2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and lift up a banner; publish, conceal not! Say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed: her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.
Bel is bowed down, Nebo bendeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things ye carried are laid on, a burden to the weary [beast].
-- And behold, there cometh a chariot of men; horsemen by pairs. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon is fallen.
Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph, and in Tahpanhes; say, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword devoureth round about thee.
And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having [the] everlasting glad tidings to announce to those settled on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and do homage to him who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and fountains of waters. And another, a second, angel followed, saying, Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen, which of the wine of the fury of her fornication has made all nations drink.
Jehovah will be terrible unto them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and all the isles of the nations shall worship him, every one from his place.
And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, [that] Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;
-- Therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that I will punish her graven images; and throughout her land the wounded shall groan.
Courier runneth to meet courier, and messenger to meet messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is taken from end to end;
At the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth hath quaked, and the cry is heard among the nations.
And all men shall fear, and shall declare God's doing; and they shall wisely consider his work.
And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive; and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. And he shall break the pillars of Beth-shemesh, which is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye nations, and declare [it] to the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd his flock.
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O assembly, what is among them.
And I, -- their works and their thoughts [are before me]. ... [The time] cometh for the gathering of all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow; to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory: and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
Thou heardest, see all this; -- and ye, will not ye declare [it]? I have caused thee to hear new things from this time, and things hidden, and that thou knewest not:
and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.
Lift up a banner upon a bare mountain, raise the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 50
Commentary on Jeremiah 50 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 50
In this chapter, and that which follows, we have the judgment of Babylon, which is put last of Jeremiah's prophecies against the Gentiles because it was last accomplished; and when the cup of God's fury went round (ch. 25:17) the king of Sheshach, Babylon, drank last. Babylon was employed as the rod in God's hand for the chastising of all the other nations, and now at length that rod shall be thrown into the fire. The destruction of Babylon by Cyrus was foretold, long before it came to its height, by Isaiah, and now again, when it has come to its height, by Jeremiah; for, though at this time he saw that kingdom flourishing "like a green bay-tree,' yet at the same time he foresaw it withered and cut down. And as Isaiah's prophecies of the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel out of it seem designed to typify the evangelical triumphs of all believers over the powers of darkness, and the great salvation wrought out by our Lord Jesus Christ, so Jeremiah's prophecies of the same events seem designed to point at the apocalyptic triumphs of the gospel church in the latter days over the New-Testament Babylon, many passages in the Revelation being borrowed hence. The kingdom of Babylon being much larger and stronger than any of the kingdoms here prophesied against, its fall was the more considerable in itself; and, it having been more oppressive to the people of God than any of the other, the prophet is very copious upon this subject, for the comfort of the captives; and what was foretold in general often before (ch. 25:12 and 27:7) is here more particularly described, and with a great deal of prophetic heat as well as light. The terrible judgments God had in store for Babylon, and the glorious blessings he had in store for his people that were captives there, are intermixed and counterchanged in the prophecy of this chapter; for Babylon was destroyed to make way for the turning again of the captivity of God's people. Here is,
And these being set the one against the other, it is easy to say which one would choose to take one's lot with, the persecuting Babylonians, who, though now in pomp, are reserved for so great a ruin, or the persecuted Israelites, who, though now in thraldom, are reserved for so great a glory.
Jer 50:1-8
Jer 50:9-20
God is here by his prophet, as afterwards in his providence, proceeding in his controversy with Babylon. Observe,
Jer 50:21-32
Here,
Jer 50:33-46
We have in these verses,