Jeremiah 51:25

25 "I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth," says ADONAI. "I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.

Jeremiah 51:25 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:25

Behold, I [am] against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the
Lord, which destroyest all the earth
Babylon is called a mountain, though situated in a plain, because of its high walls, lofty towers, and hanging gardens, which made it look at a distance like a high mountain, as Lebanon, and others: or because it was a strong fortified city; so the Targum renders it, O destroying city: or because of its power and grandeur as a monarchy, it being usual to compare monarchies to mountains; see ( Isaiah 2:2 ) ( Zechariah 4:7 ) ; here called a "destroying" one for a reason given, because it destroyed all the earth, all the nations and kingdoms of it: the same character is given of mystical Babylon and its inhabitants, ( Revelation 11:18 ) : and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee:
in a way of vindictive wrath, pouring it out upon her, and inflicting his judgments on her; laying hold on and seizing her in a furious manner, as a man does his enemy, when he has found him: and roll them down from the rocks;
towers and fortresses in Babylon, which looked like rocks, but should be now demolished: and will make thee a burnt mountain:
reduced to cinders and ashes by the conflagration of it: or, "a burning mountain": like Etna and Vesuvius; we never read of the burning of literal Babylon, but we do of mystical Babylon: see ( Revelation 18:8 ) ; and with this compare ( Revelation 8:8 ) . The Targum renders it, a burnt city.

Jeremiah 51:25 In-Context

23 with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks; with you I shatter farmers and their teams; with you I shatter governors and deputies.

24 "But I will repay Bavel and all living in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil they did in Tziyon," says ADONAI, "before your eyes [, Y'hudah]."

25 "I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth," says ADONAI. "I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.

26 No one will make cornerstones or foundation-stones from you again; but you will be desolate forever," says ADONAI.

27 Raise up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon kingdoms against her - Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint an officer against her; bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.