Jeremiah 51:30

30 The strong men of Babylon ceased of battle, they dwelled in strongholds; the strength of them is devoured, and they be made as women; the tabernacles thereof be burnt, the bars thereof be all-broken. (The strong men of Babylon ceased from battle, they lived in strongholds; their strength is devoured, and they be made like women; its buildings be burned down, its bars, or its locks, all be broken.)

Jeremiah 51:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:30

The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight
Or, "ceased from fighting" ^F8 for it seems, upon Cyrus's first coming, the king of Babylon and his army gave him battle; but being overthrown, they retired to the city ^F9, and dared never fight more: they have remained in [their] holds;
in the towers and fortresses of Babylon, never daring to sally out of the city, or appear in the field of battle any more; even though Cyrus sent the king of Babylon a personal challenge, to end the quarrel by a single combat ^F11: their might hath failed;
their courage sunk and was gone; they had no heart to face their enemy: they became as women;
as weak as they, as the Targum; timorous and fearful, having no courage left in them, and behaved more like women than men: they have burnt her dwelling places;
that is, the enemy burnt their houses, when they entered into the city, to inject terror into them: her bars are broken;
the bars of the gates of the city, or of the palaces of the king and nobles, and of the houses of the people, by the soldiers, to get the plunder; see ( Isaiah 45:1 Isaiah 45:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Mxlhl wldx) "cessaverunt a praelio", V. L. "desinent pugnare", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "cessarunt pugnare", Schmidt. So Pagninus, Montanus.
F9 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 5. c. 19. Herodot. l. 1. sive Clio. c. 190.
F11 Xenophon, ib. l. 5. c. 10.

Jeremiah 51:30 In-Context

28 Hallow ye folks against it, the kings of Media, the dukes thereof, and all the magistrates thereof, and all the land of his power. (Dedicate ye the nations against it, the king of the Medes, its rulers, and all its magistrates, and all the land of his power.)

29 And the earth shall be moved, and shall be troubled; for the thought of the Lord shall fully awaken against Babylon, that he set the land of Babylon (into) desert, and unhabitable. (And the earth shall be shaken, and shall be troubled; for the thought of the Lord shall fully awaken against Babylon, that he make the land of Babylon into a wilderness, and uninhabited.)

30 The strong men of Babylon ceased of battle, they dwelled in strongholds; the strength of them is devoured, and they be made as women; the tabernacles thereof be burnt, the bars thereof be all-broken. (The strong men of Babylon ceased from battle, they lived in strongholds; their strength is devoured, and they be made like women; its buildings be burned down, its bars, or its locks, all be broken.)

31 A runner shall come to meet a runner, and a messenger (shall come) to meet a messenger, to tell to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken from the one end till to the tother end;

32 and the forths be before-occupied, and the marishes be burnt with fire, and the men warriors be troubled. (and the fords, that is, the crossings, be occupied, or be seized, and the marshes be burned down, and the warriors be troubled.)