Jeremiah 51:47

47 Assuredly, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.

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 Come out of her, my people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the Lord!
46 Do not be fainthearted or fearful at the rumors heard in the land— one year one rumor comes, the next year another, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
47 Assuredly, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.
48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall shout for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.