Jeremiah 51:2

2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on [the] day of disaster.

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 Thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] going to stir up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.

2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on [the] day of disaster.

3 Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow, and let him not rise high in his body armor. And you must not spare her young men; destroy her whole army.

4 And they will fall slain in the land of [the] Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.

5 For neither Israel nor Judah [is] a widower from their God, from Yahweh of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel."