Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far
From Babylon, as in ( Jeremiah 4:16 ) : O house of Israel, saith the Lord;
though the house of Israel is generally taken for the ten tribes, especially when distinguished from the house of Judah; yet here it seems to design the Jews, the posterity of Jacob, or Israel in the land of Judea; for Israel, or the ten tribes, were carried captive into Assyria before this time: it is a mighty nation;
strong and powerful; so mighty that they would not be able to oppose them, and stand before them: "it is an ancient nation"; the Babylonish monarchy was the most ancient; it began in the times of Nimrod, ( Genesis 10:10 ) and therefore must be a nation of great power and experience that had so long subsisted, and consequently must be formidable to others: a nation whose language thou knowest not;
which was the Syriac language: this, it is plain, was not known by the common people among the Jews in Hezekiah's time, though some of the chief men understood it; wherefore Rabshakeh, the king of Assyria's general, would not deliver his railing speech in the Syriac language, which only the princes understood; but in the Hebrew language, the language of the common people, ( 2 Kings 18:26 2 Kings 18:28 ) , though, after the captivity, this language was understood by the Jews, and was commonly spoken by them, as it was in our Lord's time: neither understandest what they say;
so would be barbarians to each other; nor could they expect any mercy from them, or that quarters would be given them, when their petitions for favour and life could not be understood.
The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.