Jeremiah 51:42

42 The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring 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 take them to be slaughtered, like lambs, goats, and rams. I, the Lord, have spoken."

41 The Lord says about Babylon: "The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations!

42 The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring waves.

43 The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels.

44 I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more. "Babylon's walls have fallen.