Jeremiah 50:13

13 Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown.

Jeremiah 50:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 50:13

Because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited,
&c.] That is, Babylon; which the Targum expresses,

``because thou, Babylon, hast provoked the Lord;''

by their idolatry, luxury, ill usage of his people, and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary; therefore it should be destroyed, and left without an inhabitant in it: but it shall be wholly desolate;
as it now is. Pausanias says ^F15, in his time there was nothing but a wall remaining; and Jerom ^F16 says, he had it from a brother Elamite, or Persian, that Babylon was then a park or place for royal hunting, and that beasts of every kind were kept within its walls: of mystical Babylon, see ( Revelation 16:19 ) ( 18:2 ) ; everyone that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all
her plagues;
any traveller that had seen it in its glory would now be astonished to see the desolation of it; and, by way of scorn and derision, hiss at the judgments of God upon it, and rejoice at them, and shake their head, as the Targum.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 509.
F16 Comment. in Isaiam, fol. 23. C.

Jeremiah 50:13 In-Context

11 "You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn't you? You lived it up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures, wild stallions out having a good time!

12 Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn't be pleased. Look at what's come of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds!

13 Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown.

14 Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing back. Knock her flat. She's sinned - oh, how she's sinned, against me!

15 Shout battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. 'Operation God's Vengeance.' Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her own medicine!