1415 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My people, go ye out of the midst of her,.... This is a call of the Jews to go out of Babylon, not before the taking of the city by Cyrus; but when he should issue out a proclamation, giving them liberty to return to their own land; which many of them, being well settled in Babylon, would not be ready to accept of, but choose to continue there;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land,.... The rumour of war in the land of Chaldea; the report of the Medes and Persians preparing to invade it, and besiege Babylon, in the peace of which city the Jews had peace; and therefore might fear they should suffer in the calamities of it; but, lest they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the heaven and the earth, and all that [is] therein, shall sing for Babylon,.... At the destruction of her, rejoicing at it; not at the ruin of fellow creatures, simply considered; but relatively, at the righteousness of God in it, and the glory of his justice, and the deliverance of many by it from tyranny and bondage. This seems to be a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As Babylon [hath caused] the slain of Israel,.... In Jerusalem, when that city was taken the Chaldeans, and destroyed: so at Babylon shall all the slain of all the earth; or "land"; that is, the land of Chaldea; the inhabitants of which fled to Babylon upon the invasion of the Medes and Persians, both for their own safety, and the defence of that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still,.... The Jews, who had escaped the sword of the Chaldeans when Jerusalem was taken, and were carried captive into Babylon, where they had remained to this time; and had also escaped the sword of the Medes and Persians, when Babylon was taken; these are bid to go away from Babylon, and go...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach,.... These are the words of the Jews, either objecting to their return to their land; or lamenting the desolation of it; and complaining of the reproach it lay under, being destitute of inhabitants; the land in general lying waste and uncultivated; the city of Jerusalem and temple in ruins; and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images,.... Destroy their gods, who have reproached the God of Israel, and profaned his sanctuaries; and for that reason; [See comments on Jeremiah 51:47]; it is an answer to the objection and complaint of the Jews, and is designed for their comfort and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,.... Could the walls of it, which were very high, two hundred cubits high, as Herodotus (p) says, be carried up as high as heaven; or the towers of it, which were exceeding high, ten foot higher than the walls, as Curtius (q) says, likewise be raised to the same height: and though she should fortify the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A sound of a cry [cometh] from Babylon,.... Of the inhabitants of it upon its being taken; which is said to denote the certainty of it, which was as sure as if the cry of the distressed was then heard: and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans; that is, the report of a great destruction there, was, or would be, carried from thence, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon,.... By means of the Merits and Persians; these were his instruments he made use of; to these he gave commission, power, and strength to spoil Babylon; and therefore it is ascribed to him: and destroyed out of her the great voice; the noise of people, which is very great in populous cities, where people are...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon,.... That is, Cyrus, with his army: and her mighty men are taken; unawares, by surprise: everyone of their bows is broken; they had no strength to withstand the enemy, and were obliged to yield at once; lay down their arms, and submit: for the Lord God of recompences shall surely requite;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will make drunk her princes,.... With the wine of divine wrath; that is, slay them; though there may be an allusion to their being drunk with wine at the feast Belshazzar made for his thousand lords; who are the princes here intended, together with the king and his royal family, Daniel 5:1; and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... Because what follows might seem incredible ever to be effected; it is introduced with this preface, expressed by him who is the God of truth, and the Lord God omnipotent: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken; or rased up; the foundations of them, and the ground on which they stood made naked and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah,.... This word is no other than the above prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon, contained in this and the preceding chapter; or rather the order the prophet gave this prince to take a copy of it with him to Babylon, and there read it, and their cast it into the river Euphrates, with a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon,.... The evil of punishment predicted and threatened: this he delivered, not by word of mouth to Seraiah to relate when he came to Babylon; but he wrote it in a book for him reread; and he wrote it himself; Baruch, his amanuensis, not being now with him: [even] all these words...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah,.... At the time he delivered the copy to him: when thou comest to Babylon; or art come to Babylon, to the city of Babylon, and to the captive Jews there: and shalt see them; the captives; or rather the great and populous city of Babylon, its high walls, gates, and towers, whose destruction is foretold in this book,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then shall thou say, O Lord,.... Acknowledging this prophecy to be of God; believing the accomplishment of it; and praying over it, and for it, like a good man, as doubtless he was: thou hast spoken against this place; the city of Babylon, where Seraiah is now supposed to be: to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book,.... To the captive Jews; and having also said the above words by way of prayer and approbation: [that] thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; a river by which Babylon was situated. The book, being read, was to be rolled up again, and then a stone...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shall say,.... Not only use the above sign and ceremony, but explain the meaning of it to those of his friends who might accompany him; and what he said was in the name of the Lord, as the form and manner in which the following words are delivered show: thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her;...