Jeremiah 51:1. against them that dwell in Leb-kamai] Observe mg. meaning, the centre of hostility to Jehovah. See on Jeremiah 25:26 (“Sheshach”).

a destroying wind] or better, the spirit of a destroyer, cp. Jeremiah 51:11, and Haggai 1:14.

2. strangers] mg. (with A.V.) fanners, which (differing only in vocalisation from the other reading) suits the subsequent verb. So Syr. and Targ. The figure is that of men winnowing corn.

3. Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift himself up, etc.] As the mg., when compared with the text, suggests, the Heb. is difficult. It is in fact ungrammatical and probably corrupt. It seems best to omit the negatives, and make the whole v. (as the latter part must be in any case) an address to the assailants of Babylon. If we retain the negatives, the sense will be that it will be useless for Babylon’s warriors to attempt her defence.

destroy ye utterly all] For mg. devote ye all, etc., See on Jeremiah 25:9 and cp. Jeremiah 50:21.

5. forsaken] lit. widowed, cp. Isaiah 54:4. The word is masculine, contrary to the figure (e.g. Jeremiah 2:2) where Israel is the wife, and Jehovah the husband.

though their land, etc.] i.e. in spite of the guilt of the people of Jehovah. The Heb. conjunction, however, is better rendered for, and “their land” understood to be Chaldaea. In that case we should (with Co.) transpose the two parts of the v.

6. Flee] addressed to the Jewish residents in Babylon. Cp. Jeremiah 51:45 (“My people”), Jeremiah 50:6; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 52:6.

7. a golden cup] In ch. Jeremiah 25:15 f., Jeremiah was commanded to make the nations drink of the wine of God’s wrath. Babylon is here spoken of under the same figure, as having made all the nations drunk, but the wine in this case, as the epithet “golden” suggests, denotes the influence for evil which her brilliance and luxury have upon the nations. She is called a golden cup from the splendour and glory which belonged to her as an empire. For the N.T. application of the figure see Revelation 17:4. See also Nahum 3:4.

are mad] Cp. Jeremiah 25:16.

8. take balm] See on Jeremiah 46:11.

9. We would have healed, etc.] As the v. cannot be taken to express Jewish sentiment, we must suppose it to be put in the mouth of the nations, intoxicated by their share in the splendour of Babylon, and so lamenting its fall and desiring to restore its fortunes. Cp. Revelation 18:9-19, and for Israel’s joy (Jeremiah 51:10) at the judgement which befalls its oppressor, Revelation 18:20.

her judgement] i.e. her punishment.

10. hath brought forth our righteousness] hath made known the justice of our cause (by our enemy’s overthrow). Cp. Psalm 37:6.

11. sharp] For mg. cp. Isaiah 49:2 (“polished shaft”).

hold firm] mg. fill. If we retain “shields” (see next note), the latter verb seems inappropriate. Cp., however, its use in 2 Samuel 23:7 R.V. mg. Gi. suggests “polish” or “furbish,” but this involves a somewhat drastic change in the Heb.

shields] The LXX vary much in their rendering of the word. Here they have “quivers.” For mg. see W. E. Barnes in Expos. Times, vol. X. (Oct. ’98–Sept. ’99), pp. 43 ff.

kings] read king, with LXX. Cp. Jeremiah 51:28.

12. Exhortation to commence the blockade.

watchmen] those of the attacking force who were appointed to see that the investiture was thorough.

the ambushes] to attack any of the besieged that ventured beyond the walls; or (better) to take advantage of a sortie to push their way through the opened gates. Cp. Joshua 8:12 ff.; Jdg 20:29 ff.

13. upon many waters] See on Jeremiah 50:38.

abundant in treasures] conveyed to Babylon from the conquered provinces.

the measure of thy covetousness] better, the cubit where thou shalt be cut off. The metaphor is taken from weaving. “The web of thy destiny is finished. Cf. for the figure Isaiah 38:12 (where the word for ‘cut off’ is the same as here).” Dr.

14. I will fill, etc.] rather, Though I have filled thee (better, thou art filled) with men (i.e. innumerable inhabitants), as with locusts (viz. in point of numbers), they (the assailants) shall lift up, etc.

cankerworm] the locust in its early (pupa) stage. Cp. Jeremiah 51:27, where see note.

a shout] the vintage song, See on Jeremiah 25:30.

15–19. These vv. are taken almost verbatim from Jeremiah 10:12-16. The object of the insertion is to emphasize the powerlessness of Babylon’s idols against Jehovah.

16. his voice] in thunder. Cp. Jeremiah 10:13.

20. battle axe] mg. maul, a war-club, mace. “The Assyrian mace was a short thin weapon, and must either have been made of a very tough wood, or—and this is more probable—of metal. It had an ornamented head, which was sometimes very beautifully modelled, and generally a strap or string at the lower end, by which it could be grasped with greater firmness.” (Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. I. p. 458.) For this figure, as applied to Babylon, cp. Jeremiah 50:23.

20–24. Is it (a) Cyrus, as conqueror of Babylon, or (b) Babylon herself, that is addressed? Jeremiah 51:24 seems to support (a), but on the whole (b) is perhaps preferable. The future tenses can as well be rendered as presents, denoting what Babylon has hitherto been accustomed to do as the instrument of Jehovah. This view also harmonizes with Jeremiah 51:14 (while we omit 15–19; see note there), as well as with Jeremiah 51:25 ff., where Babylon is certainly the subject.

23. governors [mg. lieutenants] and deputies] Cp. Jeremiah 51:28; Jeremiah 51:57; also Ezekiel 23:6; Ezekiel 23:12-23. The names in the original are not Heb. but Assyrian, and are often found in inscriptions in that language. The former is applied to Tattenai (Ezra 5:6), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:14), and Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1).

24. Babylon, after Jehovah has used it as the instrument by means of which to punish other nations, shall now be itself requited. “In your (the Jews’) sight” is to be connected with the opening words of the v. Cp. Psalm 91:8.

25. O destroying mountain] For the expression cp. 2 Kings 23:13 R.V. mg. The figure is not appropriate in a literal sense, as Babylon is situated in a plain. The sense must be that she towers in supremacy over other countries. Perhaps Ezekiel 35:3 ff. may have suggested this passage.

a burnt mountain] barren and desolate.

26. The figure of stones, which by the action of fire have been rendered unfit for use in building, is continued in this verse. No Empire shall again have Babylon for its centre. Its position as a capital city is for ever shattered, and its glory burnt out.

27. Set ye up, etc.] Cp. Jeremiah 51:12.

prepare] For mg. sanctify (and so in Jeremiah 51:28) see on Jeremiah 6:4, Jeremiah 22:7.

Ararat] the Assyrian Urartu, N.W. of Lake Van, and corresponding pretty closely to the Armenia of the present day. Cp. Genesis 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37.

Minni] the Mannai of the cuneiform inscriptions, not far from Lake Van.

Ashkenaz] evidently near the two former, but not otherwise known; perhaps the Ashguza of inscriptions. Cp. Genesis 10:3.

a marshal] The Heb. word occurs elsewhere only in Nahum 3:17. It is commonly connected with the frequent Assyrian noun dupsarru, tablet-writer, scribe. But both passages seem to suggest (cp. “horses” in the parallel clause here) that a body of troops is indicated rather than any individual.

28. Prepare] See on Jeremiah 51:27.

kings] Read king, with LXX (cp. Jeremiah 51:11). Cyrus is meant.

governors … deputies] See on Jeremiah 51:23.

30. Description of the capture of Babylon.

they are become as women] Cp. Jeremiah 50:37.

31. post] lit. runner. The word survives in this sense in modern English only in the expression post-haste. For the sense here cp.

“Your native town you entered like a post.”

Coriolanus, Act v sc. 5.

First denoting that which is placed (positum), it came to denote a fixed spot, e.g. a military post, or a place where horses are kept for travellers, then the person so travelling, and then any one travelling quickly. See Bible Word Book.

shall run to meet another] Bearing the tidings from opposite quarters, they shall meet at the king’s castle in the heart of the city.

on every quarter] See on Jeremiah 50:26.

32. passages] mg. fords, but perhaps we should take it as meaning here ferries over the Euphrates.

reeds] mg. marshes, Heb. pools. The sense is either that the great reed beds which served as defences are burned, or (by a violent hyperbole) that the pools which protected the city are dried up. Perhaps the text is corrupt. If so, “palaces,” “defences,” “barricades” are suggested as emendations.

33. at the time when it is trodden] i.e. made smooth and hard in preparation for the corn which is to be threshed upon it.

34. me] mg. us, but “me” is best throughout the v. as in Jeremiah 51:35. Israel suddenly becomes the speaker. For the figure cp. Isaiah 27:1.

dragon] The Heb. Tannin is lit. any great monster of river or sea, e.g. the crocodile (Psalm 74:13; Ezekiel 29:3).

my delicates] Israel’s treasured possessions. The word is used as a substantive here only in the Bible. Cp. 3 Hen. VI. II. 5, where the king speaks of the shepherd’s homely curds as “far beyond a prince’s delicates.” (Bible Word Book.)

35. The violence done to me and to my flesh] mg. My wrong and my flesh, i.e. the injuries which I have wrongfully suffered at the hands of Babylon. But it is possible that the Heb. translated “flesh” may here have the sense of an Arabic word of similar letters, signifying blood-revenge, thus making a good parallel with “My blood” in the next clause. In that case we should render May the violence … and my blood-revenge be upon, etc.

inhabitant] For mg. inhabitress see on Jeremiah 4:11.

36. Jehovah replies favourably to the demand for vengeance on Babylon.

her sea … her fountain] either the Euphrates (cp. the word “sea” as applied to the river Nile in Isaiah 18:2; Isaiah 19:5; Nahum 3:8) or, better, the great lake or reservoir, four hundred and twenty furlongs in circumference, made by queen Nitocris (Herod. I. 185), or that constructed by Nebuchadnezzar (see Records of the Past, 2nd series, III. 116).

37. heaps] “Vast ‘heaps’ or mounds, shapeless and unsightly, are scattered at intervals over the entire region where it is certain that Babylon anciently stood.” (Rawl. Anc. Mon. II. 521.)

hissing] See on Jeremiah 18:16.

39. While they are exulting over the spoil which they have won from the conquered nations I will prepare a feast for them, inducing a sleep that shall be endless.

When they are heated] referring either to the glow of passionate indulgence, or to murderous ferocity. But Gi. would read When I am hot (with anger).

may rejoice] The LXX, reading apparently one consonant differently from MT., render, may be stupefied.

40. lambs … rams … he-goats] Cp. Jeremiah 50:27; Isaiah 34:6.

41. Sheshach] i.e. Babylon. See on Jeremiah 25:26.

a desolation] mg. an astonishment. Cp. Jeremiah 51:43.

42. The sea is come up] the hostile army arriving in overwhelming force. Cp. Jeremiah 46:7-8, Jeremiah 47:2; Isaiah 17:12.

43. a desert] Cp. Jeremiah 50:12; Jeremiah 50:40.

44. Bel] See on Jeremiah 50:2.

that which he hath swallowed up] the riches of the subjugated nations. Cp. Jeremiah 51:34.

Co. thinks that parallelism requires the mention of a deity, and proposes, with an alteration of MT., to render the Desire-goddess, the chief female deity of Babylon. He compares Daniel 11:37, “the desire of women,” which is thought to denote Thammuz (Greek Adonis).

44–49. The LXX omit from “yea, the wall” (Jeremiah 51:44) to “the slain of Israel to fall” (Jeremiah 51:49), but the omission is probably accidental, the scribe’s eye passing from the first “Babylon shall fall” to the second.

45. go ye out] See Jeremiah 51:6, Jeremiah 50:8; Isaiah 52:11.

46. a rumour … a rumour] Rumour shall succeed rumour, as the years go on, and disquieting revolts shall foreshadow the final break-up of the Babylonian empire.

47. The v. is suspicious; for (a) it closely resembles Jeremiah 51:52 in language, (b) “Therefore” is unsuitable here, while it fits Jeremiah 51:52, from which it may be taken. Co. for “graven images,” mentioned elsewhere in the immediate context (Jeremiah 51:52), proposes to read “rulers,” pointing out that the word is used three times in Is. (Jeremiah 14:5, Jeremiah 49:7, Jeremiah 52:5) of the Babylonian oppressors of Israel.

do judgement upon] lit. visit upon, as in Jeremiah 51:52. Cp. Jeremiah 11:22 and elsewhere.

ashamed] See on Jeremiah 2:26.

48. shall sing for joy over Babylon] shall rejoice over her fall.

49. As Babylon … so at, etc.] better, as mg. Both Babylon is to fall, O ye slain of Israel, and at, etc., or, repeating a Heb. consonant, for the slain of Israel. The ground for Babylon’s overthrow is to be her cruelty towards others.

50. Let those in exile in Babylon, who have escaped death, hasten their return to Jerusalem, while yet there is time.

51. ashamed] The exiles answer that they are too deeply humiliated to obey the summons; for foreigners are in possession of the holy sites. Cp. Lamentations 1:10 with note.

52. See on Jeremiah 51:47.

53. Cp. Isaiah 14:12-14.

fortify] lit. cut off, i.e. render inaccessible.

the height of her strength] the height of her walls.

54. Cp. Jeremiah 48:3, Jeremiah 50:22.

55. the great voice] the hum of the city’s life.

and their waves] the surging hosts which pour into the city. See on Jeremiah 51:42.

the noise of their voice] Cp. Jeremiah 6:23; Isaiah 17:12.

57. her governors and her deputies] Cp. Jeremiah 51:23; Jeremiah 51:28, and for the latter part see on Jeremiah 51:39.

58. The broad walls of Babylon] better than mg. The walls of broad Babylon, We should, with LXX, read wall. According to Herodotus, the outer wall of Babylon was 200 royal cubits (about 373 English feet) high, while it was fifty cubits wide. This, however, both from the nature of the case, and from the conflicting testimony of other writers, seems exaggerated. Probably the height was about 60 or 70 English feet, and the walls perhaps 30 or 40 feet wide, as they allowed of a team of four horses being driven along them. See Herod. I. 178, and Rawlinson’s notes there.

utterly overthrown] lit. (as mg.) made bare, destroyed, so that the very foundations shall be uncovered.

high gates] “In the circuit of the wall are a hundred gates, all of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts.” Herod. I. 179.

the peoples shall labour, etc.] almost identical with Habakkuk 2:13 (referred to in mg.), transposing, however, the words for “vanity” and for “the fire.” It appears in both places to be a quotation from an older source, and to express a general truth. We should therefore render (with a slight change of text) by present tenses, the peoples labour for vanity, and the nations weary themselves for the fire.

59. Seraiah … when he went with Zedekiah] See introd. note.

chief chamberlain] mg. (rightly) quartermaster, lit. captain of the camping place. His duty, as in attendance on the king in a journey, was to arrange that matters should be in readiness at the next halting place. The LXX, however, have commissary (lit. ruler) of the presents. The change involved in MT.’s reading is but slight.

59–64. Seraiah’s mission

The rejection as non-Jeremianic of the preceding prophecy against Babylon (see introd. note to chs. 50, 51) by no means need involve suspicion of this section. Here impassioned denunciation finds no place and the forecast of the overthrow of the great Eastern power is quite in keeping with the attitude of the prophet in Jeremiah 29:10 in limiting her dominion over Israel to seventy years. It is true that the latter part of Jeremiah 51:60 identifies the prophecy conveyed by Seraiah to Babylon with the preceding utterances; but see note there. That Zedekiah should himself visit Babylon at the time here specified has been already shewn to be by no means improbable (see introd. note on Jeremiah 27:2-11). Even those who doubt the king’s journey thither are mostly willing to accept that of Seraiah, who, as Baruch’s brother (cp. his ancestry here with that given in Jeremiah 32:12 for Baruch), would very naturally bring a message of hope from Jeremiah to the exiles.

We may summarize the section as follows.

Jeremiah 51:59-64. The directions given by the prophet to Seraiah when the latter accompanied Zedekiah to Babylon. He was to take with him a scroll containing the doom of the city, and after reading it aloud there, to attach to it a stone and sink it in the river as a symbol of Babylon’s approaching fall.

60. a book] See introd. note. The latter part of the v. which seems to identify this book, or rather roll, scroll, with the preceding prophecy, Jeremiah 50:2 to Jeremiah 51:58, is doubtless only a note.

61, 62. then see … and say] From “and say” to the end of Jeremiah 51:62 is probably the addition of a compiler; it is a needless interruption to the close connexion of the preceding words with Jeremiah 51:63.

63, 64. For the symbolical action cp. Jeremiah 13:1-7, Jeremiah 19:1-10, Jeremiah 27:2, Jeremiah 43:9.

64. upon her: and they shall be weary] The mg. (rightly) puts a full stop after “upon her” and a colon after “they shall be weary.” These latter words (one word in the Heb.) doubtless (so Gi., Co. and others) were taken, probably by accident, from Jeremiah 51:58, when, on the addition of this short section by the compiler, the words “Thus far … Jeremiah” were transferred to this later v. This last sentence is meant to mark off ch. 52, as taken for the most part from 2 Kings.