allowed the return of captive peoples and their idols. In the inscription just quoted (v. 42), Cyrus states:
“(As to the region) from … as far as Ashur and Susa, Agade, Eshnunna, the towns Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der as well as the region of the Gutians, I returned to (these) sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which (used) to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I (also) gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations.
Furthermore I resettled upon the command of Marduk, the great lord, all the gods of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabonidus has brought into Babylon … to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed in their (former) chapels, the places which make them happy” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, ed., p. 316).
Jer 51:46 Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
There is evidence that not long after Jeremiah’s time, from the death of Nebuchadrezzar onward, there was considerable unrest, both internal and external, before the fall of the Babylonian Empire. Verse 46 reflects the state of fearful anticipation that must have been felt by many of the Babylonians as they saw their own government torn by strife at a time when a vigorous new power was arising to world leadership and domination
Throughout history it has been the common people who have suffered most severely from the intrigues and wars of evil rulers. God’s people are encouraged neither to faint nor fear in the face of such calamities.
Jer 51:47 For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her.
See on v. 52.
Jer 51:48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the LORD.
Compare Isa. 44:23, where nature is poetically called upon to rejoice over Israel’s redemption.
North. See on ch. 1:14. Although Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, actually came originally from western Iran, he approached Babylon commanding the armies of the former vast Median Empire, to the north of Mesopotamia. Many of the various peoples who composed his army (see v. 27) were from northern nations.
Jer 51:49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
Jer 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem.”
Remember. Jeremiah’s message emphasizes that uppermost in the mind of the Jews must be the thought of return to Palestine as soon as opportunity afforded. The importance of this injunction is een in the fact that many years later, when Cyrus and his successors did allow those Jews who desired to return to do so, only a fraction of the nation responded to the call.
Although in Jeremiah’s day the exiles were longing for their homeland, within two or three generations, toward the close of the 70 years decreed by God for their captivity (ch. 29:10), they had settled in Babylon; and experiencing reasonable prosperity, the majority refused to return to the rocky hills of Palestine with its ruined cities and villages.
Jer 51:52 “But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
The Babylonians had derided and despised the Jews because the Temple of the Lord was in ruins; now they will no longer be able to do this, for their idols will be destroyed.
Jer 51:53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the LORD.
Jer 51:55 The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound.
Jer 51:56 A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.
Lord God of recompenses. Literally, “a God of recompenses is Yahweh.”
Jer 51:57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almight
The various classes of Babylonian officialdom are here listed (see on v. 23).
Sleep. See on v. 39.
Jer 51:58 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”
High gates. According to a cuneiform description of Babylon, the city boasted eight main gates, besides several smaller ones. Another cuneiform inscription of Nebuchadnezzar (the so-called East India House Inscription) states that the leaves of the gates were of cedar covered with copper (KJV “brass”). Among the most impressive of the remains discovered at Babylon are the ruins of the Ishtar Gate, in the northern wall, through which passes one of the main thoroughfares of the city.
The enamel-glazed bricks of this gate were molded to form fine life-sized reliefs of bulls (sacred to the god Adad) and “sirrush” (mythological dragonlike monsters sacred to Marduk). These figures were white and yellow upon a blue background. Altogether the excavators estimated a minimum of 575 of these animal figures on this one gate.
Folk in the fire. The sense of this passage seems more clearly expressed by the RSV: “The peoples labor for nought, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” Compare Hab. 2:13.
Jer 51:59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign.
Neriah. Evidently Seraiah was a brother of Baruch, the scribe and helper of Jeremiah (see ch. 32:12). In placing his message in the hands of Seraiah, Jeremiah was doubtless committing it to a trusted and sympathetic friend.
Went with Zedekiah. In view of the unrest in the Westland which had threatened to break into active revolt against Babylon, it is not unreasonable to believe that Nebuchadnezzar had summoned his vassal to the capital to renew his oath of allegiance (see PK 447).
An intriguing possibility, though utterly without evidence, is that this visit to Babylon by the king of Judah may have been for the purpose of attending the dedication of Nebuchadnezzar’s great image on the plain of Dura (see on Dan. 3:1). Such a suggestion, however, must remain in the realm of speculation only.
Fourth year. Namely, 594/593 b.c. This prophecy was given in the year of Jeremiah’s controversy with the false prophet Hananiah (see ch. 28).
Quiet prince. Heb. śar menuchah, “prince of a resting place,” possibly designating the quartermaster, the official in charge of arranging quarters for the king on his journey. Another suggestion, based on the idea that menuchah at times denotes the opposite of war (1 Kings 8:56; 1 Chron. 22:9), is that Seraiah may have been a leader of the peace party in Judah, and thus, in a sense favorable to the Babylonians.
Jer 51:60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon.
Scrol. “in one book.” That this was not the only copy of the message against Babylon is plain from the fact that the record was not lost when the book was thrown into the Euphrates (v. 63). The prophet, or his secretary Baruch, probably made a copy on a separate scroll of the part of the prophecies pertaining to Babylon, and gave this to Seraiah when the opportunity of sending it to Babylon presented itself.
Jer 51:62 Then say, ‘LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’
62. Desolate. For comment see on ch. 50:12, 13.
Jer 51:63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
Jeremiah frequently dramatized his prophecies (see chs. 13:1–11; 19:1–13; 27:2, 3; 43:9, 10).
Jer 51:64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.'” The words of Jeremiah end here.
With this verse Jeremiah’s prophecy ends. The final chapter is a historical epilogue (see on ch. 52:1).