Jeremiah 51:31

31 Runner to meet runner doth run, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For, captured hath been his city -- at the extremity.

Jeremiah 51:31 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:31

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet
another
That is, one post should be after another, and one messenger after another, post upon post, and messenger upon messenger, as fast as they could run; when one had been with his message, and delivered it, and returned, he meets another; or they met one another, coming from different places: to show the king of Babylon his city is taken at [one] end;
or, "at the end" ^F12; we render it "one end", as Kimchi does; at the end where Cyrus's army first landed, when they came up the channel of the river Euphrates they had drained. And so Herodotus ^F13 says, that when the Babylonians, which inhabited the "extreme parts" of the city, were taken, they that were in the middle of it were not sensible of it, because of the greatness of the city; and the rather, because they were engaged that night in feasting and dancing. Nay, Aristotle ^F14 says, it was reported that one part of the city was taken three days before the other end knew it, it being more like a country than a city; which does not seem credible, nor is it consistent with the Scripture account of it; however, it was taken by surprise, and some parts of it before the king was aware of it; who very probably had his palace in the middle of it, whither these messengers ran one after another, or from different parts, to acquaint him with it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (huqm) "a fine", Montanus; "ab extremitate", Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, De Dieu, Schmidt.
F13 L. 1. sive Clio, c. 191.
F14 Politic. l. 3. c. 3.

Jeremiah 51:31 In-Context

29 And shake doth the land, and it is pained, For stood against Babylon have the purposes of Jehovah, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

30 Ceased have the mighty of Babylon to fight, They have remained in strongholds, Failed hath their might, they have become woman, They have burnt her tabernacles, Broken have been her bars.

31 Runner to meet runner doth run, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For, captured hath been his city -- at the extremity.

32 And the passages have been captured, And the reeds they have burnt with fire, And the men of war have been troubled.

33 For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, The daughter of Babylon [is] as a threshing-floor, The time of her threshing -- yet a little, And come hath the time of her harvest.