Jeremiah 50:11-32
50:11 “Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance [the land God had given His people], [note how Babylon delighted at her capture of Jerusalem and Judah…] because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions,

50:12 your mother [the city of Babylon] will be greatly ashamed [like a mother who is disgraced by the actions of her child]; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least [Babylon had been first among the nations] of the nations—a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.

50:13 Because of the LORD’S anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.

50:14 [instructions to the attacking forces] “Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD [by attacking Judah].

50:15 Shout against her on every side! She surrenders [literally “it has given its hand”], her towers fall, her walls are torn down [Cyrus took the city without resistance in 539 BC]. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD, take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done to others.

50:16 Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the reaper with his sickle at harvest [the Babylonians had destroyed farmers and killed farmers in her military campaigns–the same thing would now happen to her]. Because of the sword of the oppressor let everyone [captives from other lands] return to his own people, let everyone flee to his own land.

50:17 “Israel is a scattered flock that lions [enemy nations (Assyria and Babylon)] have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria [Samaria fell in 722 BC (cf. 2 Kings 17:1-6)]; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [cf. 2 Kings 24].”

50:18 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria [Assyrians fell to Babylonians (612–609 BC)].

50:19 But I [God] will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

50:20 In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

50:21 “Attack the land of Merathaim [region in southern Babylonia (near mouth of Tigris and Euphrates rivers); means “double rebellion” or “double bitterness”] and those who live in Pekod [name means “punishment”; located in eastern Babylonia]. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,” declares the LORD. “Do everything I have commanded you.

50:22 The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!

50:23 How broken and shattered is the hammer [like a hammer, Babylon had mercilessly shattered and pounded others nations into submission and desolation] of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!

50:24 I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and […like a bird caught in a trap] you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because [note the theological explanation for Babylon’s catastrophe…] you opposed the LORD.

50:25 The LORD has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons [in this case, the Persian conqueror spoken of in Isa. 44:28–45:1] of his wrath, for the Sovereign [God is sovereign over all armies of all nations] LORD Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.

50:26 Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

50:27 Kill all her young bulls [refers to Babylonian soldiers]; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished.

50:28 Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion [can refer to Jerusalem or to the temple hill] how the LORD our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

50:29 “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For [the reason for the assault on Babylon] she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

50:30 Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD.

50:31 “See, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, “for your day has come, the time for you to be punished.

50:32 The arrogant [proud] one will stumble and fall [cf. Prov. 16:18] and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”