“It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever. I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”
For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink, and reel back and forth, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
Then I took the cup at Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me: Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes, and all his people; and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
“You shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “You shall surely drink. For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.” ’
“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them, “ ‘Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,” ’ says Yahweh.”
Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, evil will go out from nation to nation, and a great storm will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.”
The slain of Yahweh will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They won’t be lamented. They won’t be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–33 The Prophet now, as I have said, shews more…
The Prophet now, as I have said, shews more clearly why the time of the captivity and exile had been defined, even that the faithful might know that God would not forget his covenant, though he deprived the people of the inheritance of the land. These words were not addressed indiscriminately to the whole body of the people, as we have observed before in other places; but the Prophet intended to consult the benefit of God’s elect, who always retained a concern for true religion; for they must have a hundred times despaired had not this promise been added. This, then, was a special doctrine intended as food for God’s children; for he addressed, as it was apart, the elect and faithful only.
God says also, that at the end of seventy years he would visit the iniquity of the king of Babylon, and of his whole people. We hence learn that Nebuchadnezzar was not called God’s servant because he deserved anything for his service, but because God led him while he was himself unconscious, or not thinking of any such thing, to do a service which neither he nor his subjects understood to be for God. Though, then, the Lord employs the ungodly in executing his judgments, yet their guilt is not on this account lessened; they are still exposed to God’s judgment. And these two things well agree together, — that the devil and all the ungodly serve God, though not of their own accord, but whenever he draws them by his hidden power, and that they are still justly punished, even when they have served God; for though they perform his work, yet not because they are commanded to do so. They are therefore justly liable to punishment, according to what the Prophet teaches us here.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 33 For seeing the judgment began at his own house,…
For seeing the judgment began at his own house, the enemies must needs be punished most grievously, Ezek. 9:6, 1 Pet. 4:17.
This revelation was for the confirmation of his prophecy, because he told them of the time that they should enter and remain in captivity, 2 Chron. 36:22; Ezra 1:1; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–33 Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when…
Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Ver. 12. I will punish the King of Babylon.] As had been previoulsy threatened, {Isa 13:19-22; Isa 14:21-23; Isa 21:2-10; Isa 47:5; Isa 47:8-9} and was accomplished. {Dan 5:25-28; Dan 5:30}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 When seventy years are accomplished; seventy years accounted from…
When seventy years are accomplished; seventy years accounted from the time that the Jews were carried away in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, 2Ki 24:15,16. This was fulfilled by Darius the king of Persia, Dan 4:31. Of these seventy Nebuchadnezzar reigned thirty-six, 2Ki 25:27, Evil-merodach thirty-two, and Belshazzar at least two, Dan 8:1. Though God, whose all the creation is, and who is the Lord of all the hosts of his creatures, doth often make use of heathens and other wicked men to punish his own people, yet he will at last punish them too; and ordinarily when he doth punish them, it is with a more severe and grievous destruction than that by which he punisheth his people, Isa 27:7; thus he threatens to make the Chaldeans a perpetual desolation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv15, 30 Under the similitude of a cup going round, which…
Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country. The cup in the vision is to be a sword in the accomplishment of it: so it is explained, Jer 25:16. It is the sword that I will send among them, the sword of war, that should be irresistibly strong and implacably cruel.
I. As to the circumstances of this judgment, observe,
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1. Whence this destroying sword should come - from the hand of God. It is the sword of the Lord (Jer 47:6), bathed in heaven, Isa 34:5. Wicked men are made use of as his sword, Psa 17:13. It is the wine-cup of his fury. It is the just anger of God that sends this judgment. The nations have provoked him by their sins, and they must fall under the tokens of his wrath. These are compared to some intoxicating liquor, which they shall be forced to drink of, as, formerly, condemned malefactors were sometimes executed by being compelled to drink poison. The wicked are said to drink the wrath of the Almighty, Job 21:20; Rev 14:10. Their share of troubles in his world is represented by the dregs of a cup of red wine full of mixture, Psa 75:8. See Psa 11:6. The wrath of God in this world is but as a cup, in comparison of the full streams of it in the other world.
2. By whose hand it should be sent to them - by the hand of Jeremiah as the judge set over the nations (Jer 1:10), to pass his sentence upon them, and by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar as the executioner. What a much greater figure then does the poor prophet make than what the potent prince makes, if we look upon their relation to God, though in the eye of the world it was the reverse of it! Jeremiah must take the cup at God's hand, and compel the nations to drink it. He foretells no hurt to them but what God appoints him to foretell; and what is foretold by a divine authority will certainly be fulfilled by a divine power.
3. On whom it should be sent - on all the nations within the verge of Israel's acquaintance and the lines of their communication. Jeremiah took the cup, and made all the nations to drink of it, that is, he prophesied concerning each of the nations here mentioned that they should share in this great desolation that was coming. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are put first (Jer 25:18); for judgment begins at the house of God (Pe1 4:17), at the sanctuary, Eze 9:6. Whether Nebuchadrezzar had his eye principally upon Jerusalem and Judah in this expedition or no does not appear; probably he had; for it was as considerable as any of the nations here mentioned. However God had his eye principally to them. And this part of the prophecy was already begun to be accomplished; this is denoted by that melancholy parenthesis (as it is this day), for in the fourth year of Jehoiakim things had come into a very bad posture, and all the foundations were out of course. Pharaoh king of Egypt comes next, because the Jews trusted to that broken reed (v. 19); the remains of them fled to Egypt, and there Jeremiah particularly foretold the destruction of that country, Jer 43:10, Jer 43:11. All the other nations that bordered upon Canaan must pledge Jerusalem in this bitter cup, this cup of trembling. The mingled people, the Arabians (so some), some rovers of divers nations that lived by rapine (so others); the kings of the land of Uz, joined to the country of the Edomites. The Philistines had been vexatious to Israel, but now their cities and their lords become a prey to this mighty conqueror. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, are places well known to border upon Israel; the Isles beyond, or beside, the sea, are supposed to be those parts of Phoenicia and Syria that lay upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Dedan and the other countries mentioned (Jer 25:23, Jer 25:24) seem to have lain upon the confines of Idumea and Arabia the desert. Those of Elam are the Persians, with whom the Medes are joined, now looked upon as inconsiderable and yet afterwards able to make reprisals upon Babylon for themselves and all their neighbours. The kings of the north, that lay nearer to Babylon, and others that lay at some distance, will be sure to be seized on and made a prey of by the victorious sword of Nebuchadrezzar. Nay, he shall push on his victories with such incredible fury and success that all the kingdoms of the world that were then and there known should become sacrifices to his ambition. Thus Alexander is said to have conquered the world, and the Roman empire is called the world, Luk 2:1. Or it may be taken as reading the doom of all the kingdoms of the earth; one time or other, they shall feel the dreadful effects of war. The world has been, and will be, a great cockpit, while men's lusts war as they do in their members, Jam 4:1. But, that the conquerors may see their fate with the conquered, it concludes, The king of Sheshach shall drink after them, that is, the king of Babylon himself, who has given his neighbours all this trouble and vexation, shall at length have it return upon his own head. That by Sheshach is meant Babylon is plain from Jer 51:41; but whether it was another name of the same city or the name of another city of the same kingdom is uncertain. Babylon's ruin was foretold, Jer 25:12, Jer 25:13. Upon this prophecy of its being the author of the ruin of so many nations it is very fitly repeated here again.
4. What should be the effect of it. The desolations which the sword should make in all these kingdoms are represented by the consequences of excessive drinking (Jer 25:16): They shall drink, and be moved, and be mad. They shall be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise no more, Jer 25:27. Now this may serve, (1.) To make us loathe the sin of drunkenness, that the consequences of it are made use of to set forth a most woeful and miserable condition. Drunkenness deprives men, for the present, of the use of their reason, makes them mad. It takes from them likewise that which, next to reason, is the most valuable blessing, and that is health; it makes them sick, and endangers the bones and the life. Men in drink often fall and rise no more; it is a sin that is its own punishment. How wretchedly are those intoxicated and besotted that suffer themselves at any time to be intoxicated, especially to be by the frequent commission of the sin besotted with wine or strong drink! (2.) To make us dread the judgments of war. When God sends the sword upon a nation, with warrant to make it desolate, it soon becomes like a drunken man, filled with confusion at the alarms of war, put into a hurry; its counsellors mad, and at their wits' end, staggering in all the measures they take, all the motions they make, sick at heart with continual vexation, vomiting up the riches they have greedily swallowed down (Job 20:15), falling down before the enemy, and as unable to get up again, or do any thing to help themselves, as a man dead drunk is, Hab 2:16.
5. The undoubted certainty of it, with the reason given for it, Jer 25:28, Jer 25:29. They will refuse to take the cup at thy hand; not only they will be loth that the judgment should come, but they will be loth to believe that ever it will come; they will not give credit to the prediction of so despicable a man as Jeremiah. But he must tell them that it is the word of the Lord of hosts, he hath said it; and it is in vain for them to struggle with Omnipotence: You shall certainly drink. And he must give them this reason, It is a time of visitation, it is a reckoning day, and Jerusalem has been called to an account already: I begin to bring evil on the city that is called by my name; its relation to me will not exempt it from punishment, and should you be utterly unpunished? No; If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If those who have some good in them smart so severely for the evil that is found in them, can those expect to escape who have worse evils, and no good, found among them? If Jerusalem be punished for learning idolatry of the nations, shall not the nations be punished, of whom they learned it? No doubt they shall: I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, for they have helped to debauch the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
II. Upon this whole matter we may observe, 1. That there is a God that judges in the earth, to whom all the nations of the earth are accountable, and by whose judgment they must abide. 2. That God can easily bring to ruin the greatest nations, the most numerous and powerful, and such as have been most secure. 3. That those who have been vexatious and mischievous to the people of God will be reckoned with for it at last. Many of these nations had in their turns given disturbance to Israel, but now comes destruction on them. The year of the redeemer will come, even the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. 4. That the burden of the word of the Lord will at last become the burden of his judgments. Isaiah had prophesied long since against most of these nations (ch. 13, etc.) and now at length all his prophecies will have their complete fulfilling. 5. That those who are ambitious of power and dominion commonly become the troublers of the earth and the plagues of their generation. Nebuchadrezzar was so proud of his might that he had no sense of right. These are the men that turn the world upside down, and yet expect to be admired and adored. Alexander thought himself a great prince when others thought him no better than a great pirate. 6. That the greatest pomp and power in this world are of very uncertain continuance. Before Nebuchadrezzar's greater force kings themselves must yield and become captives.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–33 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years…
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished,.... Which were accomplished in the first year of Cyrus: they began with the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned two years and two months with his father Nabopolassar; after that forty three years by himself; Evilmerodach two years: Neriglissar four years; Belshazzar or Nabonadius seventeen years; and Darius the Median two years; which all make sixty nine years and two months; and if ten months more be added to complete the said seventy years, it will carry the end of them to the first year of Cyrus (g). These years are differently reckoned by others; by Spanhemius, from the first of Nebuchadnezzar, or fourth of Jehoiakim, to the destruction of the city under Zedekiah, nineteen years; thence to the death of Nebuchadnezzar, twenty four; then Evilmerodach, two; then the reign of Neriglissar, including some months of Laborosoarchod, five; then the years of Nabonadius, or Belshazzar, seventeen; and from his death, or the taking of Babylon, to the death of Darius the Mede, two years; which make sixty nine, exclusive of the first of Cyrus; and comes to much the same as the former. By James Alting thus; from the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, complete, to his death, twenty six years; Evilmerodach, twenty three; Belshazzar, three; Darius the Mede, eighteen, after the destruction of the Babylonish empire; which seems very wrong; better, by Dr. Lightfoot, thus; Nebuchadnezzar, forty five current; Evilmerodach, twenty three; and Belshazzar, three (h). So the Jewish chronicle (i):
that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity; the king for his tyranny, and the nation for their idolatry; and both for these and other sins they were guilty of; for, though they did the will of God in carrying the Jews captive, they no doubt in their usage of them exceeded their commission, and were justly punishable for their iniquities. This is not to be understood of the present king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar; but of Nabonadius, or Belshazzar, whom the Lord punished by Cyrus; who appears to have been a very wicked man, and in the excess of not, profaning the vessels of the temple the night he was slain, Dan 5:1;
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and the land of the Chaldeans; and will make it perpetual desolations; even as other nations had been made by them, Jer 25:9.
(g) See Prideaux's Connexion, par. 1. B. 2. p. 130. (h) Vid. Witsii Exercitat. 11. in Miscel. Sacr. tom. 2. p. 282, 283. (i) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26 Accomplished - Counted from the time that the Jews…
Accomplished - Counted from the time that the Jews were carried away in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiakim, 2 Kings xxiv, 15, 16. Desolations - This was fulfilled by Darius, the king of Persia, Dan. iv, 31, of these seventy Nebuchadnezzar reigned thirty six, 2 Kings xxv, 27. Evil-merodach thirty two, and Belshazzar at least two, Dan. viii, 1.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33 Verse 12. And that nation] הגוי ההוא haggoi hahu.…
Verse 12. And that nation] הגוי ההוא haggoi hahu. Dr. Blayney contends that this should be translated his nation, and that ההוא hahu is the substantive pronoun used in the genitive case. It is certainly more clear and definite to read, "I will punish the king of Babylon, and HIS nation."
Will make it perpetual desolations] See Clarke on Isa 13:19, where the fulfilment of this prophecy is distinctly marked.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 17, 18, 22, 25, 27, 30 Jer 25:12-14. When seventy years are accomplished, I will…
Jer 25:12-14. When seventy years are accomplished, I will punish the king of Babylon — “God often punishes the persons whom he makes instruments of his vengeance upon others for those very things which they did by his appointment, because their intention was merely to carry on their own ambitious and cruel purposes, and not at all to fulfil God’s will, or advance his glory. So that the evil they did was altogether their own, and the good that was brought out of it was to be ascribed solely to God.” — Lowth. See notes on Isa 10:5-7. And that nation for their iniquity — For their pride, ambition, luxury, tyranny, and cruelty, as well as for their various idolatries, which, after Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, and the miracles wrought by the God of Israel, in favour of Shadrach and his companions, not to mention the testimony borne to the true religion by many other pious Jews, were greatly aggravated, and without all excuse. And the land of the Chaldeans, and make it perpetual desolations — Chaldee was not reduced to desolation immediately upon the taking of Babylon, and the conquest of the country by the Medes and Persians, but its power was then broken, and the sources of its prosperity greatly diminished, and by degrees the country was turned into a solitude. Of the steps whereby this was effected, see notes on Isa 13:19-22, and Jer 50:40. All that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all nations — Those prophecies are meant which are to be found all together from chap. 46. to chap. 51. inclusively; and which the LXX. have introduced in this place. For many nations, &c., shall serve themselves of them also — Namely, the nations and kings who were confederates with Cyrus. Houbigant renders the clause, For powerful people, and mighty kings, shall reduce even those nations to servitude, and so, &c. And Blaney to nearly the same sense, thus: For of them, even of these, shall many nations and great kings exact service; and I will render, &c.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33 Perpetual desolations - The ruins of Babylon form its…
Perpetual desolations - The ruins of Babylon form its only lasting memorial.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32 Punish. Literally, visit upon. (Challoner) --- Cyrus overturned the…
Punish. Literally, visit upon. (Challoner) --- Cyrus overturned the monarchy, and the city was ruined by degrees, Isaias xiii., and xiv., and xxi. 1., and Ezechiel i. 5. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 all . . . written in this book, which…
all . . . written in this book, which Jeremiah . . . prophesied against all . . . nations--It follows from this, that the prophecies against foreign nations (forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters) must have been already written. Hence the Septuagint inserts here those prophecies. But if they had followed immediately (Jer 25:13), there would have been no propriety in the observation in the verse. The very wording of the reference shows that they existed in some other part of the book, and not in the immediate context. It was in this very year, the fourth of Jehoiakim (Jer 36:1-2), that Jeremiah was directed to write in a regular book for the first time all that he had prophesied against Judah and foreign "nations" from the beginning of his ministry. Probably, at a subsequent time, when he completed the whole work, including the forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters, Jeremiah himself inserted the clause, "all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations." The prophecies in question may have been repeated, as others in Jeremiah, more than once; so in the original smaller collection they may have stood in an earlier position; and, in the fuller subsequent collection, in their later and present position.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32 JUDGMENT ON BABYLON AND OTHER NATIONS, Jer_25:12-29.
JUDGMENT ON BABYLON AND OTHER NATIONS, Jer_25:12-29.
12. When seventy years are accomplished — Babylon was captured 538 B.C., just sixty-eight years after the capture of Jerusalem.
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Perpetual desolations — To none other of the great powers of the ancient world do these words apply so impressively and absolutely. The utter nothingness to which this vast empire has returned is not relieved even by interesting and valuable monumental remains, as in the case of Nineveh, and especially of Egypt.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33 12–14. See end of introductory note to this section.…
12–14. See end of introductory note to this section. Of these vv., 12 and 14, as well as the latter part of 13, cannot be a genuine part of Jeremiah’s prophecies, to be dated, like the earlier part of the passage, in “the 4th year of Jehoiakim,” but are subsequent insertions when the Book was virtually completed as at present. Jer_25:12 seems constructed out of Jer_29:10 (the assignment of the definite “seventy years” is shewn to be authentic there by the whole tenor of that ch.), where the Heb. “everlasting desolations” (as mg. here) is identical with that in this v. together with Jer_51:26; Jer_51:62. Moreover, (i) all three vv. form a break in the subject-matter, while Jer_25:15 f. give the reason for the punishment not of Babylon (Jer_25:12-14) but of Judah and the other nations (Jer_25:11), and (ii) Jer_25:13 implies that the prophecies against foreign nations (chs. 46–51) and in particular against Babylon (chs. 50, 51) were already included in the Book, whereas this last prophecy, if by Jeremiah at all, which may well be doubted (see introd. note there), was not placed in the collection till long after this date (see also on Jer_51:59-64 for date of that portion). Jer_25:14 (absent from LXX) appears to be made up from Jer_27:7 and Jer_50:29, Jer_51:24. Thus from the word “astonishment” in Jer_25:11 we should proceed at once (Jer_25:13) “and I will bring … this book,” continuing direct with Jer_25:15 “For, etc.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 (12) I will punish the king of Babylon .…
(12) I will punish the king of Babylon . . .—The words are omitted in the LXX. version of the chapter, which differs materially from the Hebrew text, and there are some internal grounds for suspecting it to be a later addition, possibly from the hand of the prophet himself, or, more probably, from that of Baruch as collecting and editing his writings, or of some later transcriber. In Jer_25:26, as commonly interpreted, there is a prediction of the destruction of the king of Babylon veiled in enigmatic language. That we can understand well enough, if it was meant only for the initiated, but it is not easy to see why the same prophetic discourse should contain both the veiled and the open prediction. On the relation of the LXX. version to the Hebrew, see Introduction.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Vers. 12-29. The judgment upon Judah and the nations.
Vers. 12-29. The judgment upon Judah and the nations.
Perpetual desolations. Thus, too, we read in Isa_13:20, that Babylon "shall never be inhabited." There is a dispute between Dr. Keith and Dr. Kay on the one side, and rationalistic commentators (e.g. Kuenen) on the other, whether these prophecies have received a circumstantial fulfillment. The truth is that authorities are not entirely agreed on the area covered by the site of Babylon. General Chesney remarks that, so far from being uninhabited, "A town of considerable population, villages, date groves, and gardens, are found still on the very site of ancient Babylon" (extracts from a private letter in B. W. Newton"s "Babylon: its Revival and Final Desolation," pp. 38-42). Similarly M. Menant, a veteran French Assyriologist, remarks that "Hillah, according to M. Oppert, was a quarter of Babylon, probably that which was inhabited by the working population, without the precincts of the royal palaces. Numberless traces of ancient habitations indicate this origin of the modern town" ("Babylone," p. 177). Mr. George Smith, however, in his "Assyrian Discoveries," simply states that, "A little to the south rose the town of Hillah," apparently assuming (what is impossible to prove, as the walls of Babylon have not yet been discovered) that Hillah lay just outside the city enclosure. But even he adds that it was "built with the bricks found in the old capital," which is, strictly speaking, inconsistent with the absolute abandonment of the site of Babylon implied in Isa_13:20-22. The dispute is an unfortunate one, as it tacitly implies that circumstantial fulfillments are necessary to the veracity of prophecy. The truth seems to lie in the mean between two opposing views. As a rule, the details of a prophetic description cannot be pressed; they are mainly imaginative elaborations of a great central truth or fact. Occasionally, however, regarding the prophecies in the light of gospel times, it is almost impossible not to observe that "the Spirit of Christ which was in" the prophets (1Pe_1:11) has overruled their expressions, so that they correspond more closely to facts than could have been reasonably anticipated. Such superabundant favors to believers in inspiration occur repeatedly in the prophecies respecting Christ. They may, of course, occur elsewhere for a sufficient reason, but we have no right to be surprised if we do not meet with them. The general truth of the prophecy is that the empire of Babylon shall fall forever. As Dr. Payne Smith remarks, it was practically the work of one man (Nebuchadnezzar), and after his death it only lasted for a few years, during which its history is a series of murders and usurpations.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v31 He will plead with all flesh.
Jer_25:31
He will plead with all flesh.
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No excuse needed for faith in God
I. God pleads with men chiefly through the Spirit of the life of Jesus Christ. This part of our life is a probation, like being at school; it is an apprenticeship to eternal life, a life in which we are to be journeymen and masters of the work of being good and doing good. We are learners here. Some learn their lifes lesson thoroughly, and others only partially. God means us to learn; and if a man will not do Gods will, he can only learn by the bitter pain of experience. There are only two ways of learning--either by doing Gods will, or by disobeying it; either way will bring us to our senses at some time or other, either in this world or in that which is to come.
II. Christianity urges that if we be wise every one will choose the highest aim of life. Unless we have some great object in view, our life is a task which is hard to bear; it is like being rubbed with sandpaper, everything seeming to be in unpleasant friction with us. Yet you cannot get a polish without friction; and so the friction of daily life that vexes and torments us, is an experience which is good for us. It is one of Gods means of polishing us; but it is unpleasant, like having small pebbles in ones boots. It is, however, a needful discipline. But were we humbly and lovingly to do Gods will, as you would have your little child do your will, life would not be a painful task, nor would it be a state of perpetual friction.
III. Christianity also teaches us that God is worthy to be both esteemed and loved.
IV. Christianity sweetly teaches us of the other life. Have you ever lived in the country, and after being away for a time felt the joy of returning home? (W. Birch.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v15
CHAPTER XVI
JEHOVAH AND THE NATIONS
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Jer_25:15-38
"Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations."- Jer_25:31
As the son of a king only learns very gradually that his fathers authority and activity extend beyond the family and the household, so Israel in its childhood thought of Jehovah as exclusively concerned with itself.
Such ideas as omnipotence and universal Providence did not exist; therefore they could not be denied; and the limitations of the national faith were not essentially inconsistent with later Revelation. But when we reach the period of recorded prophecy we find that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the prophets had begun to recognise Jehovahs dominion over surrounding peoples. There was, as yet, no deliberate and formal doctrine of omnipotence, but, as Israel became involved in the fortunes first of one foreign power and then of another, the prophets asserted that the doings of these heathen states were overruled by the God of Israel. The idea of Jehovahs Lordship of the Nations enlarged with the extension of international relations, as our conception of the God of Nature has expanded with the successive discoveries of science. Hence, for the most part, the prophets devote special attention to the concerns of Gentile peoples. Hosea, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are partial exceptions. Some of the minor prophets have for their main subject the doom of a heathen empire. Jonah and Nahum deal with Nineveh, Habakkuk with Chaldea, and Edom is specially honoured by being almost the sole object of the denunciations of Obadiah. Daniel also deals with the fate of the kingdoms of the world, but in the Apocalyptic fashion of the Pseudepigrapha. Jewish criticism rightly declined to recognise this book as prophetic, and relegated it to the latest collection of canonical scriptures.
Each of the other prophetical books contains a longer or shorter series of utterances concerning the neighbours of Israel, its friends and foes, its enemies and allies. The fashion was apparently set by Amos, who shows Gods judgment upon Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. This list suggests the range of the prophets religious interest in the Gentiles. Assyria and Egypt were, for the present, beyond the sphere of Revelation, just as China and India were to the average Protestant of the seventeenth century. When we come to the Book of Isaiah, the horizon widens in every direction. Jehovah is concerned with Egypt and Ethiopia, Assyria and Babylon. In very short books like Joel and Zephaniah we could not expect exhaustive treatment of this subject. Yet even these prophets deal with the fortunes of the Gentiles: Joel, variously held one of the latest or one of the earliest of canonical books, pronounces a Divine judgment on Tyre and Sidon and the Philistines, on Egypt and Edom; and Zephaniah, an elder contemporary of Jeremiah, devotes sections to the Philistines, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia and Assyria.
The fall of Nineveh revolutionised the international system of the East. The judgment on Asshur was accomplished, and her name disappears from these catalogues of doom. In other particulars Jeremiah, as well as Ezekiel, follows closely in the footsteps of his predecessors. He deals, like them, with the group of Syrian and Palestinian states-Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Damascus He dwells with repeated emphasis on Egypt, and Arabia is represented by Kedar and Hazor. In one section the prophet travels into what must have seemed to his contemporaries the very far East, as far as Elam. On the other hand, he is comparatively silent about Tyre, in which Joel, Amos, the Book of Isaiah, and above all Ezekiel display a lively interest. Nebuchadnezzars campaigns were directed against Tyre as much as against Jerusalem; and Ezekiel, living in Chaldea, would have attention forcibly directed to the Phoenician capital, at a time when Jeremiah was absorbed in the fortunes of Zion.
But in the passage which we have chosen as the subject for this introduction to the prophecies of the nations, Jeremiah takes a somewhat wider range:-
"Thus saith unto me Jehovah, the God of Israel:
Take at My hand this cup of the wine of fury,
And make all the nations, to whom I send thee, drink it.
They shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad
Because of the sword that I will send among them."
First and foremost of these nations, preeminent in punishment as in privilege, stand "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings and princes."
This bad eminence is a necessary application of the principle laid down by Amo_3:2 :-
"You only have I known of all the families of the earth:
Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities."
But as Jeremiah says later on, addressing the Gentile nations, -
"I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name.
Should ye go scot free?
Ye shall not go scot free."
And the prophet puts the cup of Gods fury to their lips also, and amongst them, Egypt, the bete noir of Hebrew seers, is most conspicuously marked out for destruction: "Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants and princes and all his people, and all the mixed population of Egypt." Then follows, in epic fashion, a catalogue of "all the nations" as Jeremiah knew them: "All the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines; Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of their colonies beyond the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled, and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed populations that dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes." Jeremiahs definite geographical information is apparently exhausted, but he adds by way of summary and conclusion: "And all the kings of the north, far and near, one after the other; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth."
There is one notable omission in the list. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant of Jehovah, {Jer_25:9} was the Divinely appointed scourge of Judah and its neighbours and allies. Elsewhere {Jer_27:8} the nations are exhorted to submit to him, and here apparently Chaldea is exempted from the general doom, just as Ezekiel passes no formal sentence on Babylon. It is true that "all the kingdoms of the earth" would naturally include Babylon, possibly were even intended to do so. But the Jews were not long content with so veiled a reference to their conquerors and oppressors. Some patriotic scribe added the explanatory note, "And the king of Sheshach (i.e., Babylon) shall drink after them." Sheshach is obtained from Babel by the cipher Athbash, according to which an alphabet is written out and a reversed alphabet written out underneath it, and the letters of the lower row used for those of the upper and vice versa.
The use of cypher seems to indicate that the note was added in Chaldea during the Exile, when it was not safe to circulate documents which openly denounced Babylon. Jeremiahs enumeration of the peoples and rulers of his world is naturally more detailed and more exhaustive than the list of the nations against which he prophesied. It includes the Phoenician states, details the Philistine cities, associates with Elam the neighbouring nations of Zimri and the Medes, and substitutes for Kedar and Hazor Arabia and a number of semi-Arab states, Uz, Dedan, Tema, and Buz. Thus Jeremiahs world is the district constantly shown in Scripture atlases in a map comprising the scenes of Old Testament history, Egypt, Arabia, and Western Asia, south of a line from the northeast corner of the Mediterranean to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and west of a line from the latter point to the northern end of the Persian Gulf. How much of history has been crowded into this narrow area! Here science, art, and literature won those primitive triumphs which no subsequent achievements could surpass or even equal. Here, perhaps for the first time, men tasted the Dead Sea apples of civilisation, and learnt how little accumulated wealth and national splendour can do for the welfare of the masses. Here was Eden, where God walked in the cool of the day to commune with man; and here also were many Mount Moriahs, where man gave his firstborn for his transgression, the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul, and no angel voice stayed his hand.
And now glance at any modern map and see for how little Jeremiahs world counts among the great Powers of the nineteenth century. Egypt indeed is a bone of contention between European states, but how often does a daily paper remind its readers of the existence of Syria or Mesopotamia? We may apply to this ancient world the title that Byron gave to Rome, "Lone mother of dead empires," and call it:-
"The desert, where we steer
Stumbling oer recollections."
It is said that Scipios exultation over the fall of Carthage was marred by forebodings that Time had a like destiny in store for Rome. Where Cromwell might have quoted a text from the Bible, the Roman soldier applied to his native city the Homeric lines:-
"Troy shall sink in fire,
And Priams city with himself expire."
The epitaphs of ancient civilisations are no mere matters of archaeology; like the inscriptions on common graves, they carry a Memento mori for their successors.
But to return from epitaphs to prophecy: in the list which we have just given, the kings of many of the nations are required to drink the cup of wrath, and the section concludes with a universal judgment upon the princes and rulers of this ancient world under the familiar figure of shepherds, supplemented here by another, that of the "principal of the flock," or, as we should say, "bellwethers." Jehovah would break out upon them to rend and scatter like a lion from his covert. Therefore:-
"Howl, ye shepherds, and cry!
Roll yourselves in the dust, ye bellwethers!
The time has fully come for you to be slaughtered.
I will cast you down with a crash, like a vase of porcelain.
Ruin hath overtaken the refuge of the shepherds,
And the way of escape of the bellwethers."
Thus Jeremiah announces the coming ruin of an ancient world, with all its states and sovereigns, and we have seen that the prediction has been amply fulfilled. We can only notice two other points with regard to this section.
First, then, we have no right to accuse the prophet of speaking from a narrow national standpoint. His words are not the expression of the Jewish adversus omnes alios hostile odium; if they were, we should not hear so much of Judahs sin and Judahs punishment. He applied to heathen states as he did to his own the divine standard of national righteousness, and they too were found wanting. All history confirms Jeremiahs judgment. This brings us to our second point. Christian thinkers have been engrossed in the evidential aspect of these national catastrophes. They served to fulfil prophecy, and therefore the squalor of Egypt and the ruins of Assyria today have seemed to make our way of salvation more safe and certain. But God did not merely sacrifice these holocausts of men and nations to the perennial craving of feeble faith for signs. Their fate must of necessity illustrate His justice and wisdom and love. Jeremiah tells us plainly that Judah and its neighbours had filled up the measure of their iniquity before they were called upon to drink the cup of wrath; national sin justifies Gods judgments. Yet these very facts of the moral failure and decadence of human societies perplex and startle us. Individuals grow old and feeble and die, but saints and heroes do not become slaves of vice and sin in their last days. The glory of their prime is not buried in a dishonoured grave. Nay rather, when all else fails, the beauty of holiness grows more pure and radiant. But of what nation could we say:-
"Let me die the death of the righteous,
Let my last end be like his"?
Apparently the collective conscience is a plant of very slow growth; and hitherto no society has been worthy to endure honourably or even to perish nobly. In Christendom itself the ideals of common action are still avowedly meaner than those of individual conduct. International and collective morality is still in its infancy, and as a matter of habit and system modern states are often wantonly cruel and unjust towards obscure individuals and helpless minorities. Yet surely it shall not always be so; the daily prayer of countless millions for the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot remain unanswered.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv20, 26, 29 (See Scofield "Job 1:1").
Uz
(See Scofield "Job 1:1").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv12, 30 The Judgment on the Kingdoms
The Judgment on the Kingdoms
v. 12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, namely, from the time of the first deportation to Babylon, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, visiting their guilt upon them and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations, the enemies thus being punished in turn, even as it happened when the Medes and Persians under the command of Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian empire.
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v. 13. And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, carrying out His threats upon the entire country, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations, for it was in this year that Jeremiah was, for the first time, told to write all his prophecies against the various foreign nations in a book, so that this remark was inserted when the collection was made.
v. 14. For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also, that is, the Chaldeans themselves would, in turn, become servants to others, so that their masters would exact the service of vassals from them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. This is further emphasized by the picture of the Lord’s cup of fury.
v. 15. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at My hand, a symbol of stupefying judgments, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it, a symbolical action which could be used to illustrate an important truth.
v. 16. And they shall drink and be moved, so that they would stagger and reel, and be mad, stunned and stupefied with the intoxicating effects of the liquid consumed, because of the sword that I will send among them, that is, the war which the Lord intended to bring upon these nations would be so severe, so horrible, that people would be stupefied by its terrors and perish in helpless confusion.
v. 17. Then took I the cup at the Lord’s hand, all this in the vision which was vouchsafed him, and made all the nations to drink unto whom the Lord had sent me, namely, by making an open announcement of this intention on the part of Jehovah:
v. 18. to wit, Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, these two heading the list as the chief offenders against the Lord of the covenant, and the kings thereof and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse, objects of mockery and imprecations, as it is this day;
v. 19. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, upon whom the Jews had chiefly relied, and his servants and his princes and all his people,
v. 20. and all the mingled people, small tribes of a mixed population near the borders of Egypt and elsewhere, and all the kings of the land of Uz, in Northwestern Arabia, near the borders of Idumea and Egypt, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, of the various Philistine city-states, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, or Gazah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ash-dod, this city being very much reduced in size and influence on account of the Egyptian oppression, Gath, the fifth of the ancient city-states, not being mentioned, probably because it no longer was a separate capital,
v. 21. Edom, south of the Dead Sea, and Moab, east of the Dead Sea, and the children of Anunon, tribes to the northeast of Moab,
v. 22. and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, the representative cities of Phenicia on the Mediterranean Sea, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, all the distant countries along the shores of the Mediterranean and the nations on its islands,
v. 23. Dedan, north of Arabia, and Tema, an Arabian city not far from Damascus, and Buz, another city and tribe in this neighborhood, and all that are in the utmost corners, the entire section of Arabia bordering on Palestine,
v. 24. and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, where tribes no longer were of pure blood,
v. 25. and all the kings of Zimri, probably a country toward the Euphrates, and all the kings of Elam, to the east of the Tigris, used for Persia in general, and all the kings of the Medes,
v. 26. and all the kings of the North, far and near, a general expression referring to all the empires in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris and beyond, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth, and the king of Sheshach, shall drink after them, Babylon itself being designated by this term and included in the list of those who were to be stunned by the wine of God’s avenging fury.
v. 27. Therefore thou shall say unto them, Thus salth the Lord of hosts, whose majesty and power would here find expression, the God of Israel, Drink ye, namely, the cup of the Lord’s fierce anger, and be drunken, and spue, vomiting as a result of their excessive drinking, and fall, and rise no more, being completely overcome by the powerful potion, because of the sword which I will send among you.
v. 28. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, unwilling to let His punishment strike them, then shalt thou say unto them. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink, compelled to endure the destruction which had been resolved upon in their case.
v. 29. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name, revealed in the Word which had been proclaimed by His prophets from the early days, Jerusalem being the center of the true worship, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Should the Lord treat the others as innocent and forbear wreaking His vengeance upon them, if He did not spare the city which He had chosen as the place of His Sanctuary? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. His patience was now exhausted, and He intended to include all His enemies in the punishment which was about to go forth.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 30, 32 when seventy years have been completed
when seventy years have been completed
"after seventy years" or "after seventy years have passed"
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this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
an unending desolation
The noun "desolation" can be translated as an adjective. AT: "desolate forever" (See: Abstract Nouns)
everything written in this book
This can be translated in active form. AT: "everything that Jeremiah has written in this book" or "everything that one has written in this book" (See: Active or Passive)
I will repay them for their deeds and the works of their hands
Yahweh speaks of punishing the people of the nations for what they have done as if he were paying them back. (See: Metaphor)
their deeds and the works of their hands
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The idiom "the works of their hands" refers to the actions of a person, with the word "hands" being a synecdoche that represents the person who does those actions. AT: "everything that they have done" (See: Doublet and Idiom and Synecdoche)
translationWords
punish
Chaldea
declare
iniquity
written
prophet
works
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 30, 32 25:12-14 Although the Lord used them to carry out…
25:12-14 Although the Lord used them to carry out judgment on Judah, the Babylonians would be held accountable for their sins, for their brutality, and for their abuse of those they defeated. In 539 BC, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus the Persian, and the people were taken into captivity. For centuries, many nations and great kings reduced the Babylonians to slavery, and the territory did not become independent again until 1932, as modern Iraq.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.