“Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
Parallel Translations
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“Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
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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.
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Declare ye among the nations and announce, and set up a standard; announce, and conceal not; say: 'Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.'
Cross-references (25)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 50:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 46:1 Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary.
- Isaiah 21:9 Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
- Jeremiah 51:44 I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.
- Jeremiah 51:47 Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her.
- Psalms 64:9 All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done.
- Psalms 96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
- Isaiah 12:4 In that day you will say, “Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted!
- Isaiah 13:2 Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- Isaiah 37:19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
- Isaiah 39:1 At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.
- Isaiah 48:6 You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.
- Isaiah 66:18-19 “For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory. “I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
- Jeremiah 4:16 “Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
- Jeremiah 6:18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.
- Jeremiah 31:10 “Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
- Jeremiah 43:12-13 I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them, and carry them away captive. He will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go out from there in peace. He will also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’ ”
- Jeremiah 46:14 “Declare in Egypt, publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, ‘Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.’
- Jeremiah 50:46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles; and the cry is heard among the nations.
- Jeremiah 51:8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.
- Jeremiah 51:31 One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.
- Jeremiah 51:52 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded will groan.
- Jeremiah 52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and released him from prison.
- Zephaniah 2:11 Yahweh will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations.
- Revelation 14:6-8 I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!” Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”
- Revelation 18:2 He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He predicts the ruin of Babylon, not in simple…
He predicts the ruin of Babylon, not in simple words, for nothing seemed then more unreasonable than to announce the things which God at length proved by the effect. As Babylon was then the metropolis of the East, no one could have thought that it would ever be possessed by a foreign power. No one could have thought of the Persians, for they were far off. As to the Medes, who were nearer, they were, as we know, sunk in their own luxuries, and were deemed but half men. As then there was so much effeminacy in the Medes, and as the Persians were so far off and inclosed in their own mountains, Babylon peaceably enjoyed the empire of the whole eastern world. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet expresses at large what he might have set forth in a very few words.
Tell, he says, among the nations, publish, raise up a sign, and again, publish To what purpose is such a heap of words? even that the faithful might learn to raise up their thoughts above the world, and to look for that which was then, according to the judgment of all, incredible. This confidence shews that Jeremiah did not, in vain, foretell what he states; but he thundered as it were from heaven, knowing whence he derived this prophecy. And his proclamation was this, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, and Merodach is broken I know not why some think that Merodach was an idol: for as to Bel, we know that the Babylonians trusted in that god, or rather in that figment. But the Prophet mentions here evidently the name of a king well known to the Jews, in order to show that Babylon, with all its defences and its wealth, was already devoted to destruction: for we know that men look partly to some god, and partly to human or temporal means. So the Babylonians boasted that they were under the protection of Bel, and dared proudly to set up this idol in opposition to the only true God, as the unbelieving do; and then in the second place, they were inebriated with confidence in their own power: and hypocrisy ever rules in the unbelieving, so that they arrogate to themselves much more than what they ascribe to their idols. It is then the same thing as though he had said, that Babylon was taken, that Bel was confounded, and that the kingdom was broken, or broken in pieces.
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The name Merodach, as I have said, was well known among the Jews, and mention is made of a father and of a son of this name, by Isaiah and in sacred history. (Isaiah 39:1; 2 Kings 20:12.) It is no wonder, then, that the Prophet should name this king, though dead, on account of the esteem in which he was held, as we have seen in the case of the kingdom of Syria, he mentioned Ben-hadad, though no one supposes that he was then alive; but as Ben-hadad distinguished himself above other kings of Syria, the Prophet introduced his name. For the same reason, in my opinion, he names Merodach here.
The sum of the whole is, that though Babylon thought itself safe and secure through the help of its idol, and also through its wealth and warlike power, and through other defences, yet its confidence would become vain and empty, for God would bring to shame its idol and destroy its king. He again returned to the idols, and not without reason; for he thus called the attention of his own nation to the only true God, and also reminded them how detestable was the idolatry which then prevailed among the Chaldeans. And it was necessary to set this doctrine before the Jews, and to impress it on them, that they might not abandon themselves to the superstitions of heathens, as it happened. But the Prophet designedly spoke of images and idols, that the Jews might know that it was the only true God who had adopted them, and that thus they might acquiesce in his power, and know that those were only vain fictions which were much made of through the whole world by the heathens and unbelieving. It now follows —
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 After that God had used the Babylonians’ service to…
After that God had used the Babylonians’ service to punish other nations, he showeth that their turn shall come to be punished.
These were two of their chief idols.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish,…
Jer 50:2 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.
Ver. 2. Declare ye among the nations.] Let all take notice of the good news; there shall be a general jail delivery, sing therefore Io triumphe.
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Say, Babylon is taken.] So Isa 21:9.
Bel is confounded.] This Bel was Nimrod, whose nephew Ninus set him up for a god. Merodach (a restorer of their empire, {a} whereof Nimrod had been founder) was likewise idolised. They are called "dirty deities" - foedites et stercora, a name good enough for them - and said to be confounded. See Isa 46:1. "Sorrows" also; because "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God." {Psa 16:4}
{a} Merodach σκηπρουχος sive Sceptrifer Chaldaica appellatione.
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 The prophet calls to men to publish it amongst…
The prophet calls to men to publish it amongst other nations, and to
set up a standard, to make some signal to gather all people together to hear what he had to say from God against Babylon, which had been an instrument of great mischief unto most people that lived about them, to whom it would therefore be glad and joyful news to hear that Babylon their common enemy was ruined. That by
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Bel and
Merodach are meant two principal idols of the Babylonians, most think; but what, is not so well agreed. Some think that Bel is Baal by contradiction; but they judge most probably who think it was the image of one Belus, who was formerly a king of Babylon; and they judge the like of Merodach: we find in Scripture that Merodach was some of their kings’ names, Isa 39:1; Jer 52:31. Those who desire to be further satisfied about these idols may read the English Annotations upon Isa 46:1, and our Annotations upon that verse. It was an ordinary practice amongst the heathens, when they had any princes died that had been famous in their government, to pay a divine homage to their images and statues. These idols are said to be
confounded, either because they should not be able at this pinch to help their suppliants, or because they should be destroyed together with the silly people that adored them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Declare ye among the nations,.... The taking of Babylon;…
Declare ye among the nations,.... The taking of Babylon; a piece of news, in which the nations of the world had a concern, as well as the Jews, being brought under the Babylonish yoke, from which they would now be freed; and therefore such a declaration must be very acceptable and joyful to them. Some take these words to be the words of God to the prophet; others, the words of Jeremiah to the nations; the meaning is only, that such a declaration should be made, and such things done, as follow:
and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not; cause it to be heard far and near; and, that it may be heard, set up a sign or standard, to gather the people together to hear it; for this standard was not to be set up for the enlisting of men, or gathering them together, to go up and fight against Babylon, since it was now taken; but as a token of victory, and as expressive joy, on account of it; or rather for the reason given; see Isa 13:2;
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say, Babylon is taken; this is the thing to be declared, published, and not concealed; but with an audible voice to be pronounced, and rung throughout the several nations of the earth. Thus, when the everlasting Gospel is preached to every nation on earth, and Christ is set up in it as an ensign and standard to the people; it shall be everywhere published, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen", Rev 14:6;
Bel is confounded; an idol of the Babylonians, thought by some to be the same with Baal by contraction; he is by the Septuagint called Belus, the name of one of their kings; who might be idolized after his death, as was usual among the Heathen lions: he is said to be "confounded", because he must have been, could he have been sensible of the taking of Babylon, where his temple stood, and he was worshipped, since he was not able to protect it; or rather, because his worshippers were confounded, that gloried in him, and put their trust in him. So the Targum,
"they are confounded that worship Bel;''
See Gill on Isa 46:1.
Merodach is broken in pieces; another of their idols, which signifies a "pure lord"; some of their kings had this as one of their names, Isa 39:1. The Targum is,
"they are broken that worshipped Merodach;''
her idols are confounded, her images are broken to pieces; these were their lesser deities, as the other two were their greater ones; all should be destroyed along with it; as all the idols and images of the church of Rome will, when that is destroyed, Rev 9:20.
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 Bel - Bel and Merodach were the two principal…
Bel - Bel and Merodach were the two principal idols of the Babylonians.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Declare ye among the nations] God's determination…
Verse 2. Declare ye among the nations] God's determination relative to this empire.
Set up a standard] Show the people where they are to assemble.
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Say, Babylon is taken] It is a thing so firmly determined, that it is as good as already done.
Bel] The tutelar deity of Babylon is confounded, because it cannot save its own city.
Merodach] Another of their idols, is broken to pieces; it was not able to save itself, much less the whole empire.
Her idols are confounded] It is a reproach to have acknowledged them.
Her images] Great and small, golden and wooden, are broken to pieces; even the form of them no longer appears.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Confounded ... confounded - ashamed ... ashamed.
Confounded ... confounded - ashamed ... ashamed.
Merodach - This deity, in the inscriptions Marduk, was the tutelary god of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar, who called his son Evil-Merodach, appears to have been especially devoted to his service. He was really identical with Bel, and his equivalent among the planets was Jupiter: and as such he was styled “King of heaven and earth.”
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 Declare. This is grand. Let all the captives publish…
Declare. This is grand. Let all the captives publish these tidings. (Calmet) --- Bel, &c. Bel and Merodach were worshipped for gods by the men of Babylon. (Challoner) --- Merodach might be an ancient king deified. (Calmet) --- These greatest of their idols could neither save the people nor themselves. (Worthington)
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 Declare . . . among . . . nations--who…
Declare . . . among . . . nations--who would rejoice at the fall of Babylon their oppressor.
standard--to indicate the place of meeting to the nations where they were to hear the good news of Babylon's fall [ROSENMULLER]; or, the signal to summon the nations together against Babylon (Jer 51:12, Jer 51:27), [MAURER].
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Bel--the tutelary god of Babylon; the same idol as the Phœnician Baal, that is, lord, the sun (Isa 46:1).
confounded--because unable to defend the city under their protection.
Merodach--another Babylonian idol; meaning in Syria "little lord"; from which Merodach-baladan took his name.
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 THE FALL OF BABYLON AND DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL, Jer_50:2-10.
THE FALL OF BABYLON AND DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL, Jer_50:2-10.
2. Set up (rather, as the margin, lift up) a standard — As a means of spreading the good news.
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Bel… Merodach — These are not two separate deities, but rather two names suggesting two aspects of one deity. “Bel” is the Aramean divinity answering to the Phenician Baal, the Phenician and Babylonian Jupiter. “Merodach” is the same, as the tutelar god of Babylon.
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 2. and set up a standard; publish] The LXX…
2. and set up a standard; publish] The LXX omit. Cp. for the “standard” Isa_13:2 (R.V. “ensign”) as the probable origin of the expression here. It was to be a signal either to attract attention or as a point of rendez-vous.
Bel] properly lord, apparently to be distinguished here from Merodach (Marduk), who was the tutelary divinity of Babylon. Cp. Isa_46:1, where Bel occurs coupled with Nebo, son of Merodach.
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idols] lit. idol-blocks, a term of contempt very frequently found in Ezekiel (Jer_6:4, Jer_22:3, etc.). It seems to have meant primarily something rolled, hence a long sacred stone, then a stone image, lastly an idol in general.
dismayed] better, as mg. broken down.
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 (2) Set up a standard.—Better, lift up a signal.…
(2) Set up a standard.—Better, lift up a signal. The noun is the same as in Jer_4:6; Jer_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 quickly as may be throughout the world.
Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces.—Strictly speaking these, as found in the inscriptions, were names of the same deity (see Note on Isa_46:1). The name of Bel appears in the names of the two great walls of Babylon, Imgur-Bel and Nimetti-Bel (Records of the Past, v. 125). The latter name, sometimes in the form of Marduk, appears as lord of heaven and earth, and Nebo is subordinate to him. Nebuchadnezzar’s devotion to him is indicated by the name he gave his son, Evil-merodach (Jer_52:31), and by describing himself in his inscriptions as “worshipper of Marduk” (Records of the Past, v. 113). So we have among Chaldæan names Merodach-baladan (2Ki_20:12; Isa_39:1), Kurdur-Marduk, and others. The inscriptions at Borsippa speak of him as “the great lord, the most ancient of the gods, the lord of the gates of heaven,” and so on (Rawlinson’s Herodotus, i. 627-631).
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Idols . . . images.—The words had better be inverted. The former word denotes sculptured pillars, the latter blocks or columns. (See Note on Lev_26:30.)
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 Vers. 2-10. Babylon"s fall and Israel"s deliverance.
Vers. 2-10. Babylon"s fall and Israel"s deliverance.
Vers. 2, 3. The prophet, with the eye of faith, sees his revelation accomplished. Babylon (like Moab) is taken; her idols are destroyed. In his exuberant joy, he calls on the bystanders to proclaim the good news to the sympathetic nations, and to set up (or rather, lift up) a standard, (as Jer_4:6) to call the attention of those who might not be within hearing of the proclamation. The idols have been convicted of false pretensions; they are ashamed and dismayed (so we should render rather than confounded and broken in pieces) at the terrible result to their worshippers. Bel and Merodach are not different deifies, but merely different names of one of the two principal gods of the later Babylonian empire. Bel, it is true, was originally distinct from Merodach, but ultimately identified with him. Merodach was the tutelary god of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have been specially addicted to his worship, though, indeed, he mentions Nebo also with hardly less honour. This is the beginning of an inscription of this king"s, preserved at the India House: King of Babylon, glorious prince, worshipper of Marduk, adorer of the lofty one, glorifier of Nabu, the exalted, the possessor of intelligence" (Mr. Rodwell"s translation, "Records of the Past," 5:113). Elsewhere Nebuchadnezzar speaks of Marduk as "the god my maker," "the chief of the gods," and of himself as "his (Marduk"s) eldest son, the chosen of his heart." Her images. It is a very peculiar word (gillulim), specially frequent in Ezekiel, and also found in a chapter of Leviticus with which Ezekiel has affinities. (Lev_26:30) It evidently involves a sore disparagement of idol worship. The etymological meaning is "things rolled," which may be variously interpreted as "idol blocks" (Gesenius), or "doll images" (Ewald).
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Ver. 2. The judgment of Babylon.
The position and history of Babylon give a peculiar significance to the judgment against her.
I BABYLON HAD BEEN THE GREATEST POWER OF HER TIME.
1. Earthly greatness is transitory. The supremacy of the world is an insecure position. Rivalries and hatreds inevitably spring up about it.
2. No might nor dignity can secure a people from the judgment of Heaven. The more talents are entrusted to a nation the heavier must its responsibility be. England will have to answer to God for her use of the vast resources on which she foolishly prides itself. The wealth and population of London are no defence against Divine judgments.
II BABYLON HAD BEEN THE MOST VICTORIOUS KINGDOM OF HER TIME. She had conquered in her wars with neighbouring nations. While they failed she had succeeded; fortune, frowning on them, had smiled upon her. Yet Babylon"s time came. No ground of confidence is more delusive than previous success. If success induces carelessness and self-indulgence, it is sure to prepare the way for future failure. The "fortunate man" has not the slightest reason for presuming that his good fortune will help him in the future life. If he can argue anything from it, he may conclude that, since he has had his good things in this life, the evils that fall to his share must await him in the next.
III BABYLON HAD TRIUMPHED OVER THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Some might have thought that this was a victory of her patron god over the Jehovah of the Jews. But now "Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces." For a season the evil powers of the world may triumph over the Church of Christ. But ultimately they must succumb. Persecution cannot finally crush the truth. Unbelief, proud and insolent as it may be for a while, must ultimately bow before the power of faith. For truth is great and eternal, and God is fighting on its side.
IV BABYLON HAD BEEN AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD. Jehovah speaks of Nebuchadnezzar as "my servant". (Jer_27:6) Yet he must suffer. For he was not a deliberate, willing servant. If God overrules the action of a man for good, this result is no justification of his conduct. For he is judged by his aims and motives, and not at all by the unintentional and unforeseen results of his actions. The only service of God which renders the servant acceptable in his sight is conscious, willing, obedient service. We may be used by God for other service, and then be cast off and suffer for our sinful deeds as much as if no Divine ends had been fulfilled in them. Thus the scourge is scourged.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR Vers. 2-5. Israel"s deliverance.
This is described as twofold the historical circumstances and the correlative spiritual experience. Apart from its verification in the case of ancient Israel, it is true to the actual process of many an individual conversion.
I A PROVIDENTAL EVENT. The outward circumstances of life are altered. External tyrannies are brought suddenly to an end, and the children of God are set free to serve God or not as they please. In every life there are some such occurrences. The spell of evil is broken and moral freedom rendered possible. And this is often brought about impressively, with the stamp of the supernatural upon it. Especially was it so with Israel"s escape from Babylon, because of the permanent influence that event was to have on the spiritual history of mankind.
1. It was of world wide import. Babylon was the central world power, holding in iron subjection many nations. As a universal empire it is to be broken in pieces, and its sentence is not only announced, but published abroad as an evangel to the nations.
2. Of evidently Divine authorship. The clear prophecies; the moral recompense involved in its fall, and so wonderfully corresponding to its deserts, and the vast spiritual consequences accruing therefrom, make this indubitable. And equally, we may be sure, was the hand of God visible to those who were the subjects of the deliverance. (see Ps 124)
II A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. This corresponds to the external circumstances and gives them their real significance and effect.
1. Sorrow for past offences. "Weeping tears of grief and shame. The marvellous grace of God has broken their hearts. Tears, too, of joy and gratitude.
2. Return to the true God. Idolatry was henceforth and forever forsaken. The sublimity and spirituality of God have taken possession of imagination and heart. Each step of the way to Palestine is a further removal from the sin which took them away. And it is not the carnal delights of the promised land which constitute its attraction. It is Zion they seek, the house of the Lord, that they may rebuild her ruins and restore her worship. This proves repentance real.
3. Renewal of the covenant. In this is repentance perfected. It is to be a new covenant more spiritual, vital, and therefore eternal. The awful years of visitation have left an undying memory; but the interposition and grace of God have written his covenant upon their heart. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 50:2 Raising a signal flag was a favored method…
50:2 Raising a signal flag was a favored method for warning that an enemy was approaching a city (cp. Isa 13:2). • The people of Babylon would be under divine judgment because they worshiped the gods Bel (the Babylonian name for Baal) and Marduk (the Babylonian deity of wind, storm, and fertility).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.