Jeremiah 50:26

26 Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one!

Jeremiah 50:26 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 50:26

Come against her from the utmost border
Or, "from the end" F1; from the end of the earth; from the Persian gulf, and the Caspian sea, on which the Persians and Medes bordered; from the most distant countries; for the Medes and Persians, who are here called unto, brought others along with them in their army from places still more remote; for this is not to be understood, with the Targum, of entering into Babylon on one "side"; or, with Jarchi, of beginning at one "end" of the city, that it might not be known, and be taken suddenly: open her storehouses;
where her gold, silver, jewels, and other precious things, lay: or, her barns or "granaries" F2, as the Targum and Kimchi; where the fruits and increase of the earth were laid up; and may figuratively design her cities and fortified places, full of inhabitants, as well as of riches and stores of all kinds: cast her up as heaps;
as heaps of rubbish to make a causeway of, and then tread upon them to make it smooth: or, "as heaps", or "sheaves"


FOOTNOTES:

F3 of corn; tread upon them as oxen do, and thereby thresh them out; so Jarchi interprets it,
``thresh her as grains of wheat;''
and to this sense the Targum refers,
``consume her substance as they consume heaps of wheat;''
see ( Revelation 18:12-14 ) ; and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left;
of the city of Babylon, its inhabitants, wealth, and riches; so complete should the destruction be, ( Revelation 18:8 Revelation 18:21-23 ) .
F1 (Uqm) "a fine", Vatablus, Montanus, Schmidt; "a fine terrae", Piscator; "ab extremis finibus", Tigurine version, Grotius.
F2 (hyobam) "horrea ejus", Montanus, Cocceius; "granaria ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.
F3 (Mymre wmk) "sicut acervos, sub. tritici", Vatablus; "frumenti", Piscator.

Jeremiah 50:26 In-Context

24 I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That's what you get for taking on God.
25 "I, God, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon.
26 Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one!
27 Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom! Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them.
28 And here's a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting the news of God's vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.