Jeremiah 50:16

16 Do not leave anyone in Babylonia to plant the fields. Do not leave anyone to harvest the grain. Let each of them return to his own people. Let him run away to his own land. If he doesn't, his enemy's sword will bring him great harm.

Jeremiah 50:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 50:16

Cut off the sower from in Babylon, and him that handleth the
sickle in the time of harvest
Both sower and reaper: the walls of Babylon took in a large compass of land, where there were corn fields; and which, as Curtius ^F19 observes, would yield a sufficiency to hold out a siege against an enemy; but being taken, the husbandman would not be spared, as used to be, but should be cut off, and so none to till the ground, or to reap what was upon it; and thus, in course, would be, desolate, as before threatened. The Targum understands this in a figurative sense,

``destroy the king out of Babylon, and take hold of the sword in the time of slaughter;''

and Cocceius interprets the sower of any doctor or bishop in mystical Babylon, and the reaper of such that gather the fruits, and exact obedience; see ( Revelation 18:14 Revelation 18:22 ) ; for fear of the oppressing sword;
of the Medes and Persians: they shall turn everyone to his people, and they shall flee everyone
to his own land;
not those of other nations, as the Jews, who were detained captives there, as Kimchi thinks; for these were not in such fear of the Persians, nor did they flee because of them; but were let go by them, and sent into their own land honourably: but either such who, of other nations, were come to traffic at Babylon; or rather the auxiliaries of other nations, who were either hired or forced into the service of Babylon; these, finding the city taken, would make the best of their way into their own country.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Hist. l. 5. c. 1.

Jeremiah 50:16 In-Context

14 "All you who draw the bow, take up your battle positions around Babylon. Shoot at it! Do not spare any arrows! Its people have sinned against me.

15 Shout against them on every side! They are giving up. The towers of the city are falling. Its walls are being pulled down. I am paying its people back. So pay them back yourselves. Do to them what they have done to others.

16 Do not leave anyone in Babylonia to plant the fields. Do not leave anyone to harvest the grain. Let each of them return to his own people. Let him run away to his own land. If he doesn't, his enemy's sword will bring him great harm.

17 "Israel is like a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first lion that ate them up was the king of Assyria. The last one that broke their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia."

18 The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, "I punished the king of Assyria. In the same way, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his land.