1415 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I [am] against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth,.... Babylon is called a mountain, though situated in a plain, because of its high walls, lofty towers, and hanging gardens, which made it look at a distance like a high mountain, as Lebanon, and others: or because it was a strong fortified city; so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations,.... Signifying that it should be so utterly consumed by fire, that there should not be a stone left fit to be put into any new building, especially to be a corner or a foundation stone. The Targum understands it figuratively, "and they shall not take of thee a king...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Set ye up a standard in the land,.... Not in Chaldea, but rather in any land; or in all the countries which belonged to Media and Persia; where Cyrus's standard is ordered to be set up, to gather soldiers together, and enlist in his service, in order to go with him in his expedition against Babylon: blow the trumpet among the nations; for the same...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes,.... At the head of them, Darius and Cyrus. The Syriac version has it in the singular number, the king of the Modes: the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominions; that is, the inhabitants of it, the common people, with their princes, nobles,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the land shall tremble and sorrow,.... The land of Chaldea, the inhabitants of it, should tremble, when they heard of this powerful army invading their land, and besieging their metropolis; and should sorrow, and be in pain as a woman in travail, as the word (f) signifies: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon; or,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight,.... Or, "ceased from fighting" (h) 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 (i), and dared never fight more: they have remained in [their] holds; in the towers and fortresses of Babylon, never daring to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And that the passages are stopped,.... Or "taken", or "seized" (o); where Cyrus placed soldiers to keep them; these were the passages leading from the river Euphrates to the city, the keys of it; the little gates, that Herodotus (p) speaks of, leading to the river, which were left open that night. Kimchi thinks the towers built by the river side,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... "The Lord of hosts", the Lord God omnipotent, and can do all things; "the God of Israel", and therefore will plead their cause, and take vengeance on Babylon: the daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor; on which the nations of the earth had been threshed, or punished and destroyed;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me,.... Or "us" (w); everyone of us: these are the words of Zion and Jerusalem, as appears from Jeremiah 51:35; complaining of the injuries done them by the king of Babylon, who had eaten them up; spoiled their substance, as the Targum; took their cities, plundered them of their riches, and carried...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The violence done to me, and to my flesh, [be] upon Babylon,.... That is, let the injuries done to Zion and her children, be avenged on Babylon; the hurt done to their persons and families, and the spoiling of their goods, and destruction of their cities, houses, and substance: shall the inhabitant of Zion say; by way of imprecation: and my blood...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore thus saith the Lord,.... In answer to the prayers of the inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem, imprecating divine vengeance on Babylon: behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; not by words only, but by deeds, inflicting punishment on their enemies: and I will dry up her sea; the confluence of waters about Babylon; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Babylon shall become heaps,.... The houses should be demolished, and the stones lie in heaps one upon another, and become mere rubbish: a dwelling place for dragons; and other wild and savage creatures. Dragons, as Aelianus (a) observes, love to live in desert places, and such now Babylon is; it lies in ruins; and even its palace is so full of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall roar together like lions,.... Some understand this of the Medes and Persians, and the shouts they made at the attacking and taking of Babylon; but this does not so well agree with that, which seems to have been done in a secret and silent manner; rather according to the context the Chaldeans are meant, who are represented as roaring,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In their heat I will make their feasts,.... I will order it that their feasts shall be id the time of heat, that so they may be made drunk; so Jarchi: or when they are hot with feasting, I will disturb their feast by a handwriting on the wall; so Kimchi; see Daniel 5:1; to which he directs: or when they are inflamed with wine, I will put something...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,.... To the place of slaughter; who shall be able to make no more resistance than lambs. This explains what is meant by being made drunk, and sleeping a perpetual sleep, even destruction and death: like rams with he goats; denoting the promiscuous destruction of the prince and common people...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How is Sheshach taken!.... Not the city Shushan, as Sir John Marsham thinks (e); but Babylon, as is plain from a following clause; and so the Targum, "how is Babylon subdued!'' called Sheshach, by a position and commutation of letters the Jews call "athbash"; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel account for it; or else from their idol Shach, the same...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The sea is come up upon Babylon,.... A vast army, comparable to the great sea for the multitude thereof, even the army of the Medes and Persians under Cyrus; so the Targum, "a king with his armies, which are numerous like the waters of the sea, is come up against Babylon:'' she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof; being surrounded,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness,.... Which some understand of Babylon itself, divided into two parts by the river Euphrates running in the midst of it, called by Berosus (f) the inward and outward cities; though rather these design the rest of the cities in Chaldea, of which Babylon was the metropolis, the mother city,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will punish Bel in Babylon,.... The idol of the Babylonians, who had a temple in Babylon, where he was worshipped: the same is called Belus by Aelianus (g), Curtius (h), and Pausanias (i); perhaps the same Herodian (k) calls Belis, and says some take him to be Apollo; for more of him, [See comments on Isaiah 46:1]; and [See comments on...