Jeremiah 50:9

9 For I am raising up an army of great nations from the north. They will join forces to attack Babylon, and she will be captured. The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark; they will not miss!

Jeremiah 50:9 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 50:9

For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon,
&c.] The work was of the Lord; it was he that would give a commission and a command to the enemies of Babylon; that would incline them, and stir them up, to come against her; that would direct their motions and guide them thither, so that it would assuredly be; wherefore it behooves the people of God to make haste out of it: an assembly of great nations from the north country;
the Medes and Persians, with their allies and auxiliaries which came with them from the north; as also a collection of Christian nations from the north of Europe against antichrist: and they shall set themselves in array against her;
draw up their army in form of battle, or prepare and dispose their instruments of war for the siege of Babylon: from thence shall she be taken;
on the north side, from which quarter the enemy should come; or from the place where their army is drawn up in battle array; or suddenly, and at once: so Babylon was destroyed by Cyrus; and the destruction of Rome, or mystical Babylon, will be sudden and at an unawares, ( Revelation 18:8 ) ; their arrows [shall be] as of a mighty expert man;
or "that bereaves"

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 women of their husbands, and parents of their children: the Medes and Persians were famous for archery, strong to draw the bow, and skilful to guide and direct the arrow. Strabo ^F8 says of Media major, that it sometimes furnished out thirteen thousand archers to the Elymaeans, or Persians, against the Susians and Babylonians; none shall return in vain;
not one of the arrows but shall do execution, kill a man: or "it", or "he, which" or "who, shall not return in vain" ^F9; the assembly of nations, or anyone of the archers or soldiers.
F7 (lykvm) "orbantis", Pagninus, Vatablus, Piscator.
F8 Geograph. l. 11. p. 361.
F9 (Mqyr bwvy al) "quae non redibit frustra", Schmidt; "quae non revertitur frustra", De Dieu; "qui non redit vacuus", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 50:9 In-Context

7 All who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them, for they sinned against the LORD, their true place of rest, and the hope of their ancestors.’

8 “But now, flee from Babylon! Leave the land of the Babylonians. Like male goats at the head of the flock, lead my people home again.

9 For I am raising up an army of great nations from the north. They will join forces to attack Babylon, and she will be captured. The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark; they will not miss!

10 Babylonia will be looted until the attackers are glutted with loot. I, the LORD, have spoken!

11 “You rejoice and are glad, you who plundered my chosen people. You frisk about like a calf in a meadow and neigh like a stallion.