King James Version
Jeremiah 50
46 verses with commentary
Prophecy Against Babylon
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. by: Heb. by the hand of Jeremiah
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.</strong> This superscription introduces the longest prophetic oracle against a single nation in Scripture (chapters 50-51). The explicit divine origin—"the word that the LORD spake"—emphasizes that judgment on Babylon comes from God's sovereign decree, not human vengeance or national...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **By Jeremiah the prophet.**—Literally, *by the hand of Jeremiah. *The phrase is not found elsewhere in Jeremiah’s writings, with the one exception of Jeremiah 37:2. It probably indicates that the prophecy that follows was written with his own hand, and not dictated. (See Jeremiah 51:60.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. set up: Heb. lift up
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KJV Study Commentary
God commands the proclamation of Babylon's fall throughout the earth. Babylon, instrument of God's judgment on other nations, now faces judgment itself. The specific mention of Bel and Merodach (chief Babylonian deities) emphasizes the futility of idol worship. When Babylon falls, her gods fall with her - exposing their powerlessness. Only YAHWEH stands eternally; all false gods are 'confounded' a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Set up** **a standard.**—Better, *lift up a signal. *The noun is the same as in Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 4:21. Here, however, its use is not that of furnishing a rallying point for an army, but that of a means of rapid communication, like the succession of beacon-fires in the opening of the *Agamemnon *of Æschylus (*Agam., *272-307). The tidings of the fall of Babylon are to be proclaimed as q...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her</strong>—the 'north' (<em>tsaphon</em>, צָפוֹן) is Jeremiah's consistent direction of threat (1:14, 4:6, 6:1). Ironically, Babylon itself invaded from the north; now a northern coalition will destroy Babylon. History reveals this as the Medo-Persian alliance (Daniel 5:28-31). The phrase 'cometh up' (<em>'alah</em>, עָלָה, ascending,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Out of the north there cometh up a nation.**—It is significant that the very phrase which had described the danger that threatened Judah from Babylon (Jeremiah 1:10) is now used for the danger that threatened Babylon itself from Media. It is as though the prophet watched that northern quarter of the heavens, and saw storm after storm, torrent after torrent, bursting out upon the south. The n...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
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KJV Study Commentary
In those days when Babylon falls, 'the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, weeping, and seeking the LORD their God.' This reunification of divided kingdoms (Israel and Judah) under shared repentance looks eschatologically toward ultimate restoration. Tears of repentance precede restoration. They will 'seek the LORD their God' - true worship returns after idolatr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **The children of Israel shall come . . .**—The union of the divided sections of the people is significant as being that which the prophet had all along hoped for (Jeremiah 3:14-16). And the united people are to return with tears of mingled joy and penitence (comp. Ezra 3:13; Ezra 8:21-23), no longer worshipping Baal and the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17), but “seeking Jehovah...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
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KJV Study Commentary
They will ask the way to Zion 'with their faces thitherward' and join themselves to the LORD in 'a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.' This covenant language points to the new covenant in Christ's blood (Jer 31:31-34, Heb 13:20). The phrase 'perpetual covenant' emphasizes its eternal, unchangeable nature - unlike the old covenant which was broken.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.**—Literally, *hitherward. *The correction is not without significance, as showing that the prophecy was written in Judah, and therefore as far as that fact goes, as being in favour of Jeremiah’s authorship.
**A perpetual covenant.**—The prophet may have had the promise of the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31 in his thoughts, as being...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. restingplace: Heb. place to lie down in
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.</strong> This verse employs the shepherd-sheep metaphor central to biblical ecclesiology. The phrase "lost sheep" anticipates Jesus' self-identification as the Good Shepherd seeking the lost...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **My people hath been lost sheep . . .**—We note as interesting the dominance of this imagery here as in Isaiah 53:6; Ezekiel 34:5. The “shepherds” are, as ever, the kings and civil rulers of the people. In the “mountains” and “hills” we see partly the natural surroundings of the imagery, partly a special reference to the idolatrous worship of the high places (Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 3:6). The ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-27. Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath [Eichorn].
**gate of ... children of ... people--**The gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain"...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All that found them have devoured them</strong>—Judah's enemies (<em>matsahem</em>, מְצָאֵיהֶם, those who found them, encountered them) became their predators. The verb <em>'akal</em> (אָכַל, devoured, consumed) depicts savage, animalistic destruction. Babylon, Edom, Ammon, and others plundered defenseless Judah during exile (Psalm 137:7, Obadiah 11-14).<br><br><strong>And their adversarie...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Their adversaries said, We offend not . . .**—The words are suggestive as indicating a special aspect of the thoughts of the prophet as to the idolatry of Judah. What was to him its extremest humiliation. was that it put a taunt into the mouths of the enemies of her people. They were able to say, “We are acting rightly: we are but instruments in the hands of God.” The words that follow can s...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.</strong> This command to flee Babylon anticipates Cyrus's decree allowing return but carries deeper theological significance. The verb <em>nudu</em> ("remove/flee") suggests urgency—not leisurely departure but escape from danger. God's people must not linger in the p...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Remove out of the midst of Babylon . . .—**The prophet re-echoes almost the very words of Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 52:11. It is obviously in marked contrast with the counsels in Jeremiah 29:5-7 that the exiles should build houses and plant gardens, and seek the peace of the city of their conquerors. That was a wise and right counsel for the time, but it was for a time only; and when the hour of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man ; none shall return in vain. expert: or, destroyer
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country</strong>—the emphatic '<strong>I will raise</strong>' (<em>anokhi me'ir</em>, אָנֹכִי מֵעִיר) stresses divine agency. God orchestrates historical events, mobilizing ('causing to come up,' <em>ma'aleh</em>, מַעֲלֶה) an 'assembly' (<em>qahal</em>, קָהַל, congregation, coalition) of ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **An assembly of great nations from the north country.**—Like all the great monarchies of the East, the Medo-Persian kingdom, which was to be the destroyer of Babylon, was made up of a congeries of many different races. Herodotus (vii. 61-69), in his account of the army of Xerxes, names twenty-two, from the Medes and Persians at the head of the list to the Arabians and Ethiopians at its close....
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Jr 18:1-23. God, as the Sole Sovereign, Has an Absolute Right to Deal with Nations According to Their Conduct towards Him; Illustrated in a Tangible Form by the Potter's Moulding of Vessels from Clay.
**2. go down--**namely, from the high ground on which the temple stood, near which Jeremiah exercised his prophetic office, to the low ground, where some well-known (this is the force of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 4-9** As Jesus was God and man in one person, we find him sometimes speaking, or spoken of, as the Lord God; at other times, as man and the servant of Jehovah. He was to declare the truths which comfort the broken, contrite heart, those weary of sin, harassed with afflictions. And as the Holy Spirit was upon him, that he might speak as never man spake; so the same Divine influence daily w...
Read full commentary →And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Chaldea shall be a spoil</strong>—Chaldea (כַּשְׂדִּים, Kasdim) refers to southern Mesopotamia, Babylon's heartland. The term 'spoil' (<em>meshissah</em>, מְשִׁסָּה, plunder, booty) indicates comprehensive looting. What Babylon did to other nations (Jeremiah 50:17, 51:34) will be done to them—the law of retaliation (lex talionis) applied on a national scale.<br><br><strong>All that spo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Chaldea.**—The same word is used as for Chaldæans, but it is treated as the name of the country, and is therefore joined with a verb in the feminine singular.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. wheels--**literally, "on both stones." The potter's horizontal lathe consisted of two round plates, the lower one larger, the upper smaller; of stone originally, but afterwards of wood. On the upper the potter moulded the clay into what shapes he pleased. They are found represented in Egyptian remains. In Ex 1:16 alone is the Hebrew word found elsewhere, but in a different sense.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 10** ,11 A child of God is afraid of incurring his displeasure. This grace usually appears most in believers when in darkness, when other graces appear not. Those that truly fear God, obey the voice of Christ. A sincere servant of God may for a long time be without views of eternal happiness. What is likely to be an effectual cure in this sad case? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; an...
Read full commentary →Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass , and bellow as bulls; fat: Heb. big, or, corpulent bellow: or, neigh as steeds
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage</strong>—Babylon's sin was not merely conquering Judah but rejoicing in Israel's downfall. The Hebrew <em>samach</em> (שָׂמַח, glad) and <em>alaz</em> (עָלַז, rejoiced) describe exultant, gloating celebration over God's people. Calling Israel <strong>mine heritage</strong> (<em>nachalah</em>, נַחֲלָה) emphasizes Ba...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Destroyers of mine heritage.**—Better, *plunderers *or *robbers.*
**Ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass.**—Better, the Hebrew text being in the singular, *thou leapedst as the heifer while threshing. *The rule of Deuteronomy 25:4 (“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn “) made the image significant enough. The English version has, however, the support of the LXX. and V...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. marred--**spoiled. "Of clay" is the true reading, which was corrupted into "as clay" (Margin), through the similarity of the two Hebrew letters, and from Jr 18:6, "as the clay."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed</strong>—'Your mother' refers to Babylon itself as the mother-city of the empire. <em>Bosh</em> (בּוֹשׁ, confounded) means put to shame, humiliated, disappointed in expectation. <em>Chapher</em> (חָפֵר, ashamed) intensifies this—disgraced, reproached. The personification makes the judgment vivid: the proud city will e...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Your mother shall be sore confounded . . .**—The prophet speaks to the people of Babylon, and the city is therefore described as their mother.
**The hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness . . .**—The interpolated words mar the force of the sentence. Better, *behold the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a waste, and a desert. *This was to be the state to which Babylon should ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited</strong>—the cause is explicitly divine wrath (<em>qetseph</em>, קֶצֶף), God's intense anger against sin. Unlike natural disasters or military misfortunes, this desolation comes directly from Yahweh's judgment. The permanence is emphasized: 'it shall not be inhabited'—Babylon would never be rebuilt to its former glory.<br><br><stro...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Every one that goeth . . .**—We note the reproduction of the formula of Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 49:17.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. Refuting the Jews' reliance on their external privileges as God's elect people, as if God could never cast them off. But if the potter, a mere creature, has power to throw away a marred vessel and raise up other clay from the ground, a fortiori God, the Creator, can cast away the people who prove unfaithful to His election and can raise others in their stead (compare Is 45:9; 64:8; Ro 9:20, 21)...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about</strong>—God commands the Medo-Persian coalition to arrange for battle, surrounding the city. <em>Arak</em> (עָרַךְ, put in array) is military terminology for organizing troops strategically. The divine commander orders the siege that will bring His judgment.<br><br><strong>All ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **All ye that bend the bow.**—The words are descriptive of the light-armed troops that formed the strength of the Medo-Persian army (see Jeremiah 49:35; Jeremiah 1:14). The words belong properly to the previous clause, and the colon should come after them. Stress is laid in the latter clause on the fact that Babylon has sinned in her cruelty and luxury and tyranny against the righteous govern...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. At what instant--**in a moment, when the nation least expects it. Hereby he reminds the Jews how marvellously God had delivered them from their original degradation, that is, In one and the same day ye were the most wretched, and then the most favored of all people [Calvin].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand</strong>—the war cry signals victory. 'Given her hand' (<em>nathan yad</em>, נָתַן יָד) is an idiom for surrender, submission, making covenant. Babylon capitulates, the siege succeeds. <strong>Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down</strong>—the massive defensive walls that seemed impregnable are breached. Herodotus descr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **She hath given her hand.**—The words paint the attitude of one who submits and stretches forth his hand, as a sign that he gives himself into the power of the conqueror. (Comp. Ezra 10:19; 2Chronicles 30:8; Lamentations 5:6.) So in Latin “*dare manum*” was a synonym for submission (Cic. *de Amic. *26).
**Her foundations are fallen.**—Better, with the LXX., *bastions *or *bulwarks.*
**As she...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. their evil--**in antithesis to, "the evil that I thought to do."
**repent--**God herein adapts Himself to human conceptions. The change is not in God, but in the circumstances which regulate God's dealings: just as we say the land recedes from us when we sail forth, whereas it is we who recede from the land (Eze 18:21; 33:11). God's unchangeable principle is to do the best that can be done ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. sickle; or, scythe
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest</strong>—agricultural imagery depicts total economic devastation. The <em>zore'a</em> (זֹרֵעַ, sower) who plants and the reaper with the <em>maggil</em> (מַגָּל, sickle) represent the entire agricultural cycle from planting to harvest. Cutting them off means no food production, economic collapse, famine...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Cut off the sower . . .**—The rich alluvial plains of Babylon, so plentiful that they yielded an increase of two hundred-fold (Herod. iii. 8), were to be laid waste. There may, possibly, be a special reference to the fields within the walls of the city, upon which the population largely depended, and which were now to be devastated. (Diod. Sic. ii. 9; Pliny, *Hist. Nat. *xi. 111.)
**For fea...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
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KJV Study Commentary
Israel is described as 'a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away.' The lion imagery represents conquering empires - first Assyria devoured Israel (northern kingdom), then Babylon 'hath broken his bones.' Despite being prey to predatory nations, God calls Israel 'my sheep,' affirming covenant relationship despite scattering. The Good Shepherd will gather His flock (John 10:11-16).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Israel is a scattered sheep . . .**—The words paint vividly the two blows that had fallen on Israel, as a sheep driven from the fold: first from the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom by Salmaneser, and then, when, as it were, the carcase was half devoured and only the bones left, from that of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. The “lion” appears here, as in Daniel 7:4, as the symbol of the gr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel</strong>—the covenant formula establishes divine authority. 'LORD of hosts' (<em>Yahweh tseba'oth</em>, יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת) emphasizes God's command over all heavenly and earthly armies. Though speaking judgment on pagan Babylon, He identifies as 'God of Israel,' reminding that this judgment serves His covenant purposes for His people....
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **As I have punished the king of Assyria.**—Nineveh had fallen before Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, and Babylon was in like manner to fall before Cyrus. The one judgment was the pledge and earnest of the other.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. frame evil--**alluding to the preceding image of "the potter," that is, I, Jehovah, am now as it were the potter framing evil against you; but in the event of your repenting, it is in My power to frame anew My course of dealing towards you.
**return, &c.--**(2Ki 17:13).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will bring Israel again to his habitation</strong>—God promises restoration following judgment. The verb <em>shuv</em> (שׁוּב, bring again) means to return, restore, bring back—the same word used for repentance. Israel's return is both geographical (back to the land) and spiritual (back to covenant relationship). 'His habitation' (<em>naveh</em>, נָוֶה) means pasture, dwelling place—...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **I will bring Israel again to his habitation.—**Better, *to his pasturage *(as in Jeremiah 10:25; Jeremiah 23:3), as keeping up the figure of Jeremiah 50:17. The “scattered sheep” was to be brought back and to find pasture. The regions named are the representatives of the most fertile districts of Palestine, Carmel and Mount Ephraim on the west (Ezekiel 34:13), Bashan and Gilead on the east,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. no hope--**Thy threats and exhortations are all thrown away (Jr 2:25). Our case is desperate; we are hopelessly abandoned to our sins and their penalty. In this and the following clauses, "We will walk after our own devices," Jeremiah makes them express the real state of the case, rather than the hypocritical subterfuges which they would have been inclined to put forth. So Is 30:10, 11.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
In the context of Babylon's fall and Israel's return, God promises to forgive Israel's sins completely - 'they shall not be found.' This points beyond the exile's end to the new covenant where sins are remembered no more (Jer 31:34). God pardons 'the remnant whom I reserve' - highlighting sovereign election. Only God's preserving grace accounts for any surviving faith.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **In those days, and in that time . . .**—The formula is that which in prophetic language points to the far-off times of the Christ. Their restoration to their earthly homes was but a small thing. That which was to the prophet the great blessing of the future was that it would bring with it the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31, pardon and peace, iniquity and sin remembered no more.
**I will par...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. (Jr 2:10, 11). Even among the heathen it was a thing unheard of, that a nation should lay aside its gods for foreign gods, though their gods are false gods. But Israel forsook the true God for foreign false gods.
**virgin of Israel--**(2Ki 19:21). It enhances their guilt, that Israel was the virgin whom God had specially betrothed to Him.
**horrible thing--**(Jr 5:30).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. of Merathaim: or, of the rebels Pekod: or, Visitation
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod</strong>—these names carry symbolic significance beyond geography. <em>Merathaim</em> (מְרָתַיִם) is a dual form meaning 'double rebellion' or 'double bitterness,' possibly punning on the region Marrattu in southern Babylonia. <em>Pekod</em> (פְּקוֹד) means 'punishment' or 'visitation,' punning on th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Go up against the land of Merathaim.—**No such name is found in Babylonian inscriptions or is mentioned by historians. The most probable explanation of its use is that the prophet coined it as a descriptive word (= land of two rebellions), and then substituted it, after his manner (as with Sheshach, Jeremiah 25:6; Magor-missabib, Jeremiah 20:3), for the name Aram-Naharaim (= land of the two...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14. Is there any man (living near it) who would leave the snow of Lebanon (that is, the cool melted snow water of Lebanon, as he presently explains), which cometh from the rock of the field (a poetical name for Lebanon, which towers aloft above the surrounding field, or comparatively plain country)? None. Yet Israel forsakes Jehovah, the living fountain close at hand, for foreign broken cisterns. ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction</strong>—the Hebrew <em>qol milchamah</em> (קוֹל מִלְחָמָה, sound of battle) and <em>shever gadol</em> (שֶׁבֶר גָּדוֹל, great destruction) create vivid auditory imagery. War's noise—clashing weapons, shouting armies, collapsing structures—echoes through Babylon. <em>Shever</em> (שֶׁבֶר) means breaking, fracture, ruin, collapse—used...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Because--**rather, "And yet"; in defiance of the natural order of things.
**forgotten me--**(Jr 2:32). This implies a previous knowledge of God, whereas He was unknown to the Gentiles; the Jews' forgetting of God, therefore, arose from determined perversity.
**they have caused ... to stumble--**namely the false prophets and idolatrous priests have.
**ancient paths--**(Jr 6:16): the pat...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!</strong> Babylon is called the <em>pattish</em> (פַּטִּישׁ, hammer), a striking metaphor for the empire that shattered nations and forged empires. God used Babylon as His instrument of judgment (Jeremiah 51:20), but now the hammer itself is <em>gada</em> (גָּדַע, cut down, hewn off) and <em>shabar</em> (שָׁבַר, shattered). The ir...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder . . . !**—The image had been used before (Jeremiah 23:29) of the might of right as seen in the words of Jehovah. Here it describes the right of might as seen in the despotism of Babylon. The name of Charles Martel and, according to one etymology, that of Judas Maccabæus, present interesting parallelisms. And now the hammer itself, which had b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. hissing--**(1Ki 9:8). In sign of contempt. That which was to be only the event is ascribed to the purpose of the people, although altogether different from what they would have been likely to hope for. Their purpose is represented as being the destruction of their country, because it was the inevitable result of their course of acting.
**wag ... head--**in mockery (2Ki 19:21; Mt 27:39). As...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I have laid a snare for thee</strong>—God Himself sets the trap (<em>yaqosh</em>, יָקֹשׁ, to ensnare, lay a trap). <strong>And thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware</strong>—the hunter becomes the hunted. The Hebrew <em>lakad</em> (לָכַד, captured, seized) emphasizes sudden, inescapable capture. Babylon's fall came swiftly; Cyrus conquered the city in one night while Bels...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **I have laid a snare for thee.**—The two captures of Babylon by Cyrus and Darius both answered to this description. Cyrus turned aside the waters of the Euphrates into another channel, and entered by the river-bed, so that the city was taken before those who lived in the middle of the city knew that it was attacked (Herod. i. 191). In the latter case the gates were opened to Darius by the tr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. as with an east wind--**literally, "I will scatter them, as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind (Job 27:21; Psa 48:7; Is 27:8). Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east wind."
**I will show them the back ... not ... face--**just retribution: as "they turned their back unto Me ... not their face" (Jr 2:27).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The LORD hath opened his armoury</strong>—the Hebrew <em>otsar</em> (אוֹצָר, treasure house, storehouse) suggests God's arsenal of judgment weapons stored and ready for appointed times. <strong>And hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation</strong>—the <em>kelei za'am</em> (כְּלֵי זַעַם, instruments of wrath) are the Medes and Persians whom God deploys as His agents (Isaiah 13:5, 1...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **The Lord hath opened his armoury.**—The word is the same as that for “treasures” in Jeremiah 10:13; Jeremiah 51:16, the choice of the appropriate English word being determined, in each case, by the context. Here the figure is that of a mighty king going to his arsenal and equipping himself with the weapons which will insure his victory. An expansion of the same imagery is found in Wisdom Of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
18. (Jr 11:19). Let us bring a capital charge against him, as a false prophet; "for (whereas he foretells that this land shall be left without priests to teach the law, Mal 2:7; without scribes to explain its difficulties; and without prophets to reveal God's will), the law shall not perish from the prophet," &c.; since God has made these a lasting institution in His church, and the law declar...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. from: Heb. from the end cast: or, tread her
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Come against her from the utmost border</strong>—invaders are summoned from distant lands, fulfilling Isaiah 13:5's prophecy of God bringing forces 'from a far country.' <strong>Open her storehouses</strong>—Babylon's famed granaries and treasuries that held wealth from conquered nations would be plundered. The irony: what Babylon stored from others' labor enriches her conquerors.<br><br><...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Open her storehouses.**—The noun is not found elsewhere. Probably *granaries *would be a better rendering. The word for “heaps” is used in Song Song of Solomon 7:2; Ruth 3:7 for “heaps of corn,” and this is probably its meaning here. In Nehemiah 4:2, however, it is used of heaps of rubbish. The stored-up provisions of the captured city are to be piled up in its open places, as men pile the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. Give heed--**contrasted with, "let us not give heed" (Jr 18:18). As they give no heed to me, do Thou, O Lord, give heed to me, and let my words at least have their weight with Thee.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Slay all her bullocks</strong>—the <em>parim</em> (פָּרִים, young bulls) likely symbolize Babylon's warriors and princes (Jeremiah 46:21, 50:11). Bulls represented strength and virility; calling warriors 'bullocks' both acknowledges their power and ironically depicts their slaughter like sacrificial animals. <strong>Let them go down to the slaughter</strong>—the Hebrew <em>tebach</em> (טֶב...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Slay all her bullocks.**—The words are probably to be taken figuratively of the captains and men of war of Babylon, as in Psalm 22:12; Isaiah 34:7; Jeremiah 48:15 (see Note), and Jeremiah 51:40.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
20. In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type of Jesus Christ (Psa 109:4, 5; Joh 15:25).
**my soul--**my life; me (Psa 35:7).
**I stood before thee ... to turn away thy wrath--**so Moses (Psa 106:23; compare Eze 22:30). So Jesus Christ, the antitype of previous partial intercessors (Is 59:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon</strong>—Jewish exiles who survive Babylon's fall return <strong>to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God</strong>. This connects directly to Cyrus's decree allowing Jewish return (Ezra 1:1-4). The returning exiles bear witness that Babylon's fall demonstrates God's righteous judgment.<br><br><strong>The vengeanc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **The voice of them that flee . . .**—The abruptness of the opening words, as if the prophet heard the cry of the escaping exiles, would be perhaps best represented by *Hark, the voice** . . .*** The words that follow define the cry as coming chiefly from the captive Jews, who see in the destruction of Babylon the vengeance of Jehovah for the destruction of His Temple.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. pour out their blood by the force of the sword--**literally, "by the hands of the sword." So Eze 35:5. Maurer with Jerome translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But compare Psa 63:10, Margin; Is 53:12. In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
God calls archers to besiege Babylon and 'let none thereof escape' because 'she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.' Pride against God is the fundamental sin (Isa 14:13-14). Babylon, though used by God to judge others, grew arrogant and forgot her role as instrument. God resists the proud (James 4:6, 1 Pet 5:5). No one sins against God with impunity.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Recompense her according to her work . . .**—As before, in Jeremiah 50:15, the prophet sees in the fall of Babylon the working of the Divine law of retribution. In “the Holy One of Israel” we note the occurrence, for the first time in Jeremiah, of the characteristic name which is so prominent in Isaiah, and is seldom found elsewhere. It occurs again in Jeremiah 51:5.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. cry--**by reason of the enemy bursting in: let their houses be no shelter to them in their calamities [Calvin].
**digged ... pit--**(Jr 18:20; Psa 57:6; 119:85).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets</strong>—Babylon's military strength, represented by <em>bachurim</em> (בַּחוּרִים, choice young men, warriors in their prime), will be cut down in urban combat. <strong>And all her men of war shall be cut off</strong>—<em>damah</em> (דָּמָה, silenced, destroyed, brought to nothing) suggests complete military annihilation.<br><br><strong>In...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **Therefore shall her young men fall . . .**—The verse is reproduced almost *literatim *from the prophecy against Damascus in Jeremiah 49:26.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. forgive not--**(Psa 109:9, 10, 14).
**blot out--**image from an account-book (Re 20:12).
**before thee--**Hypocrites suppose God is not near, so long as they escape punishment; but when He punishes, they are said to stand before Him, because they can no longer flatter themselves they can escape His eye (compare Psa 90:8).
**deal thus--**exert Thy power against them [Maurer].
**time o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. most: Heb. pride
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud</strong>—God directly addresses Babylon as <em>zdon</em> (זָדוֹן, pride, arrogance, presumption). Pride was Babylon's characteristic sin: the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:4), Nebuchadnezzar's boast (Daniel 4:30), Belshazzar's sacrilege (Daniel 5:22-23). <strong>I am against thee</strong> is one of Scripture's most terrifying phrases—when God sets ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **O thou most proud.**—Literally, *O Pride, *the prophet using the word (*Zadon*) as a proper name for Babylon, as he had before used Merathaim and Pekod (Jeremiah 50:21). It is analogous in its meaning to the Rahab of Isaiah 51:9; Psalm 87:4; Psalm 89:10, as the name of Egypt. The word points, perhaps, to the self-exaltation of Nebuchadnezzar as embodying that of his people (Daniel 4:30).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. the: Heb. pride
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the most proud shall stumble and fall</strong>—<em>zdon</em> (זָדוֹן, the pride, arrogance) personified will <em>kashal</em> (כָּשַׁל, stumble, totter) and <em>naphal</em> (נָפַל, fall, collapse). Pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). <strong>And none shall raise him up</strong>—no ally, no god, no power can restore what God casts down. Babylon had numerous vassal nations and...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **And the most proud shall stumble . . .**—As before, *Pride. *The gender of the pronoun in “none shall raise *him *up” is determined by that of the Hebrew noun. The words furnish a striking illustration of the teaching of Proverbs 16:18.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 19 Jr 19:1-15. The Desolation of the Jews for Their Sins Foretold in the Valley of Hinnom; the Symbol of Breaking a Bottle.
Referred by Maurer, &c., to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.
**1. bottle--**Hebrew, bakuk, so called from the gurgling sound which it makes when being emptied.
**ancients--**elders. As witnesses of the symbolic action (Jr 19:10; Is 8:1, 2), that the Jews m...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.</strong> The title <em>Go'alam chazaq</em> ("their Redeemer is strong") employs kinsman-redeemer language (<em>go'el</em>), presenting God as family protector who avenges wrongs and redeems enslaved relatives (Leviticus 2...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(33) **Were oppressed.**—Better, *are oppressed, *and so on through the verse. The English tense is misleading. The prophet, having described the doom that lies in the future, now returns to the present, and finds in the actual state of Israel that which made the destruction of Babylon a necessary condition of its liberation. All appeals to the mercy of their conquerors, Assyrian or Chaldæan, had ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. valley of the son of Hinnom--**or Tophet, south of Jerusalem, where human victims were offered, and children made to pass through the fire, in honor of Molech.
**east gate--**Margin, "sun gate," sunrise being in the east. Maurer translates, the "potter's gate." Through it lay the road to the valley of Hinnom (Jos 15:8). The potters there formed vessels for the use of the temple, which was c...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
The title 'Redeemer' (Hebrew 'go'el') refers to the kinsman-redeemer who buys back family property or avenges wrongdoing. Applied to God as 'their Redeemer,' it emphasizes His covenant commitment to Israel. The phrase 'the LORD of hosts is his name' invokes military imagery - God commands heaven's armies. He will 'thoroughly plead their cause' against Babylon. God advocates for His people with His...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(34) **Their Redeemer is strong.**—The word for “Redeemer” (*Goël*) includes, as elsewhere (Numbers 35:12; Ruth 4:1; Ruth 4:8; Job 19:25), the thought of “the next of kin,” with whom the right of redemption (in the technical sense) rested, and to whom belonged the duty of pleading for and avenging his kinsman when oppressed. It is interesting to note, in connection with the obvious allusion to Pro...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. The scene of their guilt is chosen as the scene of the denunciation against them.
**kings--**the king and queen (Jr 13:18); or including the king's counsellors and governors under him.
**tingle--**as if struck by a thunder peal (1Sa 3:11; 2Ki 21:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD</strong> (חֶרֶב עַל־כַּשְׂדִּים, <em>cherev al-Kasdim</em>)—The fivefold anaphora 'a sword upon' creates relentless drumbeat of judgment. Babylon, who wielded God's sword against nations (27:6-8), now faces that same weapon turned against them. The <em>cherev</em> (sword) represents both military conquest and divine judgment. <strong>Upon the i...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(35) **A sword is upon the Chaldeans.**—Better, *A* *sword upon the Chaldeans. *Here, and in the verses that follow, the interpolated verb weakens the force of the passage. Jehovah is represented as calling the “sword” and the “drought” to do their work of destruction.
**Upon her wise men.**—The term points especially to the “wise men” in the technical sense of the term, the soothsayers and astrol...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. (Is 65:11).
**estranged this place--**devoted it to the worship of strange gods: alienating a portion of the sacred city from God, the rightful Lord of the temple, city, and whole land.
**nor their fathers--**namely, the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makes no account of.
**blood of innocents--**slain in honor of Molech (Jr 7:31; Psa 106:37).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. liars: or, chief stays: Heb. bars
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>A sword is upon the liars</strong> (חֶרֶב אֶל־הַבַּדִּים, <em>cherev el-habbaddim</em>)—The <em>baddim</em> were diviners, false prophets, practitioners of Babylonian occult arts (Isaiah 44:25). Babylon's religious system depended on omens, astrology, dream interpretation—all condemned as lies by Scripture. <strong>And they shall dote</strong> (וְנֹאָלוּ, <em>v'no'alu</em>)—they will becom...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(36) **A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote.**—The Hebrew word for “liars”—literally, *boastings*—implies the falsehood of folly rather than of purpose. Better, perhaps, *the prating fools. *The marginal readings “chief stays” and “bars” rest on no adequate authority. Here the word applies to the diviners and magicians (comp. Isaiah 44:25).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. commanded not--**nay, more, I commanded the opposite (Le 18:21; see Jr 7:31, 32).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots</strong> (חֶרֶב אֶל־סוּסָיו וְאֶל־רִכְבּוֹ, <em>cherev el-susav v'el-rikhbo</em>)—Babylon's famed cavalry and chariotry face the sword. Military technology that conquered nations will fail. <strong>And upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her</strong> (עֶרֶב, <em>erev</em>)—the 'mixed' population: mercenaries, foreign me...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(37) **And upon all the mingled people . . .**—The phrase is the same as in Jeremiah 25:20. Here it is used of the auxiliaries of Babylon, which were probably as numerous, and to a large extent the same, as those of Persia. (See Note on Jeremiah 50:9.) The “treasures” point to the wealth in which Babylon exulted, and which gave to her the epithet of the “Golden City” (Isaiah 14:4). Even under the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. no more ... Tophet--**from Hebrew, toph, "drum"; for in sacrificing children to Molech drums were beaten to drown their cries. Thus the name indicated the joy of the people at the fancied propitiation of the god by this sacrifice; in antithesis to its joyless name subsequently.
**valley of slaughter--**It should be the scene of slaughter, no longer of children, but of men; not of "innocents...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>A drought is upon her waters</strong> (חֹרֶב אֶל־מֵימֶיהָ, <em>chorev el-meimeha</em>)—The <em>chorev</em> can mean drought or sword; both readings are apt. Babylon's strength was the Euphrates River and irrigation canal system supporting agriculture and defense. God will 'dry up' (<em>yavashu</em>) these waters—literally fulfilled when Cyrus diverted the Euphrates to enter Babylon (Herodo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(38) **A drought is upon her waters.**—Better, *A sword. *The Hebrew word for “drought” has the same consonants as that for “sword,” with different vowel-points. In the original text the form of the two words must have been identical, as the vowel-points were of later introduction. The editors of the present text were probably guided by the thought that the context in this case determined the mean...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. make void the counsel--**defeat their plans for repelling the enemy (2Ch 32:1-4; Is 19:3; 22:9, 11). Or their schemes of getting help by having recourse to idols [Calvin].
**in this place--**The valley of Hinnom was to be the place of the Chaldean encampment; the very place where they looked for help from idols was to be the scene of their own slaughter.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there</strong> (לָכֵן יֵשְׁבוּ צִיִּים אֶת־אִיִּים, <em>lakhen yesh'vu tsiyyim et-iyyim</em>)—Desert creatures and island/coastland beasts will inhabit Babylon's ruins. The <em>tsiyyim</em> and <em>iyyim</em> may be jackals, wild dogs, hyenas—scavengers that thrive in desolation. <strong>And the owls sh...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(39) **Wild beasts of the desert . . .**—The combination of the two forms of animal life seems taken from Isaiah 13:21-22. In the original the two words *tziyyim *and *iiyyim *have a kind of emphatic assonance. The English word in the first case answers to the etymology, but the animal referred to has been identified by some naturalists with the wild cats, which appear from Bar 6:22 to have abound...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. (See on Jr 18:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof</strong> (כְּמַהְפֵּכַת אֱלֹהִים אֶת־סְדֹם וְאֶת־עֲמֹרָה, <em>k'mahpekat Elohim et-Sedom v'et-Amorah</em>)—The ultimate comparison: Babylon's judgment parallels Sodom's. The verb <em>haphak</em> (overthrow) is used exclusively for divine catastrophic judgment. This isn't natural decline but supernatural intervention. Edom...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(40) **As God overthrew Sodom . . .**—The whole verse is reproduced from Jeremiah 49:18. We enter here, indeed, upon a mosaic of quotations, or at least recollections of other prophecies. Thus Jeremiah 50:41-43 are taken from Jeremiah 6:22-24, “Babylon” being substituted for “Zion,” and “the king of Babylon” for “we;” Jeremiah 50:44-46 from Jeremiah 49:19-21, with the necessary substitutions of “B...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. (De 28:53; La 4:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, a people shall come from the north</strong> (הִנֵּה עַם בָּא מִצָּפוֹן, <em>hinneh am ba mittsafon</em>)—The 'foe from the north' motif used for Babylon attacking Jerusalem (1:14-15, 4:6, 6:1) is now inverted: a northern coalition attacks Babylon. <strong>And a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth</strong> (וְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וּמְלָכִים רַבִּים י...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. break ... bottle--**a symbolical action, explained in Jr 19:11.
**the men--**the elders of the people and of the priests (Jr 19:1; compare Jr 51:63, 64).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They shall hold the bow and the lance</strong> (קֶשֶׁת וְכִידוֹן יַחֲזִיקוּ, <em>qeshet v'khidon yachaziqu</em>)—Persian warriors' weapons are specified: composite bow (Persian archers were legendary) and javelin. These were Persia's signature armaments, distinct from Babylonian equipment. <strong>They are cruel, and will not shew mercy</strong> (אַכְזָרִי הֵמָּה וְלֹא יְרַחֵמוּ, <em>akhza...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. as one breaketh a potter's vessel--**expressing God's absolute sovereignty (Jr 18:6; Psa 2:9; Is 30:14, Margin; La 4:2; Ro 9:20, 21).
**cannot be made whole again--**A broken potter's vessel cannot be restored, but a new one may be made of the same material. So God raised a new Jewish seed, not identical with the destroyed rebels, but by substituting another generation in their stead [Grot...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them</strong> (שָׁמַע מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל אֶת־שִׁמְעָם, <em>shama melekh-Bavel et-shim'am</em>)—Belshazzar (or Nabonidus) receives intelligence about the advancing coalition. <strong>And his hands waxed feeble</strong> (וְרָפוּ יָדָיו, <em>v'rafu yadav</em>)—his hands 'became slack,' lost strength. This exact phrase describes demoralized soldiers unab...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. make this city as Tophet--**that is, as defiled with dead bodies as Tophet.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? appoint me: or, convent me to plead?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan</strong>—This verse repeats 49:19 nearly verbatim, applying language used for Edom's judgment to Babylon. The lion from Jordan's thickets represents unstoppable divine assault. <strong>But I will make them suddenly run away from her</strong> (כִּי אַרְגִּיעָה אֲרִיצֵם מֵעָלֶיהָ, <em>ki argi'ah aritsem me'aleha</em>)—God will ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. shall be defiled--**with dead bodies (Jr 19:12; 2Ki 23:10).
**because of all the houses--**Rather, (explanatory of the previous "the houses ... and ... houses"), "even all the houses," &c. [Calvin].
**roofs--**being flat, they were used as high places for sacrifices to the sun and planets (Jr 32:29; 2Ki 23:11, 12; Zep 1:5). The Nabateans, south and east of the Dead Sea, a nation most...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon</strong> (לָכֵן שִׁמְעוּ עֲצַת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר יָעַץ אֶל־בָּבֶל, <em>lakhen shim'u atzat YHWH asher ya'ats el-Bavel</em>)—Repeats 49:20 with Babylon substituted for Edom. The divine <em>atzah</em> (counsel) against Babylon is irrevocable. <strong>And his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chald...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. court of the Lord's house--**near Tophet; the largest court, under the open air, where was the greatest crowd (2Ch 20:5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved</strong> (מִקּוֹל נִתְפְּשָׂה בָבֶל נִרְעֲשָׁה הָאָרֶץ, <em>miqqol nitpesah Bavel nir'ashah ha'arets</em>)—Babylon's capture causes seismic response. The verb <em>ra'ash</em> (quake) suggests cosmic significance: this isn't merely political shift but theologically decisive event. Babylon represented human autonomy, imperial pride, id...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. her towns--**the suburban villages and towns near Jerusalem, such as Bethany.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 50
The rejection of the Jews. (Is. 50:1-3) The sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah. (Is. 50:4-9) Consolation to the believer, and warning to the unbeliever. (Is. 50:10,11)
**Verses 1-3** Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprive...
Read full commentary →