Jeremias 51:33

33 Whereas thou hast said, Alas! alas! for the Lord has laid a grievous trouble upon me; I lay down in groaning, I found no rest;

Jeremias 51:33 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:33

For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel
"The Lord of hosts", the Lord God omnipotent, and can do all things; "the God of Israel", and therefore will plead their cause, and take vengeance on Babylon: the daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor;
on which the nations of the earth had been threshed, or punished and destroyed; and now she was like a threshing floor, unto which should be gathered, and on which should be laid, her king, princes, and the people of the land, and be there beat and crushed to pieces. The Targum renders it the congregation of Babylon; and the Septuagint the houses of the king of Babylon; so the Arabic version: [it is] time to thresh her;
not the floor, but the sheaves on it: or, "it is the time to tread her" F21; as corn was trodden out by the oxen; or rather as threshing floors, being new laid with earth, were trodden, and so made hard and even, and by that means prepared for threshing against the harvest; when the corn would be ripe, cut down, and gathered in, and laid up, as follows: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come;
when she would be ripe for ruin, and God would, by his instruments, put in the sickle of his wrath, and cut her down, her king, her princes, her cities, and her people; see ( Revelation 14:15 Revelation 14:16 ) . The Targum is,

``and yet a very little while, and spoilers shall come to her.''

FOOTNOTES:

F21 (hkyrdh te) "tempus calcandi eam", Pagninus, Calvin; "tempus calcare eam", Montanus; "eo tempore quo illa calcari solet", Piscator.

Jeremias 51:33 In-Context

31 THE WORD WHICH JEREMIAS THE PROPHET spoke to Baruch son of Nerias, when he wrote these words in the book from the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.
32 Thus has the Lord said to thee, O Baruch.
33 Whereas thou hast said, Alas! alas! for the Lord has laid a grievous trouble upon me; I lay down in groaning, I found no rest;
34 say thou to him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I pull down those whom I have built up, and I pluck up those whom I have planted.
35 And wilt thou seek great things for thyself? seek not: for, behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but I will give thy life for a spoil in every place whither thou shalt go.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.