Jeremiah 51:42

42 The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the mass of its waves.

Jeremiah 51:42 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:42

The sea is come up upon Babylon
A vast army, comparable to the great sea for the multitude thereof, even the army of the Medes and Persians under Cyrus; so the Targum,

``a king with his armies, which are numerous like the waters of the sea, is come up against Babylon:''

she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof;
being surrounded, besieged, surprised, and seized upon by the multitude of soldiers in that army, which poured in upon it unawares. Some think here is a beautiful antithesis, between the inundation of Cyrus's army and the draining of the river Euphrates, by which means he poured in his forces into Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:42 In-Context

40 I will make them go down to death like lambs, like he-goats together.

41 How is Babylon taken! and the praise of all the earth surprised! how has Babylon become a cause of wonder among the nations!

42 The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the mass of its waves.

43 Her towns have become a waste, a dry and unwatered land, where no man has his living-place and no son of man goes by.

44 And I will send punishment on Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what went into it; no longer will the nations be flowing together to him: truly, the wall of Babylon will come down.