Jeremiah 51:47

47 Trust me, the time is coming when I'll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place. I'll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud, with dead bodies strewn all over the place.

Jeremiah 51:47 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:47

Therefore, behold, the days come that I will do judgment on
the graven images of Babylon
Because of the connection of these words, some understand ( Jeremiah 51:46 ) of the report of the deliverance of the Jews time after time; and yet nothing came of it, which disheartened them; and they were used more cruelly, and with greater violence, by the Chaldeans and their kings, one after another; and "therefore" the following things are said; but the particle may be rendered "moreover" F14, as some observe; or "surely", certainly, of a truth, as in ( Jeremiah 5:2 ) ; the time is hastening on, the above things being done, when judgment shall be executed, not only upon Bel the chief idol, ( Jeremiah 51:44 ) ; but upon all the idols of the Chaldeans; which should be broke to pieces, and stripped of everything about them that was valuable; the Medes and Persians having no regard to images in their worship; though Dr. Prideaux F15 thinks that what is here said, and in ( Jeremiah 51:44 ) ; were fulfilled by Xerxes, when he destroyed and pillaged the Babylonian temples: and her whole land shall be confounded;
the inhabitants of it, when they see their images destroyed, in which they trusted for their safety: and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her;
in the midst of Babylon; where the king and his army were shut up, and dared not move out; and where they were slain when the army of Cyrus entered.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (Nkl) "praeterea"; so Gataker.
F15 Connexion, par. 1. B. 2. p. 101. B. 4. p. 242, 243.

Jeremiah 51:47 In-Context

45 Run for your lives, my dear people! Run, and don't look back! Get out of this place while you can, this place torched by God's raging anger.
46 Don't lose hope. Don't ever give up when the rumors pour in hot and heavy. One year it's this, the next year it's that - rumors of violence, rumors of war.
47 Trust me, the time is coming when I'll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place. I'll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud, with dead bodies strewn all over the place.
48 Heaven and earth, angels and people, will throw a victory party over Babylon When the avenging armies from the north descend on her." God's Decree! Remember God in Your Long and Distant Exile
49 "Babylon must fall - compensation for the war dead in Israel. Babylonians will be killed because of all that Babylonian killing.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.