Jeremiah 51:20-30

20 “You are my war club, my weapon for battle— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and young woman,
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.
24 “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia[a] for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
25 “I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
27 “Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.
29 The land trembles and writhes, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand— to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.

Jeremiah 51:20-30 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.

Cross References 29

  • 1. S Isaiah 10:5; Zechariah 9:13
  • 2. S Job 34:24; Micah 4:13
  • 3. S Isaiah 45:1
  • 4. S Exodus 15:1
  • 5. S Isaiah 43:17; S Jeremiah 50:37
  • 6. S 2 Chronicles 36:17; Isaiah 13:17-18
  • 7. ver 57
  • 8. S ver 6,35; S Deuteronomy 32:41; S Jeremiah 50:15; Lamentations 3:64
  • 9. S Isaiah 45:1
  • 10. S Jeremiah 21:13
  • 11. Jeremiah 50:23
  • 12. S Exodus 3:20
  • 13. Zechariah 4:7
  • 14. ver 29; S Isaiah 13:19-22; S Jeremiah 50:12
  • 15. S Psalms 20:5; S Isaiah 13:2; Jeremiah 50:2
  • 16. S Jeremiah 25:14
  • 17. S Genesis 8:4
  • 18. Genesis 10:3
  • 19. S ver 14
  • 20. S ver 11
  • 21. ver 48
  • 22. S Judges 5:4; S Jeremiah 49:21
  • 23. S Psalms 33:11
  • 24. Jeremiah 48:9
  • 25. ver 43; S Isaiah 13:20
  • 26. S Jeremiah 50:36
  • 27. S Isaiah 19:16
  • 28. S Isaiah 47:14
  • 29. S Isaiah 45:2; Lamentations 2:9; Nahum 3:13

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "Chaldea" ; also in verse 35
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