Jeremiah 51:21-31

21 With you I will smash the horse and its rider; with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22 With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the virgin.
23 With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.[a] With you I will smash governors and officials.
24 "I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.
25 Look, I am against you, devastating mountain- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- you devastate the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand against you,[b] roll you down from the cliffs, and turn you into a burned-out mountain.
26 No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you, because you will become desolate forever. [This is] the Lord's declaration.
27 Raise a signal flag[c] in the land; blow a ram's horn among the nations; set apart the nations against her.[d] Summon kingdoms against her- Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like a swarm[e] of locusts.
28 Set apart the nations for battle against her- the kings of Media, her governors and all her officials, and all the lands they rule.
29 The earth quakes[f] and trembles, because the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
30 Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon's homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.
31 Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end [to end].

Jeremiah 51:21-31 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 51

The former part of this chapter is a continuation of the prophecy of the preceding chapter, concerning the destruction of Babylon, Jer 51:1-58; the latter part of it contains a prophecy of Jeremiah sent to the captives in Babylon by the hand of Seraiah, with the copy of the above prophecy against Babylon, and an order to fasten a stone to it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign, confirming the utter and irreparable ruin of Babylon, Jer 51:59-64.

Footnotes 6

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