Bible Commentaries

Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim, and set up a standard; proclaim, [and] conceal not: say, ^a Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, ^b Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

(a) After God had used the Babylonian's service to punish other nations, this shows that their turn will come to be punished.

(b) These were two of their chief idols.

For out of the north ^c there cometh a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in it: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

(c) That is, the Medes and the Persians.

In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall ^d come, they and the children of Judah together, going and ^e weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

(d) When Cyrus will take Babel.

(e) Read (Jeremiah 31:9).

My people have been lost sheep: their ^f shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from ^g mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

(f) Their governors and ministers by their examples have provoked them to idolatry.

(g) They have committed idolatry in every place.

All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, ^h the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

(h) For the Lord dwelt among them in his temple and would have maintained them by his justice against their enemies.

ⁱ Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats ^k before the flocks.

(i) When God will deliver you by Cyrus.

(k) That is, most forward and without fear.

And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that spoil her ^l shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

(l) Shall be made rich by it.

Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, ^m and bellow as bulls;

(m) For joy of the victory that you had against my people.

Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, ⁿ and hiss at all her plagues.

(n) In sign of contempt and disdain.

^o Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath ^p sinned against the LORD.

(o) He speaks to the enemies the Medes and Persians.

(p) Though the Lord called the Babylonians his servants and their work his work in punishing his people, yet because they did it not to glorify God, but for their own malice and to profit themselves, it is here called sin.

Cut off the ^q sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

(q) Destroy her so that no one is left to work the ground or to take the fruit of it.

Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him] away: first the king of ^r Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his ^s bones.

(r) Meaning Tiglath-pilesar who carried away the ten tribes.

(s) He carried away the rest, that is Judah and Benjamin.

Go up against the land of ^t Merathaim, [even] against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

(t) That is, Babylon: thus the Lord raised up Cyrus.

How is the ^u hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

(u) Nebuchadnezzar, who had smitten down all the princes and people of the world.

Slay all her ^x bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their judgment.

(x) Her princes and mighty men.

The voice of them that ^y flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

(y) Of the Jews who would be delivered by Cyrus.

Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, ^z and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

(z) He shows that when God executes his judgments against his enemies, that his Church will then have rest.

A ^a drought [is] upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it [is] the land of graven images, and they are mad over [their] idols.

(a) For Cyrus cut the river Euphrates and divided the course of it into many streams, so that it might be passed over as though there had been no water: which he did by the counsel of two of Belshazzar's captains, who conspired against their king, because he had gelded one of them in spite and slain the son of the other.

Therefore the ^b wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the isles shall dwell [there], and the owls shall dwell in it: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

(b) Read (Isaiah 13:21).

Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from ^c the ends of the earth.

(c) Meaning, that the Persians would gather their army from many nations.

The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands ^d became feeble: anguish took hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.

(d) Which is meant of Belshazzar, (Daniel 5:6).

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who [is] a chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that ^e shepherd that will stand before me?

(e) {See (Jeremiah 49:19) }