Jeremiah 51:14

14 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: “Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

Jeremiah 51:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:14

The Lord hath sworn by himself, [saying]
Or, "by his soul" or "life" ^F17; which is himself, than which he cannot swear by a greater, ( Hebrews 6:13 ) ; and the certain performance of what he swears unto need not be doubted of; and indeed the design of the oath is to assure of the truth of the thing, about which, after this, there ought to be no hesitation: surely I fill thee with men as with caterpillars;
or "locusts" ^F18; march in vast numbers, and make sad desolation where they come; and to which a numerous army may fitly be compared; and which are here meant, even the army of Cyrus, that should enter Babylon, and fill it, as it did. So the Targum,

``the Lord of hosts hath sworn by his word, if I fill them with armies of many people as locusts:''

and they shall lift up a shout against thee;
as soldiers, when they make the onset in battle; or as besiegers, when they make their attack on a city; or as when grape gatherers bring in their vintage, or tread out their wine, to which the allusion is: it signifies that her enemies should get an entire victory, and triumph over her.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wvpnb) "per animam suam", Pagninus, Cocceius, Schmidt.
F18 (qlyk) "ut, [vel] quasi brucho", V. L. Cocceius, Montanus, Grotius, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 51:14 In-Context

12 Raise the battle flag against Babylon! Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen. Prepare an ambush, for the LORD will fulfill all his plans against Babylon.

13 You are a city by a great river, a great center of commerce, but your end has come. The thread of your life is cut.

14 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: “Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

15 The LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.

16 When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.