Jeremiah 51

Jeremiah 51:1

A destroying wind.

A furious adversary, which shall come in, as a strong tempestuous wind.

Jeremiah 51:2

And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land.

I will send unto Babylon the Medes and Persians, which shall put them to the fan of tribulation and dispersion.

Jeremiah 51:3

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; &c.

Suffer not, O ye Medes, the Babylonian archers so much as to bend their bows, &c. But cut them off in the first offer of their assault; and make no spare of any of them.

Jeremiah 51:6

Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: &c.

See chap. L. 8. Continue not in Babylon, while ye may be free; but depart away from the danger, both of her sins and judgment.

Jeremiah 51:7

Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Babylon hath been hitherto as a golden cup, out of which God would have all the nations of the earth drink their bitter draught of his wrath and indignation: they have drunk out thence, and have been so grievously afflicted by her cruelty, that they have been ready to run mad with grief.

Jeremiah 51:8

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Babylon is suddenly fallen: howl and mourn, O ye her associates, for the downfall of so great a monarchy; and, if it may be, use some helps for her recovery.

Jeremiah 51:9

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, &c.

Alas, we have not slackened our endeavours, shall they say, to have succoured and relieved her, but all in vain; for her wound, which God’s wrath hath inflicted upon her, is utterly incurable: away therefore, let us shift for ourselves; let us run every man to his own country, and leave her to the revenge of the Almighty, which is indeed so great, as that it reacheth to the very heavens, &c.

Jeremiah 51:10

The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

The Lord hath magnified his great mercy and truth to us, in that he hath taken upon him the patronage and protection of us his people, and hath been thus openly revenged of our enemies: oh come, therefore, and let us declare in his holy temple the great works of our God.

Jeremiah 51:11

Make bright the arrows; gather the shields.

Now, therefore, ye Medes and Persians, address yourselves to the fight; scour up your armours; brighten your arrows.

Jeremiah 51:13

O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

O thou great and wealthy Babylon, that wert seated upon the famous river of Euphrates, which divided itself for thy commodity

Jeremiah 51:14

Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

I will fill thee with enemies so thick, as if they were swarms of caterpillars. See for the rest of the verse, chap. xxv. verse 30.

Jeremiah 51:20

Thou art my battle ox and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms.

O Babylon, I have hitherto made use of thee, for the subduing of divers kingdoms, and for breaking of many nations in pieces.

Jeremiah 51:25

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Behold, I am against thee now, O Babylon, thou hinge pile of perdition; which hath hitherto crushed the whole earth with thy vastness and power, &c. I will make thee like a hill of rubbish, a heap of burnt ruins.

Jeremiah 51:27

Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause her horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.

Muster up together the kingdoms of both Armenias, and of the lesser Asia; set generals and captains over the appointed bands; cause the troops of horses to come in, as thick as the swarms of caterpillars; and all, to go up against Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:33

The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her; yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor: the sheaves, that are in her, must be beaten and thoroughly trodden out: her harvest is now near at hand, wherein God will lay upon her, with the flail of his heavy judgments.

Jeremiah 51:34

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, &c.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, shall Jerusalem say, hath devoured me; he hath utterly destroyed me.

Jeremiah 51:35

The violence done to me and to my flesh, &c.

And now, let God repay to Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonians the violence, which they did to me and my people.

Jeremiah 51:38

They shall roar together like lions, &c.

They shall roar together, in their pain and horror, like lions, that yell for hunger.

Jeremiah 51:39

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.

When they are heated with wine in their feasts, and drunken in their merry banquets, quaffing healths and praising their gods in the bowls of my temple, even then will I bring the sword of Cyrus upon them, and smite them that they shall sleep their last. See Daniel, chap. v.

Jeremiah 51:41

How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! &c.

What an incredible thing is this? How can it be, that Babylon, the great mistress of the world, should thus be spoiled and defaced?

Jeremiah 51:42

The sea is come up upon Babylon: &c.

The innumerable and mighty hosts of the Medes is, like a raging sea, broken in upon Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:44

And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up.

I will break in pieces and put to shame the idol Bel, that was worshipped of the Babylonians; and will fetch out of his mouth those many and rich offerings, which were made to that dunghill deity.

Jeremiah 51:46

Ruler against ruler.

Cyrus against Belshazzar.

Jeremiah 51:48

Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon.

The heavens and the earth, and all creatures shall rejoice, and praise God for the just destruction, that is brought upon Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:49

As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

As Babylon hath slain my people of Israel, so the Babylonians shall be slain, all the earth over; and in Babylon shall fall those of all the countries round about, which shall be there slaughtered.

Jeremiah 51:51

For strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house.

Pagans have come into the sanctuary of God’s temple, and have defiled it, and razed it to the ground.

Jeremiah 51:52

And through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Through all her land, those, that are not slain, right out, shall lie groaning and roaring for the pain of their wounds.

Jeremiah 51:58

And the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

In vain shall the people labour to quench that fire, which is kindled for the consuming of Babylon.