Jeremiah 51:41

41 "Babylon will be captured! The whole earth was very proud of it. But it will be taken over by others! The nations will be shocked when it falls.

Jeremiah 51:41 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:41

How is Sheshach taken!
&c.] Not the city Shushan, as Sir John Marsham thinks ^F5; but Babylon, as is plain from a following clause; and so the Targum,

``how is Babylon subdued!''

called Sheshach, by a position and commutation of letters the Jews call "athbash"; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel account for it; or else from their idol Shach, the same with Bel, which was worshipped here, and had a temple erected for it; and where an annual feast was kept in honour of it, called the Sacchean feast; and which was observing the very time the city was taken; and may be the true reason of its having this name given it now; (See Gill on Jeremiah 25:26); the taking of which was very wonderful; and therefore this question is put by way of admiration; it being so well fortified and provided to hold out a long siege: and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised?
for it was taken by stratagem and surprise, before the king and his guards, the army, and the inhabitants of it, were aware; that city, which was matter and occasion of praise to all the world, and went through it; for the compass of it, and height and strength of its walls; the river Euphrates that ran through it, and flowed about it; the temple, palaces, and gardens in it: how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
or, "a desolation"; and indeed its being a desolation was the reason of its being an astonishment among the nations; who were amazed to see so strong, rich, and splendid a city brought to ruin in a very short time.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Canon. Chron. p. 607.

Jeremiah 51:41 In-Context

39 They are stirred up. So I will set a big dinner in front of them. I will make them drunk. And they will shout and laugh. But then they will lie down and die. They will never wake up," announces the Lord.

40 "I will lead them down like lambs to be put to death. They will be like rams and goats that have been killed.

41 "Babylon will be captured! The whole earth was very proud of it. But it will be taken over by others! The nations will be shocked when it falls.

42 Babylon's enemies will sweep over it like an ocean. Like roaring waves they will cover it.

43 The towns of Babylonia will be empty. It will become a dry and desert land. No one will live there. No one will even travel through it.