Jeremiah 51:2

2 I will send people to winnow Babylon, to winnow it and strip its land bare. They will attack it from every direction on the day of trouble.

Jeremiah 51:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:2

And I will send unto Babylon farmers, that shall fan her, and
shall empty her land
Or, "strangers that shall fan her" ^F3; meaning the Medes and Persians, who should be like a strong wind upon the mountains, where corn, having been threshed, was fanned, and the chaff carried away by the wind; and such would the Chaldeans be in the hand of the Persians, scattered and dispersed among the nations as chaff with the wind, and their cities be emptied of inhabitants, and of their wealth and riches. The Targum is,

``I will send against Babylon spoilers, that shall spoil and exhaust the land:''

for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about;
in the time of the siege they shall surround her on all sides, so that none might escape; as Babylon had been a fanner of the Lord's people, now she should be fanned herself, and stripped of all she had; see ( Jeremiah 15:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Myrz) "alienos", Cocceius; some in Vatablus; so Kimchi, Ben Melech, Abendana.

Jeremiah 51:2 In-Context

1 This is what the LORD says: I will stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against the people who live in Leb Kamai.

2 I will send people to winnow Babylon, to winnow it and strip its land bare. They will attack it from every direction on the day of trouble.

3 Have the archers bend their bows. Have them put on their armor. Don't spare Babylon's young men. Completely destroy its whole army.

4 Babylon's soldiers will fall down badly wounded in their streets. They will lie dead in their own land.

5 Israel and Judah haven't been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Armies, although their land is guilty of abandoning the Holy One of Israel.