Jeremiah 51:56-58

56 A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.

57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

58 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

Jeremiah 51:56-58 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 51

The former part of this chapter is a continuation of the prophecy of the preceding chapter, concerning the destruction of Babylon, Jer 51:1-58; the latter part of it contains a prophecy of Jeremiah sent to the captives in Babylon by the hand of Seraiah, with the copy of the above prophecy against Babylon, and an order to fasten a stone to it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign, confirming the utter and irreparable ruin of Babylon, Jer 51:59-64.

Cross References

• 1. S ver 48; S Job 15:21
• 2. Psalms 46:9
• 3. S ver 6; S Genesis 4:24; S Deuteronomy 32:41; Psalms 94:1-2; Habakkuk 2:8
• 4. S ver 23
• 5. S Job 5:13
• 6. S Isaiah 21:5
• 7. S ver 39; Psalms 76:5; S Jeremiah 25:27
• 8. S Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 46:18; Jeremiah 48:15
• 9. S ver 44; S 2 Kings 25:4; S Isaiah 15:1
• 10. S Isaiah 13:2
• 11. ver 64
• 12. S Isaiah 47:13
• 13. S Isaiah 47:14; Habakkuk 2:13