Jeremiah 51:10

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness . . .—The Hebrew noun is plural—the many righteous acts or forms of righteousness. The thought is parallel to that of Isaiah 62:1. The exile in Babylon had been a time of reformation and growth in righteousness. The day of vengeance on the oppressing city was also a day of acquittal for Israel. It was seen that she had not forfeited the favour of Jehovah. She could still sing, as of old (Judges 5:11), the righteous acts of the Lord, and would sing them, as of old, in the restored sanctuary of Zion.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness — Hath made manifest the equity of our cause, revenged the wrongs we have suffered, and shown ours to be the true religion, by bringing such remarkable judgments upon our enemies. Come, and let us declare in Zion, &c. — Therefore let us give glory to him in the assemblies of his church, and in the most public manner imaginable. This is spoken in the persons of the captive Jews.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

51:1-58 The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again. Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the same with the New Testament Babylon, Re 18:9,19. The ruin of all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and superstition, the persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to destruction as ancient Babylon. Then will vast multitudes mourn for sin, and seek the Lord. Then will the lost sheep of the house of Israel be brought back to the fold of the good Shepherd, and stray no more. And the exact fulfilment of these ancient prophecies encourages us to faith in all the promises and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yahweh hath brought to the light those things which prove us to be righteous: i. e., by punishing Babylon He hath justified

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Next after the speech of the confederates of Babylon, comes that of the Jews celebrating with thanksgivings the promise-keeping faithfulness of their covenant God.

brought forth, &c.—(Ps 37:6).

our righteousness—not the Jews' merits, but God's faithfulness to Himself and to His covenant, which constituted the "righteousness" of His people, that is, their justification in their controversy with Babylon, the cruel enemy of God and His people. Compare Jer 23:6, "The Lord our righteousness"; Mic 7:9. Their righteousness is His righteousness.

declare in Zion—(Ps 102:13-21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These words are spoken as in the person of the Jews, owning the destruction of Babylon,

1. To be the mighty work of God.

2. An act of justice and judgment, pleading the cause and revenging the wrongs of his people; and owning the Jewish religion, and calling one to another to go to the temple to declare what God had done for them, and to give thanks unto him for it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness,.... Or "righteousnesses" (i) this, as Kimchi observes, is spoken in the person of the Israelites; not as though the Jews had done no iniquity, for which they were carried captive; they had committed much, and were far from being righteous in themselves, but were so in comparison of the Chaldeans; and who had gone beyond their commission, and had greatly oppressed them, and used them cruelly; and now the Lord, by bringing destruction upon them, vindicated the cause of his people, and showed it to be a righteous one; and that the religion they professed was true, and which the Chaldeans had derided and reproached: this righteousness, not of their persons, but of their cause, and the truth of their holy religion, the Lord brought forth to the light, and made it manifest, by taking their parts, and destroying their enemies:

come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God; the Jews encourage one another to return into their own land, rebuild their temple, and set up the worship of God in it; and there declare the wondrous work of God in the destruction of Babylon, and their deliverance from thence; giving him the praise and glory of it; and exciting others to join with them in it, it being the Lord's work, and marvellous in their eyes; and so, when mystical Babylon is destroyed, voices will be heard in heaven, in the church, ascribing salvation, honour, and glory, to God, Revelation 19:1. All this is true, in an evangelic sense, of such as are redeemed by Christ, and brought out of mystical Babylon, and are effectually called by the grace of God; to these the Lord brings forth the righteousness of Christ, which he makes their own, by imputing it to them; and he brings it near to them, and puts it upon them; it is revealed unto them from faith to faith; it is applied to them by the Spirit of God, and put into their hands to plead with God, as their justifying righteousness; and which is brought forth by him on all occasions, to free them from all charges exhibited against them by law or justice, by the world, Satan, or their own hearts, Romans 8:33; and it becomes such persons to declare in Zion, in the church of God, the works of the Lord; not their own, which will not bear the light, nor bear speaking of; but the works of God, of creation and providence; but more especially of grace, as the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ; and particularly the Spirit's work of grace upon their hearts, which is not the work of men, but of God; being a new creation work; a regeneration; a resurrection from the dead; and requiring almighty power, to which man is unfit and unequal: this lies in the quickening of men dead in trespasses and sins; in enlightening such as are darkness itself; in an implantation of the principles of grace and holiness in them; in giving them new hearts and new spirits; and in bringing them off of their own righteousness, to depend on Christ alone for salvation; and which work, as it is begun, will be carried on, and performed in them, until the day of Christ; and, wherever it is, should not be concealed, but should be declared in the gates of Zion, publicly, freely, and fitly and faithfully, to the glory of the grace of God, and for the comfort of his people, to whom every such declaration is matter of joy and pleasure; see Psalm 66:16.

(i) "justitas nostras", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

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

(g) In approving our cause and punishing our enemies.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Our righteousness; literally, our righteousnesses; not in the sense of "righteous deeds "(as in Isaiah 64:6; Judges 5:11), but "those things which prove us to righteous; i.e. by punishing Babylon he hath justified us" (Payne Smith). Jeremiah 51:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Babylon, certainly, in its former power and greatness, was a golden goblet, by means of which Jahveh presented to the nations the wine of His wrath, and intoxicated them; but now it is fallen, and broken without remedy. Isaiah 21:9 finds an echo in the expression, "Babylon is fallen." The figure of the cup refers us back to Jeremiah 25:15., where, however, it is applied in a different way. The cup is said to be of gold, in order to point out the splendour and glory of Nebuchadnezzar's dominion. "In the hand of Jahveh," i.e., used by Him as His instrument for pouring out His wrath to the nations. But Babylon has suddenly fallen and been broken in pieces. At this point Jeremiah drops the figure of the cup, for a golden cup does not break when it falls. The fall is so terrible, that the nations in Babylon are summoned to participate in the lamentation, and to lend their aid in repairing her injuries. But they answer that their attempts to heal her are fruitless. (On צרי, cf. Jeremiah 46:11 and Jeremiah 8:22.) The terrible and irreparable character of the fall is thus expressed in a dramatic manner. We must neither think of the allies and mercenaries as those who are addressed (Schnurrer, Rosenmller, Maurer, Hitzig), nor merely the Israelites who had been delivered from Babylon (Umbreit). The latter view is opposed by the words which follow, "Let every one go to his own country;" this points to men out of different lands. And the former assumption is opposed by the consideration that not merely the mercenaries, but also the allies are to be viewed as fallen and ruined together with Babylon, and that Babylon, which had subdued all the nations, has no allies, according to the general way in which the prophet views these things. Those addressed are rather the nations that had been vanquished by Babylon and detained in the city, of which Israel was one. Inasmuch as these were the servants of Babylon, and as such bound to pay her service, they are to heal Babylon; and because the attempts to heal her prove fruitless, they are to leave the ruined city. They answer this summons by the resolve, "We will go every one to his own land;" cf. Jeremiah 50:8, Jeremiah 50:16. The motive for this resolution, "for her guilt reaches up to heaven," certainly shows that it is Israelites who are speaking, because it is only they who form their opinions in such a way; but they speak in the name of all the strangers who are in Babylon. משׁפּט is the matter upon which judgment is passed, i.e., the transgression, the guilt, analogous to משׁפּט דּמים, Ezekiel 7:23, and משׁפּט מות , Deuteronomy 19:6; Deuteronomy 21:22; it does not mean the punishment adjudged, of which we cannot say that it reaches up to heaven. On this expression, cf. Psalm 57:11; Psalm 108:5. Through the fall of Babylon, the Lord has made manifest the righteousness of Israel; the redeemed ones are to proclaim this in Zion. צדקות does not mean "righteous acts" (Judges 5:11), but proofs of the righteousness of Israel as opposed to Babylon, which righteousness Babylon, through tyrannical oppression of the people that had been delivered up to it merely for chastisement, has failed to perceive, and which, so long as the Lord did not take His people to Himself again in a visible manner, was hidden from the world; cf. Psalm 37:6.