Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

If we compare this prophecy with the remaining prophecies of Jeremiah regarding the heathen nations, we shall find that it contains no reference whatever to any execution by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon of the judgment witli which the Elamites are threatened; but it announces the fall of Elam and the dispersion of its inhabitants by enemies in a way so general, that, as Hiivernick (on Daniel, p. 549) has remarked, it is an arbitrary addition for any one to make, if he thinks definitely of the Chaldeans [as the enemies of Elam], because, correctly viewed, the contents rather declare against a conquest by Nebuchadnezzar. "Jeremiah," says Hiivernick, a an-

nounces the utter extinction of the state as such, a general dispersion and annihilation ot the people, a tribunal of punishment which the Lord Himself will hold over them, — features which are far too strongly marked, and far too grand, to let us think that Elam is merely to be rendered tributary and incorporated into a new state. If we connect with this the deliverance of Elam mentioned at the close of ver. 39, viz. his conversion, then we will not hesitate to take the meaning of the oracle, in a more general way, as referring to the gradual fall of this heathen nation, for which, however, a future deliverance is in store, as is fully shown by the issue." This view is at least much more

correct than the current one, still maintained by Ewald, Ilitzig, Graf, etc., according to which the prophecy refers to a conquest of Elam by Nebuchadnezzar. M. von Niebuhr (Gesch, Assyr. und Bab. S. 210) attempts to show its probability from a notice in Strabo (xi. 5i-i), and (on S. 212) from the intimation given in the book of Judith, chap, i., of a war between Nebuchadnezzar and Media, which was successfully concluded in the twelfth year of his reign. But the statement in Strabo, that the Kossaites, a nation of robbers, once sent 13,000 archers to help the Elamites against the Susites and Babylonians, is far too indefinite for us to be able to apply it to a war which Nebuchadnezzar in company with Media carried on against Elam; for the Susites are at least not Medes. And the notice in the book of Judith is self-evidently unhistorical; for it says that Nebuchadnezzar was king of the Assyrians and resided in the great city of Nineveh, and that he defeated Arphaxad the king of Media in the seventeenth year of his reign (Judith i. 1, 13). But Nebuchadnezzar neither resided in Nineveh, which had been destroyed shortly before; nor could he have made war on Arphaxad king of Media in the seventeenth year of his reign, because he had in that year begun to besiege Jerusalem with all his forces. But the additional considerations which Niebuhr brings forward in support of his hypothesis can as little stand the test. Neither Jer. xxv. 25, where the kings of Media and Elam are mentioned among those who are to drink the cup of wrath, nor Ezek. xxxii. 24 f., where Elam and the whole multitude of its people are brought forward as among those who were slain, and who sank into the nether parts of the earth, furnish proofs of the conquest and destruction of Elam by Nebuchadnezzar, or of a war between that king and Media. For the funeral-song in Ezekiel bears a thoroughly ideal character, and announces the fall of all the heathen power?, without any regard to Nebuchadnezzar. This holds, too, in a sense, of Jer. xxv., where Nebuchadnezzar is certainly mentioned as the ruler into whose power all the nations are to be delivered for the space of seventy years, inasmuch as this announcement also launches out into the idea of a judgment of all nations; so that we are not entitled to assume that all the kingdoms of the earth, to whom the cup of wrath is presented, were to be conquered and brought under subjection by Nebuchadnezzar. Still less reason is there for inferring from Jer. xxvii. 3, that Nebuchadnezzar was involved in a war with Media at a time when, as is there stated, at the beo;innin<T of Zedekiah's reign, the kings of Edom, Moab, Amnion, and Phoenicia sent ambassadors to Jerusalem to recommend a coalition against the power of Babylon. Even if Nebuchadnezzar were then occupied in the eastern portion of his kingdom, yet there is nothing at all to prove that he was involved in war witli Media or Elam. History says nothing of a war waged by Nebuchadnezzar on Elam, nor does this prophecy furnish any support for such an assumption. Although it does not set before us a " gradual ruin " of Elam (Iliiverniek), but rather a catastrophe brought on by God, yet the description is given in terms so general, that nothing more specific can be inferred from it regarding the time and the circumstances of this catastrophe. In this prophecy, Elam is not considered in its historical relation to the people of Israel, but as the representative of the heathen world lying beyond, which has not hitherto come into any relation towards the people of Israel, but which nevertheless, along with it, falls under the judgment coming on all nations, in order that, through the judgment, it may be led to the knowledge of the true God, and share in His salvation.

The genuineness of this prophecy has been impugned by the newer criticism in different ways; for some quite refuse to allow it as Jeremiah's, while others consider it a mere interpolation.1 Hitzig (Kveg. Handb. 2 Anil.) considers that this

1 With regard to the special attacks and their refutation, see details in Keil's Manual of Introduction to the Old 1 nt [translated by Prof.

oracle, with its epilogue, li. 59 64, is not to be wholly rejected aa spurious, as lias been done by Von Colin and Grambergj he is so much the less inclined to reject it, because, although there is many an interpolated piece here and there (.'>, yet no independent oracle has hitherto been found in Jeremiah that is wholly interpolated. "In fact," he continues, "this oracle show, numerous traces of its genuineness, and reasons for maintaining it. The use of particular words (1. 6, li. 1, 5, 7, 1 I 45, 55), and the circle of figures employed (li. 7, 8 34 1)1) as well as the style (1. 2, 3, 7, 8, 10), especially in turns like' li. 2; the concluding formula, li. 57; the dialogue introduced without any forewarning, li. 51, -all unmistakeably reveal Jeremiah; and this result is confirmed by chronological data" These chronological data, which Hitzig then extracts from particular verses, we cannot certainly esteem convincing, since they have been obtained through a method of exegesis' which denies the spirit and the essential nature of prophecy j but his remarks concerning Jeremiah's use of words and his circle of images are perfectly well-founded, and may be considerably corroborated if the matter were more minutely investigated. Notwithstanding all this, Ewald has again repeated in the second edition of his work on the Prophet", the assertion first made by Eichhorn, that this prophecy is spurious. He in the monograph entitled der Prophet Jeremias unci Babylon, L850, have thoroughly discussed the question), we must add the name of Graf who in the remarks prefixed to his commentary on chap. 1. f., has thoroughly examined the arguments of his opponents, and reached this result- "The prophecy contains nothing which Jeremiah could not have written' in the fourth year of Zedekiah; and the style of writing itself exhibiL all th peculiarities which present themselves in his book. This prophecy is there-

Only the passage h. 15-19, a repetition of x. 12-16, is said to proceed from another hand because it stands out of all connection with whit pre cedes and what follows it (but see the exposition); while he has so fully

IZTl *** gGnTe P?rti0DS °f thG Pr°phec^ 0ther P8^ which had been a sumed as interpolations, even by Nagelsbach in his monograph, that s « I1 i ]' S ™1^1 hlS f0mer d0ubts' and now decl^s that it is only the passage in li. 15-19 that he cannot regard as original.

does not, indeed, deny that " this long piece against Babylon has many words, turns of expression, and thoughts, nay, even the whole plan, in common with Jeremiah; and since Jeremiah is often accustomed in other places also to repeat himself, this might, at the first look, even create a prepossession favouring the opinion that it was composed by Jeremiah himself. But Jeremiah repeats himself in a more wholesale style, and is not unfaithful to himself in his repetitions: here, however, the Jeremianic element peers through only in single though very numerous passages, and the repeated portions are often completely transformed. What, therefore, appears here as Jeremianic is rather a studied repetition and imitation, which would require here to be all the stronger, when the piece was intended to pass as one of Jeremiah's writings." Ewald goes on to say that Babylon appears already as directly threatened by Cyrus; and the whole view taken of Babylon as a kingdom utterly degenerated, and unable any longer to escape the final destruction, — the prophetic impetuosity shown in rising up against the Chaldean oppression, — the public summons addressed to all the brethren living in Babylon, that they should flee from the city, now irrecoverably lost, and return to the holy land, — the distinct mention of the Modes and other northern nations as the mortal enemies of Babylon, and of the speedy and certain fall of this city; — all this, says Ewald, is foreign to Jeremiah, nay, even conflicting and impossible. For particular proof of this sweeping verdict, Ewald refers to the name q(W (li. 41, as in xxv. 2(3) for Babylon, t$> a!j for DNrib>3, li. 1? and similar circumlocutions for Chaldean names, li. 21. He refers also to certain words which are quite new, and peculiar only to Ezekiel and later writers: 1JD, n?T?> li. 23, 25, 27; D?b, 1. 2; OT3 as a designation of false prophets, 1. 36; also to D*}nn, to devote with a curse, 1. 21, 26, li. 3, which in the rest of Jeremiah occurs only xxv. 9. Further, he refers to the headings found in 1. 1 and li. 59, which are quite different from what Jeremiah himself would have written; and lastly, to the intimate connection subsisting between 1. 27, li. 40, and Isa. xxxiv. 6 ff., between 1. 39 and Isa. xxxiv. 14, and between li. 60 ff. and Jer. xxxiv. 16. But all these considerations are much too weak to prove the spuriousness of the passage before us. The connection with Isa. x.wiv. quite agrees w it h Jeremiah's characteristic tendency to lean on older prophecies, and reproduce the thoughts contained in them (we merely recall the case of the prophecy concerning Moab in chap, xlviii., against who tuineness even Ewald has nothing to say); and it can be brought to tell against the genuineness of this oracle only on the groundless supposition that J xwiv. originated in exile times. The headings given in 1. 1 and li. 59 contain nothing whatever that would he strange in Jeremiah: li. 59 is not a title at all, but the commencement of the account regarding the charge which Jeremiah jrave to Seraiah when he was going to Babylon, with reference to his carrying with him the prophecy concerning Babylon; and the heading in 1. 1 almost exactly agrees with that in xlvi. 13 (see the exposition). Of the alleged later words, E'")nn and DW3 are derived from the Pentateuch, 0,r]2 from Isa. xliv. 25. IJp and nnD certainly were not known to the Hebrews till the invasions of Judah by the Assyrians and Chaldeans; but the latter of the two words we find as early as in the address of the Assyrians in Isa. xxxvi. 9, and the former in Isa. xli. 25: thus, not a single one of the words alleged to have been first used by Ezekiel is peculiar to him. Finally, of the circumlocutions used for the names u Babylon " and " Chaldeans," Ewaid himself confesses that T~'~ in xxv. 2<5 may be Jeremiah's; and he has yet to give proof for the assertion that the names cited are merely circumlocutions in which a play is made on words that did not come into vogue till after Jeremiah's time. And as little has been even attempted in the way of establishing the opinion he has expressed regarding what is Jeremianic in the prophecy, — that it is a studied repetition and imitation, — or the assertion that Babylon is represented as being directly threatened by Cyrus. In the Old Testament Scriptures, Cyrus is represented as the king of Persia, which he was; but thi3 prophecy says nothing of the Persians. Thus, the learned supplementary matter with which Ewald seeks to support his general assertions is by no means fitted to strengthen his position, but rather shows that the proper argument for rejecting this oracle as spurious is not to be found in the nature of this particular prophecy, but in the axiom openly expressed by

Eichhorn, von Colin, Gramberg, and other followers of the "vulgar rationalism," that Jeremiah could not have announced the destruction of Babylon by the Medes, because at his time the Medes had not yet appeared on the scene of history as a conquering nation; for, according to the principles of rationalism, the prophets could merely prophesy of things which lay within the political horizon. It has not escaped the acute observation of Hitzig, that the genuineness of this prophecy could not be shaken by such general assertions; hence he has adopted Movers' hypothesis of numerous interpolations, in order thereby to account for the use made of portions of Isaiah, which, on dogmatic grounds, are referred to the exile. But for this assumption also there are wanting proofs that can stand the test. Besides the general assertion that Jeremiah could not have repeated earlier pieces word for word, the arguments which Movers and Hitzig bring forward from the context, or from a consideration of the contents, in the case of isolated verses, depend upon false renderings of words, conjectures of a merely subjective character, and misunderstandings of various kinds, which at once fall to the ground when the correct explanation is given.

The germ of this prophecy lies in the word of the Lord, chap. xxv. 12, u When seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and make it everlasting desolations; " and its position with regard to the other prophecies of Jeremiah against the nations has already been given in outline in the statement of xxv. 26, " And the king of Sheshach (Babylon) shall drink after them." Just as- these utterances (xxv. 12, 26) stand in full accord with the announcement that, in the immediate future, all nations shall be given into the power of the king of Babylon, and serve him seventy years; so, too, the prophecy against Babylon now lying before us not only does not stand in contradiction with the call addressed to Jeremiah, that he should proclaim to his contemporaries the judgment which Babylon is to execute on Judah and all nations, but it rather belongs to the complete solution of the problems connected with this call. The announcement of the fall of Babylon, and the release of Israel from Babylon, form the subject of the prophecy, which is more than a hundred verses in length. This double subject, the two parts of which are so closely connected, is portrayed in a series of images which, nearly throughout, are arranged pretty loosely together, so that it is impossible to summarize the rich and varied contents of these figures, and to sketch a correct plan of the course of thought and of the divisions of the oracle. Hence, too, the views of expositors with regard to the division of the whole into parts or strophes widely differ;1 we follow the view of Ewald, that the whole falls into three main parts (1. 2-28, 1. 29 on to li. 26, and li. 27-58), every one of which begins with a spirited exhortation to engage in battle. These three main portions again fall into ten periods, of which the first three (1. 2-10, 11-20, and 21-28) form the first main division; the four middle ones form the second main portion (1. 29-40, ver. 41 to li. 4, vers. 5-14, and.vers. 15-26); while the following three form the last (vers. 27-37, 38-49, and 50-58). We further agree with what Ewald says regarding the contents of the first two parts in general, viz. that in the first the prevailing view is the necessity for the deliverance of Israel, and that in the second, the antithesis between Babylon on the one hand, and Jahveh together with Israel, His spiritual instrument, on the other, is fully brought out; but we do not agree with his remark concerning the third part, that there the prevailing feature is the detailed description of the condition of Israel at that time, for this does not at all agree with the contents of li. 27-58. Rather, the address rises into a triumphant description of the fall of Babylon, in which the Lord will show Himself as the avenger of His people. On the whole, then, the prophecy is neither wanting in arrangement

1 Thus, according to Eichhorn, Dahler, and Rosenmuller, the whole consists of several pieces (three or six) which originally belonged to different periods; according to Schmieder, it consists of "seven different poems or songs, all having the same subject, which, however, they set forth from different sides, and under countless images." Nagelsbach at first assumed that there were three main divisions, with thirteen subdivisions; afterwards, in Lange's Blbclwtrk [see Clark's Foreign Theol. Library], he thinks he is able also to distinguish three stages of time, which, however, do not permit of being sharply defined, so that he continues to divide the whole prophecy into nineteen separate views or figures.

nor in that necessary progress in the development of thought which proves unity of conception and execution.

Chap. 1. 1. The title, " The word which Jahveh spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah The prophet," follows xlvi. 13 in choosing nw n:n -«fe instead of the usual Hjn IB*, and deviates from that passage only in substituting " by the hand of Jeremiah" for u to Jeremiah," as in xxxvii. 2. The preference of the expression " spake by the hand of" for " spake to," is connected with the fact that the following prophecy does not contain a message of the Lord which came to Jeremiah, that he might utter it before the people, but a message which he was to write down and send to Babylon, li. 60 ff. The apposition to " Babylon," viz. " the land of the Chaldeans," serves the purpose of more exactly declaring that "Babylon" is to be understood not merely of the capital, but also of the kingdom; cf. vers. 8, 45, and 51, 54.

Vers. 2-10. The fall of Babylon, and deliverance of Israel. — Ver. 2. " Tell it among the 'nations, and cause it to be heard, and lift up a standard; cause it to be hoard, conceal it not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is confounded; her images are ashamed, her idols are confounded. Ver. 3. For there hath come up against her a nation out of the north; it will make her land a desolation, and there shall be not an inhabitant in it: from man to beast, [all] have fled, are gone. Ver. 4. In those days, and at that time, saith Jahveh, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go, weeping as they go, and shall seek Jahveh their God. Ver. 5. They shall ask for Zion, with their faces [turned to] the road hitherwards, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to Jahveh by an eternal covenant [which] shall not be forgotten. Ver. 6. My people have been a flock of lost ones; their shepherds have misled them [on] mountains which lead astray: from mountain to hill they went; they forgot their resting-place. Ver. 7. All who found them have devoured them; and their enemies said, We are not guilty, for they have sinned against Jahveh, the dwelling-place of justice, and the hope of their fathers, Jahveh. Ver. 8. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans; let them go forth, and let them be like he-goats before a floek. \ er. 9. For, behold, I will stir up, and bring Up against Babylon, an assembly of great nations out of the land of the north: and they shall array themselves against her; on that side shall she be taken: his arrows [are] like [those of] a skilful hero [who] does not return empty. Ver. 10. And [the land of the] Chaldeans shall become a spoil; all those who spoil her shall be satisfied, saith Jahveh."

In the spirit Jeremiah sees the fall of Babylon, ton-ether with its idols, as if it had actually taken place, and gives the command to proclaim among the nations this event, which brings deliverance for Israel and Judah. The joy over this is expressed in the accumulation of the words for the summons to tell the nations what has happened. On the expression, cf. iv. 5, 6, xlvi. 14. The lifting up of a standard, i.e. of a signalrod, served for the more rapid spreading of news; cf. iv. 6, vi. 1, Isa. xiii. 2, etc. " Cause it to be heard" is intensified by the addition of a do not conceal it." The thing is to be proclaimed without reserve; cf. xxxviii. 14. " Babylon is taken," i.e. conquered, and her idols have become ashamed, inasmuch as, from their inability to save their city, their powerlessness and nullity have come to light. Bel and Merodach are not different divinities, but merely different names for the chief deity of the Babylonians. Bel = Baal, the Jupiter of the Babylonians, was, as Bel-Merodach, the tutelary god of Babylon. " The whole of the Babylonian dynasty," says Oppert, ExpM. en Mesopot. ii. p. 272, " places him [Merodach] at the head of.the gods; and the inscription of Borsippa calls him the king of heaven and earth." D»2Wg; " images of idols," and ^W>3, properly " logs," an expression of contempt for idols (see on Lev. xxvi. 30), are synonymous ideas for designating the nature and character of the Babylonian gods.— Ver. 3. Babylon is fallen by a people from the north, that has gone out against her, and makes her land a desolation. This nation is described in ver. 9 as a collection, union of great nations, that are enumerated especially in li. 27, 28. On " it [the nation] shall make her land," etc., cf. ii. 15, xlviii. 9; on the expression "from man to beast," cf. xxxiii. 12, ix. 9. ¥1J is from 1W, ver. 8 and xlix. 30 = VTpx, from TU, ix. 9.— Ver. 4f. Then, when Babylon shall have fallen, the children of Israel and Judah return out of their captivity, seeking Jahveh their God with tears of repentance, and marching to Zion, for the purpose of joining themselves to Him in an eternal covenant. The fall of Babylon has the deliverance of Israel as its direct result. The prophet views this in such a way, that all the steps in the fulfilment (the return from Babylon, the reunion of the tribes previously separated, their sincere return to the Lord, and the making of a new covenant that shall endure for ever), which will actually follow successively in long periods, are taken together into one view. By the statement made regarding the time, " In those days, and at that time," the fall of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel (which Jeremiah sees in the spirit as already begun) are marked out as belonging to the future. Israel and Judah come together, divided no more; cf. iii. 18. " Going and weeping they go," i.e. they always go further on, weeping: cf. xli. 6; 2 Sam. iii. 16; Ewald, § 280, b. Cf. also iii. 21, xxxi. 9. Seeking the Lord their God, they ask for Zion, i.e. they ask after the way thither; for in Zion Jahveh has His throne. "The way hither" (i.e. to Jerusalem) "is their face," sc. directed. " Hither" points to the place of the speaker, Jerusalem. *yJ1 *8fcl are imperatives, and words with which those who are returning encourage one another to a close following of the Lord their God. Vi?3 is imperative for ti^, like ^3?3 in Isa. xliii. 9, Joel iv. 11; cf. Ewald, § 226, c. It cannot be the imperfect, because the third person gives no sense; hence Graf would change the vowels, and read HvJ. But suspicion is raised against this by the very fact that, excepting Eccles. viii. 15, TO, in the sense of joining oneself to, depending on, occurs only in the Niphal. D?iy IVin is a modal accusative: " in an eternal covenant [which] shall not be forgotten," i.e. which we will not forget, will not break again. In fact, this is the new covenant wrhich the Lord, according to xxxi. 31 ff\, will make in time to come with His people. But here this side of the matter is withdrawn from consideration; for the point treated of is merely what Israel, in his repentant frame and returning to God, vows he shall do.

Israel comes to this determination in consequence of the misery into which he has fallen because of his sins, vers. 5-7.

I irael was Like B flock of lost sheep which their shepherds had led astray, nnux jN¥y a flock of sheep that are going to ruin. The participle in the plural is joined with the collective noun ad Milium, to show what is imminent or is beginning to happen.

The verb HVJ points to the subject [fetX; hence the Qeri WJ is unnecessary. The plural sullixes of the following clause refer to ^V as a collective. The shepherds led the people of God astray on D*??^ D*)n (a local accusative; on the Keihib M?^j cf. xxxi. 32, xlix. 4; it is not to be read WlM), mountains that render people faithless. These mountains were so designated because they were the seats of that idolatry which had great power of attraction for a sinful people, so that the seduction or alienation of the people from their God is ascribed to them. 321^ is used in the sense which the verb has in lsa. xlvii. 10. The Qeri M3i:y gives the less appropriate idea, " the shepherds made the sheep stray." llit/ig's translation, u they drove them along the mountain," does not suit the verb 33iw\ Moreover, the mountains in themselves do not form unsuitable pasture-ground for sheep, and D*}n does not mean " a bare, desolate mountain-range." The objection to our view of D^H D'22itP, that there is no very evident proof that worship on high places is referred to (Graf), is pure fancy, and the reverse only is true. For the words which follow, u they (the sheep) went from mountain to hill, and forgot their resting-place," have no meaning whatever, unless they are understood of the idolatrous dealings of Israel. The resting-place of the sheep (_DV3">, the place where the flocks lie down to rest), according to ver. 7, is Jahveh, the hope of their fathers. Their having forgotten this resting-place is the result of their going from mountain to hill: these words undeniably point to the idolatry of the people on every high hill (ii. 20, iii. 2, xvii. 2, etc.). — Ver. 7. The consequence of this going astray on the part of Israel was, that every one who found them devoured them, and while doing so, cherished the thought that they were not incurring guilt, because Israel had been given up to their enemies on account of their apostasy from God; while the fact was, that every offence against Israel, as the holy people of the Lord, brought on guilt; cf. ii. 3. This befell Israel because they have sinned against Jahveh. P*M njj, " the habitation (or pasture-ground)

of righteousness." So, in xxxi. 23, Zion is called the mountain on which Jahveh sits enthroned in His sanctuary. As in other places Jahveh Himself is called a fortress, Ps. xviii. 3; a sun, shield, Ps. Ixxxiv. 12; a shade, Ps. cxxi. 5; so here He is called the One in whom is contained that righteousness which is the source of Israel's salvation. As such, He was the hope of the fathers, the God upon whom the fathers put their trust; cf. xiv. 8, xvii. 13, Ps. xxii. 5 f. The repetition of mrp at the end is intended to give an emphatic conclusion to the sentence. — Vers. 8-10. To escape from this misery, Israel is to flee from Babylon; for the judgment of conquest and plunder by enemies is breaking over Babylon. The summons to flee out of Babylon is a reminiscence of Isa. xlviii. 20. The Kethib MfjTJ may be vindicated, because the direct address pretty often makes a sudden transition into the language of the third person. They are to depart from the land of the Chaldeans. No more will then be necessary than to change WJ1 into WJ. The simile, " like he-goats before the flock," does not mean that Israel is to press forward that he may save himself before any one else (Graf), but that Israel is to go before all, as an example and leader in the flight (Nagelsbaeh). — Ver. 9. For the Lord arouses and leads against Babylon a crowd of nations, i.e. an army consisting of a multitude of nations. As ">TO reminds us of Isa. xiii. 17, so tt^H Dia ^np remind us of D$ nto5>DB ^t5?.^. in Isa. xiii. 4.? spy, to make preparations against. CU'O is not used of time (Kosenmiiller, Nagelsbaeh, etc.), for this application of the word has not been established from the actual occurrence of instances, but it has a local meaning, and refers to the u crowd of nations:" from that place where the nations that come out of the north have assembled before Babylon. In the last clause, the multitude of great nations is taken together, as if they formed one enemy: " his arrows are like [the arrows] of a wisely dealing (i.e. skilful) warrior." l The

1 Instead of ta&D, J- H. Michaelis, in his Biblia Haletu., has accepted the reading ^3$D on the authority of three Erfurt codices and three old editions (a Veneta of 1G18; Buxtorfs Rabbinic Bible, printed at Basle, 1G20; and the London Polyglott). J. D. Michaelis, Rosenmuller, Maurer, and Umbreit have decided for this reading, and point to the rendering of the Vulgate, interfectoris, and of the Targum, ^2n», orhaus. On the

Strength of 2 Sam. i. 22, to one particular arrow which does not come hack empty; for the verb 3HP, though perhaps suitable enough for the BWOrd, which is drawn hack when it has executed the blow, is inappropriate for the arrow, which does not return. The subject to 2\\Ch is "ii-3, the hero, who does not turn or return without having accomplished his object; cf. Isa. lv. 11. In ver. 10, D^iW) is the name of the country, "Chaldeans;" hence it i^ construed as a feminine. The plunderers of Chaldea will be able to satisfy themselves with the rich booty of that country.

Vers. 11-20. The devastation of Babylon and glory of Israel. — Ver. 11. k* Though ye rejoice, though ye exult, () ye plunderers of mine inheritance, though ye leap proudly like a heifer threshing, and neigh like strong horses, Ver. 12. Your mother will be very much ashamed; she who bare you will blush: behold, the last of the nations [will be] a wilderness, a desert, and a steppe. Ver. 13. Because of the indignation of Jahveh it shall not be inhabited, and it shall become a complete desolation. Every one passing by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss because of all her plagues. Ver. 14. Make preparations against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, do not spare an arrow, for she hath sinned against Jahveh. Ver. 15. Shout against her round about; she hath given herself up: her battlements are fallen, her walls are pulled down; for it is Jahveh's vengeance: revenge yourselves on her; as she hath done, do ye to her. Ver. 16. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest. From before the oppressing sword each one will turn to his own nation, and each one will flee to his own land. Ver. 17. Israel is a scattered sheep [which] lions have driven away: the first [who] devoured him [was] the other hand, the LXX. and Syriac have read and rendered ^2 bo; and this reading is not merely presented by nonnulli libri, as Maurer states, but by twelve codices of de Rossi, and all the more ancient editions of the Bible, of which de Rossi in his varise lectiones mentions forty-one. The critical witnesses are thus overwhelming for ^SJ^C; and against ^SW'D there lies the further consideration, that hy& has the meaning orbare, to render childless, only in the Piel, but in the Hiphil means abortare, to cause or have miscarriages, as is shown by ^3WJ2 Dm, Hos. ix. 14.

king of Babylon; and this, the last, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, hath broken his bones. Ver. 18. Therefore thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the kino- of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. Ver. 19. And I will bring back Israel to his pasture-ground, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and on the mountains of Ephraim his soul shall be satisfied. Ver. 20. In those days, and at that time, saith Jahveh, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, but it shall not be; and the sins of Juclah, but they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I will leave remaining."

Ver. 11 does not permit of being so closely connected with what precedes as to separate it from ver. 12 (De Wette, Niigclsbach). Not only is the translation, u for thou didst rejoice," etc., difficult to connect with the imperfects of all the verbs in the verse, but the direct address also does not suit ver. 10, and rather demands connection with ver. 12, where it is continued. s3, of course, introduces the reason, yet not in such a way that ver. 11 states the cause why Chaldea shall become a spoil, but rather so that vers. 11 and 12 together give the reason for the threatening uttered. The different clauses of ver. 11 are the protases, to which ver. 12 brings the apociosis. u You may go on making merry over the defeat of Israel, but shame will follow for this." The chamie of the singular forms of the verbs into plurals (Qeri) has been caused by the plural '3 lbfef, but is unnecessary, because Babylon is regarded as a collective, and its people are gathered into the unity of a person; see on xiii. 20. " Spoilers of mine inheritance," i.e. of the people and land of the Lord; cf. xii. 7, Isa. xvii. 1 1. On cnQ, to gallop (of a horse, Hab. i. 8), hop, spring (of a calf, Mai. iii. 20), see on Hab. i. 8. WW is rendered by the LXX. eV Pordvr}, by the Vulgate super herbam; after these, Ewald also takes the meaning of springing like a calf through the grass, since he explains KBH as exhibiting the correct punctuation, and remarks that (WB, like $n, can stand with an object directly after it; see § 282, a. Most modern expositors, on the other hand, take KwH as the fern, participle from B>JPI, written with N instead of n: "like a threshing heifer." On this, A. Schultens, in his Animadv. philol, on this passage, remarks: Comparatio petita t*t a vitulO) qwb in arm media inter frumenta, err ex lege non ligato (Dent, xw. iO)fpree pabuli abundantia geetit ex exsultat. This explanation also gives a Buitable meaning, without compelling us to do violence to the language ami to alter the text. As to C,T-N, stallions, Btrong horses (Luther), see on viii. 16 and xlvii. 3. " Your mother" is the whole body of the people, the nation considered as a unity (ef. Isa. 1. 1, Hos. ii. 1, IV. 5), the individual members of which are called her sous; ef. v. 7, ete. In ver. 126, the disgrace that is to fall on Babylon is more distinctly specified. The thought is gathered up into a sententious Baying, in imitation of the sayings of Balaam. " The last of the nations" is the antithesis of "the first of the nations," as Balaam calls Amalek, Num. xxiv. 20, because they were the first heathen nation that began to fight against the people of Israel. In like manner, Jeremiah calls Babylon the last of the heathen nations. As the end of Amalek is ruin (Num. xxiv. 20), so the end of the last heathen nation that comes forward against Israel will be a wilderness, desert, steppe. The predicates (ef. ii. G) refer to the country and kingdom of Babylon. But if the end of the kingdom is a desert, then the people must have perished. The devastation of Babylon is further portrayed in ver. 13, together with a statement of the cause: " Because of the anger of Jahveh it shall not be inhabited;" cf. Isa. xiii. 20. The words from nrrni onwards are imitated from xlix. 17 and xix. 8. — Ver. 14. In order to execute this judgment on Babylon, the nations are commanded to conquer and destroy the city. The archers are to place themselves round about Babylon, and shoot at the city unsparingly. TW does not mean to prepare oneself, but to prepare nJ2rbny the battle, combat. The archers are mentioned by synecdoche, because the point in question is the siege and bombardment of Babylon; cf. Isa. xiii. 18, where the Medes are mentioned as archers. HT is used only here, in Kal, of the throwing, i.e. the shooting of arrows, instead of TH\ which is elsewhere the usual word for this; and, indeed, some codices have the latter word in this passage. " Spare not the arrow," i.e. do not spare an arrow; cf. Ii. 3. JT?n, to cry aloud; here, to raise a battlecry; cf. Josh. vi. 16. The effect and result of the cry is, "she hath given her hand," i.e. given herself up. TJ jnj usually signifies the giving of the hand as a pledge of faithfulness (2 Kings x. 15; Ezek. xvii. 18; Ezra x. 19), from which is derived the meaning of giving up, delivering up oneself; cf. 2 Chron. xxx. 8. Cf. Cornelius Nepos, Hamilc. c. 1, donee victi manum dedissent. The air. \ey. HWPK (the Kethib is either to be read |Tri5yj;K, as if from a noun IVIfiftC, or to be viewed as an error in transcription for jVrrt*Bfc, which is the Qeri) signifies the supports of a building, its foundations; cf. KJt&t, Ezra iv. 12. Here the word signifies the supports of the city, i.e. the fortifications of Babylon, eVaXfet?, propugnacula, piniKje, the battlements of the city wall, not the foundations of the walls, for which %) is unsuitable. " It (sc. the destruction of Babylon) is the vengeance of Jalivch." "The vengeance of Jahveh" is an expression derived from Num. xxxi. 3. "Avenge yourselves on her," i.e. take retribution for what Babylon has done to other nations, especially to the people of God; cf. 28 f. and li. 11. The words, " cut off out of Babylon the sower and the reaper," are not to be restricted to the fields, which, according to the testimonies of Diod. Sic. ii. 7, Pliny xviii. 17, and Curtius v. 1, lay within the wall round Babylon, but " Babylon " is the province together with its capital; and the objection of Nagelsbach, that the prophet, in the whole context, is describing the siege of the city of Babylon, is invalid, because ver. 126 plainly shows that not merely the city, but the province of Babylon, is to become a wilderness, desert, and steppe. The further threat, also, " every ones flees to his own people from before the oppressing sword" (cf. xxv. 38, xlvi. 16) applies not merely to the strangers residing in Babylon, but generally to those in Babylonia. Hitzig would arbitrarily refer these words merely to the husbandmen and field-workers. The fundamental passage, Isa. xiii. 14, which Jeremiah had before his mind and repeats verbatim, tells decidedly against this view; cf. also Jer. li. 9, 44.— Vers. 17-19. This judgment comes on Babylon because of her oppression and scattering of the people of Israel, whom the Lord will now feed in peace again on their native soil. Israel is like fTOB nfr, a sheep which,liaving been scared away out of its stall or fold, is hunted into the wide world; cf. BJtl? *^», Joel W. 9. Although "im#wto scatter," implies the conception of a flock, yet we cannot take njp as a collective ((J rat), since it ia nomen unitatia* The point in the comparison lies on the faet that Israel has been hunted, like a solitary sheep, up and down among the beasts of the earth; and ",*- is more exactly specified by the following clause, u lions have chased after it." The object of Wti} is easily derived from the context, so that we do not need to follow Hitzig in changing tflWOn WW into fwn (WW. These kings are, the king of Assyria first, and the kinizof Babylon last. The former has dispersed the ten tribes among the heathen; the latter, by destroying the kingdom of Judah, and carrying away its inhabitants, has shattered the theocracy. The verbs apply to the figure of the lion, and the suffixes refer to Israel. /3K is used of the devouring of the flesh; E^y is a denominative from D>*y, and means the same as DTjj, Num. xxiv. 8, to break bones in pieces, not merely gnaw them. So long as the flesh only is eaten, the skeleton of bones remains; if these also be broken, the animal is quite destroyed. — Ver. 18. The Assyrian has already received his punishment for that — the Assyrian kingdom has been destroyed; Babylon will meet with the same punishment, and then (ver. 19) Israel will be led back to his pastureground. HJJ, pasture-ground, grass-plot, where sheep feed, is the land of Israel. Israel, led back thither, will feed on Carmel and Bashan, the most fertile tracts of the country, and the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead, which also furnish fodder in abundance for sheep. As to Gilead, see Num. xxxii. 1,,Mic. vii. 14; and in regard to the mountains of Ephraim, Ex. xxxiv. 13 f., where the feeding on the mountains of Israel and in the valleys is depicted as fat pasture. The mountains of Israel here signify the northern portion of the land generally, including the large and fertile plain of Jezreel, and the different valleys between the several ranges of mountains, which here and there show traces of luxuriant vegetation even yet; cf. Robinson's PJiysical Geography, p. 120. Then also the guilt of the sins of Israel and Judah shall be blotted out, because the Lord grants pardon to the remnant of His people. This promise points to the time of the New Covenant; cf. xxxi. 34 and xxxiii. 8. The deliverance of Israel from Babylon coincides with the view given of the regeneration of the people by the Messiah, just as we find throughout the second portion of Isaiah. On the construction '& I'ljrriK Pg£, cf. xxxv. 14, and Gesenius, § 143, 1. On the form ^^n} with i after the manner of verbs n"S>, cf. Ewald, § 198, b.

Vers. 21-28. The pride and power of Babylon are broken, as a punishment for the sacrilege he committed at the temple of the Lord. Ver. 21. "Against the land, — Double-rebellion, — go up against it, and against the inhabitants of visitation; lay waste and devote to destruction after them, saith Jahveh, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. Ver. 22. A sound of war [is] in the land, and great destruction. Ver. 23. How the hammer of the whole earth is cut and broken! how Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! Ver. 24. I laid snares for thee, yea, and thou hast been taken, O Babylon; but thou didst not know: thou wast found, and also seized, because thou didst strive against Jahveh. Ver. 25. Jahveh hath opened His treasure-house, and brought out the instruments of His wrath; for the Lord, Jahveh of hosts, hath a work in the land of the Chaldeans. Ver. 26. Come against her, [all of you], from the last [to the first]; open her storehouses: cast her up in heaps, like ruins, and devote her to destruction; let there be no remnant left to her. Ver. 27. Destroy all her oxen; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. Ver. 28. [There is] a sound of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jahveh our God, the vengeance of I lis temple."

The punishment of Babylon will be fearful, corresponding to its crimes. The crimes of Babylon and its punishment Jeremiah has comprised, in ver. 21, in two names specially formed for the occasion. The enemy to whom God has entrusted the execution of the punishment is to march against the land DVT1D. This word, which is formed by the prophet in a manner analogous to Mizraim, and perhaps also Aram Naharaim, means "double rebellion," or " double obstinacy." It comes from the root?T}D, " to be rebellious " against Jahveh and His commandments, whence also *"]&, " rebellion;" Num. xvii. 25, Ezek. ii. 5, 7, etc. Other interpretations of the word are untenable: such is that of Fiirst, who follows the Vulgate u tii-ram dominantium" and, comparing the Aramaic Nio, " Lord," renders it by "dominion" (Herschaft). Utterly indefensible, too, is the translation of Hitzig, "the world of men " {MenschenvoeU\ which he derives from the Sanskrit martjam} "world," on the basis of the false assumption that the language of the Chaldeans was Indo-Germanic. The only doubtful points are in what respect Babylon showed double obstinacy, and what Jeremiah had in his mind at the time. The view of Ilitzig, Maurer, Graf, etc., is certainly incorrect, — that the prophet was thinking of the double punishment of Israel by the Assyrians and by the Babylonians (vers. 17 and 33); for the name is evidently given to the country which is now about to be punished, and hence to the power of Babylon. Nagelsbach takes a twofold view: (1) he thinks of the defiance shown by Babylon towards both man and God; (2) he thinks of the double obstinacy it exhibited in early times by building the tower, and founding the first worldly kingdom (Gen. x. 8 f.), and in later times by its conduct towards the theocracy: and he is inclined rather to the latter than to the former view, because the offences committed by Babylon in early and in later times were, in their points of origin and aim, too much one and the same for any one to be able to represent them as falling under two divisions. This is certainly correct; but against the first view there is also the important consideration that HID is pretty constantly used only of opposition to God and the word of God. If any one, notwithstanding this, is inclined to refer the name also to offences against men, he could yet hardly agree with Nagelsbach in thinking of the insurrections of Babylon against the kings of Assyria, their masters; for these revolts had no meaning in reference to the position of Babylon towards God, but rather showed the haughty spirit in which Babylon trod on all the nations. The opinion of Dahler has most in its favour: " Doubly rebellious, i.e. more rebellious than others, through its idolatry and its pride, which has exalted it against God, vers. 24, 29." Rosenmiiller, De Wette, etc., have decided in favour of this view. Although the dual originally expresses the idea of pairing, yet the Hebrew associates with double, twofold, the idea of increase, gradation; cf. Isa. xl. 2, Ixi. 7. The object is prefixed for the sake of emphasis; and in order to render it still more prominent, it is resumed after the verb in the expression " against it." "tips, an infinitive in form, " to visit with punishment, avenge, punish," is also used as a significant name of Babylon: the land that visits with punishment is to be punished. Many expositors take 2hn as a denominative from Tin, " sword," in the sense of strangling, murdering; so also in ver. 27. But this assumption is far from correct; nor is there any need for making it, because the meaning of destroying is easily obtained from that of being laid waste, or destroying oneself by transferring the word from things to men. Dnnn^ " to proscribe, put under the ban," and in effect " to exterminate;" see on xxv. 9. On "after them," cf. xlix. 37, xlviii. 2, 9, 15, etc. — Ver. 22. After the command there immediately follows its execution. A sound of war is heard in the land.

7H2 "U5P, which is an expression much used by Jeremiah, see on iv. 6. — Ver. 23. Babylon, "the hammer of the whole earth," i.e. with which Jahveh has beaten to pieces the nations and kingdoms of the earth (li. 20), is itself now being beaten to pieces and destroyed. On the subject, cf. Isa. xiv. 5, 6. Babylon will become the astonishment of the nations, li. 41. "How!" is an exclamation of surprise, as in Zeph. ii. 15, — a passage which probably hovered before the mind of the prophet. — Ver. 24. This annihilation will come unexpectedly. As the bird by the snare of the fowler, so shall Babylon be laid hold of by Jahveh, because it has striven against Him. The Lord lays the snare for it, that it may be caught. Cnp;? "to lay snares;" cf. Ps. cxli. 9, where ns is also found. ni?T &&], « ami thou didst not perceive," i.e. didst not mark it: this is a paraphrase of the idea "unexpectedly," suddenly; cf. li. 8, Isa. xlvii. 11. This has been literally fulfilled on Babylon. According to Herodotus (i. 191), Cyrus took Babylon by diverting the Euphrates into a trench he had dug. By this stratagem the Persians threw themselves so unexpectedly on the Babylonians (ef qTrpoaSofcr/Tov <r$i irapecT7]aav ol IHpo-at), that when the outmost portions of the city had been already seized, those who lived in the middle had not observed at all that they were captured (tol>? to /leaov oUiomas or /j.avthii'tiv ^a\(OKora^). Similarly, when the city was taken under Darius Hystaspes, they were surprised that Zopyrus traitorously opened the gates to the besiegers (Herodotus, iii. L58). Babylon has contended against Jahveh, because, in its pride, it refused to let the people of God depart; ef. vers. 29 and 33. In ver. 25 the sudden devastation of Babylon is accounted for. Jahveh opens His armoury, and brings out the instruments of His wrath, in order to execute His work on the land of the Chaldeans. "WAK, " magazine, treasure-chamber," is here applied to an armoury. The "instruments of His wrath " are, in Isa. xiii. 5, the nations which execute the judgment of God, — here, the instruments of war and weapons with which Jahveh Himself marches into battle against Babylon. On 'Ul rttKTD, cf. xlviii. 10. The business which the Lord has there regards the chastisement of Babylon for its insolence. For the transaction of this business He summons His servants, ver. 26 f. FIT^a, as in xlvi. 22, xlix. 9, is substantially the same as nty >,jo, xlix. 14, xlviii. 8. Vi?», " from the end," or from the last hitherwards, the same as nV|3Dj li. 31, i.e. all together on to the last; cf. Gen. xix. 4, xlvii. 2, etc. " Open her (Babylon's) barns" or granaries; "heap it up (viz. what was in the granaries) like heaps" of grain or sheaves, "and devote it to destruction," i.e. consume it with fire, because things on wdiich the curse was imposed must be burnt; cf. Josh, xi. 12 and 13. All the property found in Babylon is to be collected in heaps, and then burnt with the city. The use of the image is occasioned by the granaries. ^P?***? is. air. X67., from D3X? to give fodder to cattle, — properly a stall for fodder, then a barn, granary. nn~\y is a heap of grain (Cant, vii. 3), sheaves (Ruth iii. 7), also of rubbish (Neh. iii. 34). As ver. 26 declares what is to be done with goods and chattels, so does ver. 27 state what is to be done with the population. The figure employed in ver. 26 is followed by the representation of the people as oxen destined for slaughter; in this Jeremiah had in his mind the prophecy found in Isa. xxxiv., in which the judgment to come on Edom is depicted as a slaughter of lambs, rams, and he-goats: the people of Edom are thus compared to cattle that may be offered in sacrifice. This figure also forms the basis of the expression n3B? TV in xlviii. 15, where this style of speaking is used with regard to the youths or the young troops; cf. also li. 40. The D^a, accordingly, designate not merely the chief among the people, or the men of rank, but represent the whole human population. In the last clause ("for their day is come," etc.), there is a transition in the discourse from the figure to the real subject itself. The suffix in B"]?V does not refer to the oxen, but to the men over whose murder there is an exclamation of woe. In like manner, " their day" means the day of judgment for men, viz. the time of their visitation with punishment; see on xlvi. 21. Fugitives and escaped ones will bring to Zion, and proclaim the news of the execution of this fearful judgment, that the Lord has fulfilled the vengeance of His temple, i.e. avenged on Babylon the burning of His temple by the Chaldeans. The fugitives and escaped ones are the Israelites, who were summoned to flee from Babylon, ver. 3. On u the vengeance of Jahveh," cf. ver. 15 and li. 11.

Vers. 29-40. The pride of Babylon is humbled through the utter destruction of the people and the land. — Ver. 29. " Summon archers against Jerusalem, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her round about. Let there be no escape for her; recompense to her according to her work; according to that which she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath presumed against Jahveh, against the Holy One of Israel. Ver. 30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall fail in that day, saith Jahveh. Ver. 31. Behold, I am against thee, O Pride! saith the Lord, Jahveh of hosts; for thy day hath come, the time [when] I visit thee. Ver. 32. And Pride shall stumble and fall, and he shall have none to lift him up; and I will kindle fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that is round about him. Ver. 33. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together, and all who led them captive kept hold of them; they refused to let them go. Ver. 34. Their Redeemer is strong; Jahveh of hosts is His name: He shall surely plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, and make the inhabitants of Babylon tremble. Ver. 35. A sword [is] against the Chaldeans, saith Jahveh, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes, and against her wise men. Yer. 36. A sword [is] against the liars, and they shall become fools; a sword [is] against her heroes, and they shall be confounded. Yer. 37. A sword is against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the auxiliaries which [are] in the midst of her, and they shall become women; a sword is against her treasures, and they shall be plundered. Yer. 38. A drought is against her waters, ami they shall become dry; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols. Yer. 39. Therefore shall wild beasts dwell [there] with jackals, and ostriches shall dwell in it; and it shall no more be inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Ver. 40. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhabitants, saith Jahveh, no man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn in it."

Further description of the execution of God's wrath. Archers shall come and besiege Babylon round about, so that no one shall escape. Tho summons, " Call archers hither," is a dramatic turn in the thought that the siege is quickly to ensue. V'-w'n is used here as in li. 27, to summon, call by making proclamation, as in 1 Kings xv. 22. D*:n does not signify u many," as the ancient versions give it; this agrees neither with the apposition which follows, " all that bend the bow," nor with ver. 2G, where all, to the last, are summoned against Babylon. Ixaschi, followed by all the moderns, more correctly renders it u archers," and derives it from na"j = 2T\y Gen. xlix. 23, cf. with xxi. 10, like 31, Job xvi. 13. The apposition, " all those who bend the bow," gives additional force. JOT with accus. means to besiege; cf. Ps. liii. 6. " Let there be no escape" is equivalent to saying, " that none may escape from Babylon." The Qeri n? after W is unnecessary, and merely taken from ver. 26. On the expression " render to her," etc., cf. xxv. 14; and on " according to all," etc., cf. ver. 15. " For she hath acted presumptuously against Jahveh," by burning His temple, and keeping His people captive: in this way has Babylon offended " against the Holy One of Israel." This epithet of God is taken from Isaiah, cf. li. 5. This presumption must be punished. — Ver. 30 is a repetition of xlix. 26. — Ver. 31. The Lord will now visit the presumption of Babylon. The day t I'Zt, in ver 32 alio there is a like designation of Babylon Babylon: in «•« Q fa words « for thy day is

C°m • U There however, '« in its forest" is found instead o "i„ hi IdtaTna former, indeed, is the reading rendered bv the LXX. in this passage; but they have acted quite arhi- ££ -n this since /ereiniah for the most J* — -£ b longed to" Bab Ion, the ^pAwoX,,, as hers, and m 43 thev are spoken of as hers; cf. x.x. 15, xxx.v. 1, xlix. lo, etc. Vers 33 40 Further description of the guilt and punishment If Babvlon The presumptuous pride maniests itself. he c2t Israel and Sudan still languid in exde. AU the* ^who have been seized and carried away they have kept hold of. nave.,. T •, 9 Tlu-v refuse to ct them go, as

DTOtS> is used as in Isa. xiv. 2. liny reniso iu Pharaoh once did, Ex. vii. 14, 27, x. 2; cf. Isa. xiv. 17. J 1-1,, the deliverer of Israel, cannot endure tins. As the song One the God of hosts, He will lead them in the fight, as then advocate He will obtain their dues for them; cf. xxv. 61, Isa. *t S!' Dahler, Ewald, and Umbreit follow the Vulgate and the Chaklce in taking '« V™ W?) as synonymous with t?. itt the sense of shaking, rousing, a meamng whu-hp has in the Kal, but which cannot be made out for the Iliphil. In the Hiphil it means to give rest, to come to rest Dent xxvm. 65 Isa xxxiv. 14, lxi. 4, Jer. xxxi. 2; and in the N.ph.1, to rest, keep quiet, xlvii. 6. This is the meaning given by the bjnac, Easchi, Kimchi, Roaenmuuer, Maurer, Ilitzig, etc and supported by a comparison with Isa. xiv. 7, 3, 10. Babylon has hitherto kept the earth in unrest and anxiety (Isa. xiv. 16), now it is to get rest (Isa. xiv. 3, 7), and trembling or quaking for fear is to come on Babylon. The two verbs, winch have similar sounds, express a contrast. On the form of the infinitive VMI, cf. Ewald, § 238, d. In order to conduct the case of Israel as against Babylon, the Lord (vers. 35-38) calls tor the sword against the Chaldeans, the inhabitants of Babylon, on their princes, wise men, heroes, and the whole army, the treasures and the waters. There is no verb following SW but OBly the object with fc, the words being put in the form of an tarnation, on account of the passion pervading them The MTd U to come and show its power on the Chaldeans, i.e the populafon of the rural districts, on the inhabitants of the capital, end further, on the princes and wise men (magicians). A special class of the last named are the Ma, Jroperly •• baoblers those who talk at random, here « soothsayers " and lying Prophets the astrologers of Babylon; see Delitzsch on Isa. sliv. 2o [Clark s translation, For. Theol. Lib.]. &6l « And they shall be as fools;" see on v. 4. Further, on the warriors, the horses, and war-chariots, the main strength of the Asiatic conquerors, cf. xlvi. 9, Isa. xliii. 17, 1's. xx. 8. 3wfc> « a|i the m.xed multitude" in the midst of Babylon: these are here the mercenaries and allies (as to this word, see on xxv. 20) Ihese shall become women, i.e. weak and incapable of resistance; see INah iii. 13. The last objects of vengeance are the reasures and the waters of Babylon. In ver. 38 the Masoretes hare pointed ^n, because *m, « sword," seemed t0 be fa,. cable to the waters. But indeed neither does the sword, in the proper sense of the word, well apply to treasures; it rather stands, by synecdoche, for war. In this improper meaning it might also be used with reference to the waters, in so far as the canals and watercourses, on which the fertility of Babylonia depended were destroyed by war. Hence many expositors would read aQQ here also, and attribute the employment of this word to the rhetorical power connected with enumeration. Others are of opinion that 3nn may a]so mean aridity, drought in Dent. xxv,,,. 22; but the assumption is erroneous, and cannot be confirmed by that passage. Neither can it be denied, that to confine the reference of the expression « her waters" to the canals and artificial watercourses of Babylonia seems unnatural. All these received their water from the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, the volume of water in which remained uninfluenced by war. We therefore follow Hitzig in holding that SW\,s the correct punctuation; in the transition from w into 3in, with,ts similar sound, we neither perceive any injury done to rhetorical force, derived from an enumeration of objects, nor any need for referring the following clause, which assigns the reason merely to such rhetorical considerations as Graf does. In the drying up of the water there is no allusion to the diversion of the Euphrates, by which Cyrus opened up for himself an entrance into the city (Herodotus, i. 190); the drying up is merely appointed by God, as a consequence of continued drought, for the purpose of destroying the land. Hitzig's opinion neither suits the context, nor can be justified otherwise; he holds that water is the emblem of the sea of nations, the surging multitude of people in the streets of the city, and he refers for proof to li. 36 and Isa. xxi. 1 (!). The clauses in ver. 386, which assign the reason, refer to the whole threatening, vers. 35-38a. Babylon is to be destroyed, with its inhabitants and all its means of help, because it is a land of idols (cf. H. 52 and Isa. xxi. 9), and its inhabitants suffer themselves to be befooled by false gods, ^'"inn means to act or behave like a madman, rave, xxv. 16; here, to let oneself be deprived of reason, not (as Graf thinks) to fall into a sacred frenzy. DWj, terrors, Ps. lxxxviii. 16; here, objects of fear and horror, i.e. idols.— Ver. 39. Therefore shall Babylon become an eternal waste, where none but beasts of the desert find shelter, where no human being dwells. This threat is formed out of reminiscences from Isa. xiii. 20-22 and xxxiv. 14. For D*$ and D*n*, see on Isa. xxxiv. 14; for W nfo3, see on Isa. xiii. 21. The second half of the verse agrees word for word with Isa. xiii. 20a.— Ver. 40 is a repetition of xlix. 18, and in its first half is founded on Isa. xiii. 19.

Ver. 41-li. 4. The agents who execute the judgment — Vim-. 41. "Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the most distant sides of the earth. Ver. 42. Bow and javelin shall they seize: they are cruel, and will not pity; their voice shall sound like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, [each one] arrayed like a man for the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. Ver. 43. The king of Babylon hath h<Tard the report concerning them, and his hands have fallen down: distress hath seized him, writhing pain, like [that of] the woman in childbirth. Ver. 44. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the glory of Jordan to a habitation of rock; but in a moment will I make them run away from her, and will set over her him who is chosen: for who is like mo, and who will appoint me ■ time [to plead my defence] I and what shepherd [ia there) that will stand before me1 Yer. 45. Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jahveh which He hath taken against Babylon, and His purposes which He hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Assuredly they shall drag them away, the smallest of the Hock; assuredly [their] habitation shall he astonished at them. Ver. 4(5. At the cry, ' Babylon is taken,1 tinearth is shaken, and a cry [for help] is heard among the nations.

Chap. li. ver. 1. "Thus saith Jahveh: Behold, I will.stir up against Babylon, and against the inhabitants of [as it were ] the heart of mine opponents, the spirit of a destroyer. Ver. 2. And I will send against Babylon strangers, and they shall winnow her, and empty her land, because they are against her round about in a day of evil. Ver. 3. Against [him who] bends let the bender bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts up himself in his coat of mail: and do not spare her young men; devote to destruction all her host, Ver. 4. That slain ones may fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those that are pierced through in her streets."

The greater portion of this strophe consists of quotations from former utterances. Vers. 41-43 are taken from vi. 22-2 1. and vers. 44-46 from xlix. 19-21; here they are applied to Babylon. What is said in vi. 22-24 concerning the enemy out of the north who will devastate Judah, is here transferred to the enemy that is to destroy Babylon. For this purpose, after the wrords u and a great nation," are added " and many kings," in order to set forth the hostile army advancing against Babylon as one composed of many nations; and in consequence of this extension of the subject, the verb VtyJ is used in the plural, and wn *"1J3K is changed into HBH HDK. Moreover, the mention of the " daughter of Babylon " instead of the " daughter of Zion " is attended by a change from the directly communicative form of address in the first person (" We have heard," etc., ver. 43) into the third person (" The king of Babylon hath heard," etc.). In applying the expressions used in xlix. 19-21 regarding the instrument chosen for the destruction of Edom, to the instrument selected against Babylon (vers. 44-46), the names u Babylon" and "the land of the Chaldeans" are substituted for "Edom" and "the inhabitants of Teman" (xlix. 20); but beyond this, only the last verse is changed, in accordance with the change of circumstances. The thought that, in consequence of the fall of Edom, the earth trembles, and Edom's cry of anguish is heard on the Red Sea, is intensified thus: by the sound or cry, "Babylon is taken," the earth is shaken, and a cry is heard among the nations. The conquest of Babylon, the mistress of the world, puts the whole world in anxiety and fear, while the effects of Edom's fall extend only to the Red Sea. The Keildb DWiN, ver. 44, seems to come from the verb pn, in the sense of pushing, so that it is not a mere error in transcription for DVns. Moreover, such changes made on former utterances, when they are repeated and applied to Babylon, show that these verses are not glosses which a reader has written on the margin, and a later copyist inserted into the text, but that Jeremiah himself has applied these earlier words in his address against Babylon. The two passages are not merely quite appropriately arranged beside one another, but even present in their connection a thought which has not hitherto been met with in the address against Babylon, and which does not recnr afterwards. The enemy that is to conquer Babylon is certainly pointed out, so early as ver. 9, as an assemblage of great nations out of the north, but not more particularly characterized there; but the nations that are to constitute the hostile army are not further designated till li. 11 and 27 ff. The second quotation, vers. 44-46, adds the new thought that the appearance of this enemy against Babylon is owing to a decree of the Lord, the execution of which no man can prevent, because there is none like Jahveh. The figurative description of the enemy as a lion coming up out of the thicket of reeds at the Jordan, frightening the herd feeding on their pasture-ground, and carrying off the weakly sheep, is appropriate both to Nebuchadnezzar's expedition against Edom, and to the invasion of Babylonia by the Medes and their allies, for the purpose of laying waste the country of the Chaldeans, smiting the inhabitants of Babylon, and conquering it. Even the expression fTTH nu. permits of being applied to Babylonia, which was protected by its canal system and the strong walls of its capital.

In li. 1-t, the terrible character of the hostile nation is further described. Against Babylon and the inhabitants of Chaldea, God Btirs np the "spirit of a d r," viz. a sava nation that will massacre the Chaldeans without pity.,,-"> -^, lit. u the heart of mine adv< rsaries," is the word £*">'-, changed,

•ording to the canon Ail 26), for the purpose i \ obtaining the important meaning that Chaldea is the centre of God's enemies. This explanation of the name involves the thought that all enmity against God the Lord culminates in Babylon; on the basis of this representation Babylon is called, Rev. xvii. 5, "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.'1 FWtBto wi does not mean reavawva hia<f>0€ipovra( LX X.), ventum \ m (Vulgate), "a sharp wind" (Luther), nor, as it is usually translated, ua destroying wind \n for wi ^V\} is nowhere used of the rousing of a wind, but everywhere means 11 to rouse the spirit of any one," to stir him up to an undertaking; cf. Hag. i. 14, 1 Chron. v. 56, 2 Chron. x.\i. 16, and xxxvi. 22. Jeremiah also employs it thus in ver. 11, and this meaning is quite suitable here also. rVTOto is a substantive, as in iv. 7: "the spirit of a destroyer/' The figure of winnowing, which follows in ver. 2, does not by any means necessarily require the meaning u wind,'' because the figure contained in the word W\T was first called forth by the employment of d^t " strangers "= barbarians. The sending of the D'n? to Babylon has no connection with the figure of the wind, and it even remains a question whether WIT really means here to winnow, because the word is often used of the scattering of a nation, without any reference to the figure of winnowing; cf. Lev. xxvi. 33, Ezek. v. 10, xii. 15, etc., also Jer. xlix. 32, 36. However, this thought is suggested by what follows, " they empty her hand," although the clause which assigns the reason, " because they are against her round about" (cf. iv. 17), does not correspond with this figure, but merely declares that the enemies which attack Babylon on every side disperse its inhabitants and empty the land. — Ver. 3. These strangers shall kill, without sparing, every warrior of Babylon, and annihilate its whole military forces. In the first half of the verse the reading is doubtful, since the Masoretes would have the second *HT (Qeri) expunged, probably because (as Bottcher,

N. AehrenL ii. S. 166, supposes) they considered it merely a repetition. The meaning is not thereby changed. According to the Qeri, we would require to translate, " against [him who] bends [the bow, may there be, or come], one who bends his bow;" according to the Kethib, "against [him who] bends [the bow], may he who bends his bow bend it." As to T^T^ with "KPK omitted, cf. 1 Chron. xv. 12, 2 Chron. i. 4, and Ewald, § 333, b. 'D2 bvr\) stands in apposition to $7}T™; 'W is tne Hithpael from n!>y, and means to raise oneself: it is to be taken as the shortened form of the imperfect passive; cf. Gesenius, § 128, Kern. 2. Certainly, the Hithpael of r6y occurs nowhere else, but it is quite appropriate here; so that it is unnecessary, with Hitzig, to adduce, for explanation, the Arabic Oj, to stretch the head out of anything, or, with Ewald, to derive the form from the Aramaic fe, Arabic J±, to thrust in. Neither is there any foundation for the remark, that the abbreviated form of the imperfect would be admissible only if?N were found instead of 7&. Indeed, the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate have actually read and rendered from?K, which several codices also present, u Let him not bend his bow, nor stretch himself in his coat of mail." But by this reading the first half of the verse is put in contradiction to the second; and this contradiction is not removed by the supposition of J. D. Michael is and Hitzig, who refer these clauses to the Chaldeans, and find the thought expressed in them, that the Chaldeans, through loss of courage, cannot set themselves for defence. For, in that case, we would be obliged, with Hitzig, to explain as spurious the words that follow, " and spare ye not her young men; " but for this there is no valid reason. As to vonnn, cf. 1. 21, 20. On ver. 4, cf. 1. 30 and xlix. 20. The suffix in u her streets " refers to Babylon.

Vers. 5-14. Because of the righteousness of Israel, Babylon is to be irretrievably destroyed. Ver. 5. " For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of Jahveh of hosts; but their land is full of guilt because of the Holy One of Israel. Ver. 6. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save ye every one his life: do not perish for her iniquity; because it is a time of vengeance for Jahveh; He renders to her what she has committed. Ver. 7. Babylon [was] a golden cup in the hand of her wine, therefore nations are mail. Ver. cS. Babylon has fallen suddenly and been broken: howl over her: take balsam for her pain; perhaps she may ho healed. Ver. 9. ' We have tried to heal Babylon, but she is not healed. Leave her, ami let us go each one to his own land; for her judgment reaches unto heaven, ami is lifted np to the clouds.1 Ver, 10. Jahveh hath brought forth our righteousnesses; come, and lot us declare in Zion the doing of Jahveh our God. Ver. 11. Sharpen the arrow, till the shields: Jahveh hath roused the spirit of the kings of Media; for His eounsel is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of Jahveh, the vengeance of

His temple. f Ver. 12. Against the walls of Babylon raise a standard; strengthen the watch, set watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for Jahveh hath both devised and done what lie spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. Ver. 13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thine end hath come, the measure of thy gain. Ver. 14, Jahveh of hosts hath sworn by Himself, 6 Surely I have filled thee with men, as [with] the locust; and they shall raise a shout of joy against thee.1 "

The offence of Babylon against the Holy One of Israel demands its destruction. In ver. 5, two reasons are given for God's determination to destroy Babylon. The Lord is induced to this (1) by His relation to Israel and Judah, whom Babylon will not let go; (2) by the grave offence of Babylon. Israel is |E^N N7, " not widowed," forsaken by his God; i.e., Jahveh, the God of hosts, has not rejected His people for ever, so as not to trouble Himself any more about them; cf. Isa. 1. 1, liv. 4 ff. "Their land"— the land of the Chaldeans— " is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel," partly through their relation to Israel (1. 21), partly through their idolatry (1. 2, 38). JD does not mean here u on the side of," but u on account of," because they do not acknowledge Jahveh as the Holy One of Israel. — Ver. 6. In order to escape the punishment that is to fall on the guilt-laden city, the Israelites living in Babylon must flee to save their lives; cf. 1. 8, and on the mode of expression, xlviii. 6. " Be not destroyed FUlVa, for her iniquity," (2 of price), not u in her guilt" = punishment for sin (Graf), or "through her guilt" (Nagelsbach). Both of these last two views are against the context; for the idea is, that Israel must flee to save his life, and that he too may not atone for the guilt of Babylon. On the expression, " it is a time of vengeance," etc., cf. 1. 15, Isa. xxxiv. 8. D?";D tied as in Isa. lix. 18, Ixvi. 6. 5*31, prop, accomplishment, actual proof, is used both of human and divine doing and working, of human misdeeds and divine recompense. Ktfl is used emphatically.— Ver. 7 f. Babylon, certainly, in its former power and greatness, was a golden goblet, by means of which Jahveh presented to the nations the wine of His wrath, and intoxicated them; but now it is fallen, and broken without remedy. Isa. xxi. 9 finds an echo in the expression, " Babylon is fallen." The figure of the cup refers us back to xxv. 15 ff., where, howeyer, it is applied in a different way. The cup is said to be of gold, in order to point out the splendour and glory of Nebuchadnezzar's dominion. "In the hand of Jahveh/' i.e. used by Him as His instrument for pouring out His wrath to the nations. Bat Babylon lias suddenly fallen and been broken in pieces. At this point Jeremiah drops the figure of the cup, for a golden cup does not bivak when it falls. The fall i^ terrible, that the nations in Babylon are summoned to participate in the lamentation, and to lend their aid in repairing her injuries. But they answer that their attempts to heal her are fruitless. (On *W, cf. xlvi. 11 and yiii. 22.) The terrible and irreparable charaeter of the fall is thus expressed jn a dramatic manner. We must neither think of the allies and mercenaries as those who are addressed (Schnurrer, Kosenmuller, Maurer, Hitzig), nor merely the Israelites who had been delivered from Babylon (Umbreit). The latter view is opposed by the words which follow, " Let every one go to his own country;" this points to men out of different lands. And the former assumption is opposed by the consideration that not merely the mercenaries, but also the allies are to be viewed as fallen and ruined together with Babylon, and that Babylon, which had subdued all the nations, has no allies, according to the general wav in which the prophet views these things. Those addressed are rather the nations that had been vanquished by Babylon and detained in the city, of which Israel was one. Inasmuch as these were the servants of Babylon, and as such bound to pay her service, thej are to heal Babylon; and because the attempts to heal her prove fruitless, they are to leave the rained city. They answer this summons by the resolve, '• We will go every one to his own land;" cf. 1. 8, 16. The motive for this resolution, M for her guilt reaches op to heaven/1 certainly shows that it is Israelites who are speaking, because it is only they who form their opinions in such a way; but they speak in the name of all the strangers who are in Babylon, DB8PD is the matter upon which judgment is passedj /.*•. the transgression, the guilt, analogous to CNOT BMfe. Ezek. vii. 23, and mo DBeto, Deut 6, \\i. 22; it dors not mean the punishment adjudged, of which we cannot say that it roaches up to heaven. On this expression, cf. Ps. lvii. 11, cviii. 5. Through the fall of Babylon, the Lord has made manifest the righteousness of Israel; the redeemed ones are to proclaim this in Zion. rrtp*J¥ does not mean "righteous acts" (Judg. v. 11), hut proofs of the righteousness of Israel as opposed to Babylon, which righteousm Babylon, through tyrannical oppression of the people that had been delivered up to it merely for chastisement, lias failed to perceive, and which, so long as the Lord did not take His people to Himself again in a visible manner, was hidden from the world; cf. Ps. xxxvii. 6. — Ver. 11. The instruments which the Lord employs in bringing about the fall of Babylon are the kings of the Medes, i.e. the provincial governors, or heads of the separate provinces into which the Medes in ancient times were divided, until, after revolting from the Assyrians in the year 714 B.C., they put themselves under a common head, in order to assert their independence, and chose Dejokes as their monarch. See Spiegel's Erdn (1863, S. 308 ff.), and Delitzsch on Isa. xiii. 17, who rightly remarks that in Isa. xiii. 17, as well as here, ^o is a general designation for the Aryan tribes of Iran, taken from the most important and influential nation. In xxi. 2, Isaiah mentions Elam in the first series, along with Media, as a conqueror of Babylon; and the Babylonian kingdom was destroyed by Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. But the Persians are first named in the Old Testament by Ezekiel and Daniel, while the name " Elam" as a province of the Persian kingdom is gradually lost, from the times of Cyrus onwards, in that of the a Persians." The princes of Media are to prepare themselves for besieging and conquering Babylon. "!?? (^om "H3), prop, to polish, cleanse from dirt and rust. The arrows are thereby sharpened; cf. Isa. xlix. 2. D'pfe'n *K?D is variously explained. The meaning of " shields " is that best established for D*BJf (see on 2 Sam. viii. 7); while the meaning of " armour equipment," which is defended by Thenius, is neither very suitable for 2 Sam. viii. 7 nor for 2 Kings xi. 10 and Cant. iv. 4. There is not the least foundation for the meaning u quiver," which is assumed merely for this passage. ^DjB^n ttTO is to be explained in accordance with the analogous expression in 2 Kings ix. 24, RC^D iT n^d, "he filled his hand with the bow," i.e. seized the bow. "Fill the shields" with your bodies, or with your arms, since we put these among the straps of the shields. Those addressed are the kings of the Medes, whose spirit God has stirred up to make war against Babylon; for it is against her that His mind or plan is directed. As to the expression, "for it is the vengeance of Jahveh," etc., cf. 1. 15, 28. The attack is to be directed against the walls of Babylon. W, " standard," is the military sign carried before the army, in order to show them the direction they are to take, and the point of attack. 1WD "watch," is the force besieging the city; cf. 2 Sam. xi. lb*. "Make the watch strong," i.e. enclose the city firmly. This is more exactly specified in the following clauses. " g watches," not as a guard for their own camp (Ilitzig), but against the city, in order to maintain a close siege. "Place the ambushes," that they may peep into the city whenever a sally is made by the besieged; cf. Josh. viii. 14 ff., Judg. xx. 33 ff. " For what Jahveh hath determined, He will also perform." D3— D_3, « as well as:" He has resolved as well as done, i.e. as He has resolved, He also executes. — Ver. 13. All the supports of the Babylonian power, its strong position on the Euphrates, and its treasures, which furnished the means for erecting strong fortifications, cannot avert the ruin decreed by God. As to the form W3tf, see on xxii. 23. It is the city with its inhabitants that is addressed, personified as a virgin or daughter. The many waters on which Babylon dwells are the Euphrates, with the canals, trenches, dykes, and marshes which surrounded Babylon, and afforded her a strong protection against hostile attacks, bat at the same time contributed to increase the wealth of the country and the capital.1 The great riches, however, by which Babylon became calls it Ba/3v\£>p f) Tro\v^pva-oit were derived from the enormous spoils which Nebuchadnezzar brought to it7 partly from Nineveh, partly from Jerusalem, and from the tribute paid by ria and the wealthy commercial cities of Phoenicia. "Thine end is come;" cf. Gen. vi. 13. *I}«3 nsx, "the I'll (i.e. the measure) of thy gain/1 i.e. the limit put to thine unjust gain. The words are connected with " thine end is come" by zeugma. This explanation is Bimpler than the interpretation adopted by Venema, Eachhorn, and Maurer, from the Vulgate pedalis

Bcisioni8 iiur, viz. "the ell of cutting thee off." Bottcher (Probenj S. 289, note m) seeks to vindicate the rendering in the following paraphrase: " The ell at which thou shalt be cut off, like something woven or spun, when it has reached the destined number of ells." According to this view, "ell " would stand for the complete number of the ells determined on; but there is no consideration of the question whether JHf3, " to cut off the thread of life," Isa. xxxviii. 12, can be applied to a city. — Ver. 14. The Lord announces destruction to Babylon with a solemn oath. Many take CS »3 in the sense of ^ DX in oaths: "truly, certainly." But this use of the expression is neither fully established, nor suitable in this connection. In 2 Sam. xv. 21 (the only passage that can be cited in its behalf), the meaning " only " gives good enough sense. Ewald (§ 356, b) wrongly adduces 2 Kings v. 20 in support of the above meaning, and three lines below he attributes the signi-

soil of Babylon — the produce of the fields — depended on the inundations of the Euphrates. By means of an extensive system of dykes, canals, and river-walls, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded not only in conducting the water of the Euphrates to every point in the plain of Babylon, but also in averting the formation of marshes and the occurrence of floods (which were not rare), as well as regulating the inundation." The purpose for which these

water- works were constructed, was "first of all, irrigation and navigation; but they at the same time afforded strong lines of defence against the foe " (Niebuhr, Gesch. Assyr. u. Bab. S. 219). See details regarding these magnificent works in Dunckcr, S. 845 ff.; Niebuhr, S. 218 ff.

fication " although " to the ■ I: the asseveration, -Verily 1 have filled thee with nun as with woman, and with th< • I will break in pieces old I and with thee I will break in | I and i.

need fa in chap, x., fur bringing into special prominence the relation of Israel to his God.1 As to the rest,

LXX. is a result of the erroneous translation there given of the first clause the exposition of x. 12-16. In vers. 20-26 the destruction of Babylon and its power is further carried out in two figures. In vers. 20-24 Babylon is compared to a hammer, which God uses for the purpose of beating to pieces nations and kingdoms, with their forces and their inhabitants, but on which He will afterwards requite the evil done to Zion. fBO is equivalent to r?£3 Prov. xxv. 18, one who breaks in pieces; hence a battle-hammer. Hitzig takes *73 to be a singular, " formed thus in order to avoid an accumulation of i sounds (cf. Dsp>?3 with *gvB).M This is possible, but neither necessary nor probable. The plural, " weapons of war," is added, because the battle-hammer is considered as including all weapons of war. By the hammer, Ewald understands " the true Israel;" Hitzig, Cyrus, the destroyer of Babylon; Nagelsbach, an ideal person. These three views are based on the fact that the operation performed by means of the hammer (breaking to pieces) is marked by perfects with 1 relative (^-31), which is also true of the retribution to be made on Babylon: from this it is inferred that the breaking with the hammer, as well as the retribution, is still future, and that the meaning is, u When I hammer in this way with thee, I will requite Babylon" (Hitzig); while Ewald concludes from nothing but the context that the words refer to Israel. But none of these reasons is decisive, nor any of the three views tenable. The context gives decided support to the opinion that in ver. 20 ff. it is Babylon that is addressed, just as in ver. 13 f. and ver. 25; a further proof is, that as early as chap. 1. 23, Babylon is called " the hammer of the whole earth." Only very weighty reasons, then, could induce us to refer the same figure, as used here, to another nation. The word B*8B (1.23), "hammer, smith's hammer" (Isa. xli. 7), is not essentially different from t*30, which is used here.

of the verse. This the LXX. have rendered cv rotuCrn fnplg rZ 'Iaxw/3, instead of ov Toictvrn yj pspig tov 'Iay.^/3. Having done so, it was impossible for them to continue, vn 6 xX««r«? rot txutoc ocvtos, because they could not predicate this of pipig, which they evidently did not take to mean God. And if they were to connect ton with what followed, they were bound to omit the two words, for it would never have done to take together \rbni MP &OB*1 N^H. They therefore simply omitted the troublesome words, and went on to translate: ot< 6 xAmj ret %w<x. ccvto; x-hypoudpict xvrov. Cf. Nagelsbach. Jeremia u. Babylon, S. 94.

The figure is quite Inapplicable to [srael, because " Israel is certainly to be delivered through the destruction of Babylon, but is not to be himself the instrument of the destruction" (Graf), Finally, the employment of the perfect with 1 relative, both in connection with the shattering to pieces which God accomplishes with (by means of) Babylon, and also the retribution lie will execute on Babylon, is explained by the fact, that just as, in prophetic vision, what Babylon does to the nation-', and what happens to it, was not separated into two acts, distinct from one another, but appeared as one continuous whole, so also the work of Babylon as the instrument of destruction was not yet finished, but had only begun, and still continuing, was partly future, like the retribution which it was to receive for its offence against Zion; just as in ver. 13 Babylon is viewed as then still in the active exercise of its power; ami the purpose for which God employs it, as well as the fate that is to befall it, is presented together in something like this manner: " O Babylon, who art my hammer with which I break peoples and kingdoms in pieces, thee will I requite! " There is separate mention made of the instances of breaking, in a long enumeration, which becomes tedious through the constant repetition of the verb — something like the enumeration in chap. 1. 35-38, where, however, the constant repetition of 3ifl gives great emphasis to the address. First comes the general designation, nations and kingdoms; then military forces; then (ver. 25) the inhabitants of the kingdoms, arranged, as in Ezek. xxiii. 6, 23, according to sex, age, and class, labouring classes (shep-.herds, and husbandmen with their cattle); and lastly dignitaries, satraps and lieutenant-governors, DN^pn nina, as in Ezek. xxiii. 6, 23. nna probably comes from the Zendic pavan (root pa), of which a dialectic form is pagvan, u upholder of government;" see on Hag. i. 1. JJD corresponds to the ^coydvr)^ of the Athenians, " lieutenant-governor;" but it is not much that has hitherto been ascertained with regard to this office; see Delitzsch on Isa. xli. 25 [Clark's translation]. On 'til wWl, cf. ver. 6 and 1. 15, 29; " before your eyes," towards the end of this verse, belongs to this verb in the main clause. This retribution is set forth in ver. 25 f. under a new figure. Babylon is called the " mountain of destruction;" this name is imrne- diately explained by the predicate, " that destroys the whole earth," brings destruction on it. The name WBton "in js applied in 2 Kings xxiii. 13 to the Mount of Olives, or its southern summit, the so-called mons offensionis vel scandall of ecclesiastical tradition, on which Solomon had erected idolatrous altars for his foreign wives; the name refers to the pernicious influence thereby exercised on the religious life of Israel. In this verse, " destruction " is used in a comprehensive sense of the physical and moral ruin which Babylon brought on the nations. Babylon is a " mountain," as being a powerful kingdom, supereminent above others; whether there is also a reference in the title to its lofty buildings (C. B. Michaelis) seems doubtful. " I will roll thee down from the rocks," de pelris, in quarum fasligiis hucu^que eminuisti, N"oji cfferes te amplius super alia regna (C. B. Mich.). To this Ilitzig adds, by way of explanation: u The summit of the mountain is sometimes changed into the very position occupied by the crater."' From what follows, " I will make thee a mountain of burning," i.e. either a burning, or burnt, burnt-out mountain, modern expositors infer, with J. D. Michaelis, that the prophet has before his mind a volcano in active eruption, " for no other kind of mountains could devastate countries; it is just volcanoes which have been hollowed out by fire that fall in, or, it may be, tumble down into the valley below, scattering their constituent elements here and there; the stones of such mountains, too, are commonly so much broken and burnt, that they are of no use for building" (Hitzig). Of the above remarks this much is correct, that the words, " I will make thee a burning mountain," are founded on the conception of a volcano; any more extended application, however, of the figure to the whole verse is unwarranted. The clause, « I will roll thee down from the rocks," cannot possibly be applied to the action of a volcano in eruption (though Niigelsbach does so apply it), unless we are ready to impute to the prophet a false notion regarding the eruptions of volcanoes. By the eruption, a mountain is not loosened from the rock on which it rests, and hurled down into the valleys round about; it is only the heart of the mountain, or the rocks on which its summit rests, that seem to be vomited out of it. Besides, the notion that there is a representation of an active rolc&no in the first clauses of the verso, is disproved by the very fact that the mountain, Babylon, does not bring ruin on the earth, as one that is burning; it is not to become such until after it has been rolled down from the rocks on which it rests. The laying waste of the countries is not ascribed to the fire that issues from the mountain, hut the mountain begins to burn only after it has been rolled down from its rocks. Babylon, as a kingdom and city, is called a mountain, because it mightily surpassed and held sway over them; cf. Isa. ii. 1 1. It brings ruin on the whole earth by subjugation of the nations and devastation of the countries. The mountain rests on rocks, i.r. its power has a foundation as firm as a rock, until the Lord rolls it down from its height, and burns the strong mountain, making it like an extinct volcano, the stones of which, having been rendered vitreous by the fire, no longer furnish material that can be employed for the foundation of new buildings. "A corner-stone," etc., is explained by C. B. Michaelis, after the Chaldee, Kimchi, and others, to mean, u no one will appoint a king or a prince any more out of the stock of the Chaldeans." This is against the context, according to which the point treated of is, not the fall of the kingdom in or of Babylon, but the destruction of Babylon as a city and kingdom. Hitzig and Graf, accordingly, take the meaning to be this: Not a stone of the city will be used for a new building, — no one will any more build for himself among their ruins, and out of the material there. The corner-stone and the foundation (it is further asserted) are mentioned by way of example, not because particularly large and good stones are needed for these parts, but because every house begins with them. But though the following clause, " thou slialt be an everlasting desolation," contains this idea, yet this interpretation neither exhausts nor gives a generally correct view of the meaning of the words, " no one will take from thee a corner-stone or a foundation-stone." The burning of the mountain signifies not merely that Babylon was to be burned to ashes, but that her sway over the world was to be quite at an end; this was only to come about when the city was burnt. When no stone of any value for a new building is to be left after this conflagration, this is equivalent to savins that nothing will be left of the empire that has been destroyed, which would be of any use in the foundation of another state. The last clause also (" for thou shalt be," etc.) refers to more than the destruction of the city of Babylon. This is seen even in the fundamental passage, xxv. 12, where the same threat is uttered against the land of the Chaldeans.

Vers. 27-37. A summons addressed to the nations to fight against Babylon, in order that, by reducing the city, vengeance may be taken for tlie offence committed against Israel by Babylon. Ver. 27. " Lift up a standard on the earth, sound a trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz against her; appoint troops against her; bring up horses like horrid locusts. Ver. 28. Prepare nations against her, the kings of the Medes and her governors, and all her lieutenant-governors, and all the land of his dominion. Ver. 2{X Then the earth quakes and trembles: for the purposes of Jahveh against Babylon are being performed, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without an inhabitant. Ver. 30. The heroes of Babylon have ceased to fight, they sit in the strongholds: their strength is dried up; they have become women; they have set her habitations on fire; her bars are broken. Ver. 31. One runner runs against another, and one messenger against another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is wholly taken. Ver. 32. And the crossing-places have been seized, and the marshes have they burned up with fire, and the men of war are confounded. Ver. 33. For thofl saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little, and the time of harvest will come to her. Ver. 31. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured us, and ground us down; he hath set us down [like] an empty vessel, he hath swallowed us like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my dainties; he hath thrust me out. Ver. 35. Let the inhabitress of Zion say, 'My wrong and my flesh [be] upon Babylon;1 and let Jerusalem say, < My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea.' Ver. 36. Therefore thus saith Jahveh: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and execute vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. Ver. 37. And Babylon shall become heaps [of ruins], a dwelling-place of dra an astonishment, and a li without an "in- itant." The lifting up of the standard (ver. 27) serv( i signal for the nations t ible for the struggle against Babylon, not mean "in the land/1 but, as the parallel "among

■ on Gen. viii. 4); Minni, which, according to the Syriac and Chaldee, is also a name of Armenia, probably its western province (see Gesenius' Thesaurut^ p. -s<)7); and AshkenaZf which the Jews take to be ( 1 nnany, although only this much is certain, that it is a province in the neighbourhood of Armenia. For Ashen is an Armenian proper name, and az an Armenian termination j cf. Lagarde's Gesammelte Abhandll. S. 254, and Delitzsch on Gen. x. 3, 4th ed. v"^-. " appoint, order against her." nf-^ does not mean "captains" or leaders, for this meaning of the foreign word (supposed to be Assyrian) rests on a very uncertain etymology; it means some peculiar kind of troops, but nothing more definite can be affirmed regarding it. This meaning is required by the context both here and in Nah. iii. 17, the only other place where the word occurs: see on that passage. The sing. 1DSK3 corresponds with the sing. D?>D, and is therefore to be taken collectively, " troops and horses/' Whether the simile "HDD ps'3 belongs merely to " horses," or to the combination " troops and horses," depends on the meaning attached to the expression. Modern expositors render it " bristly locusts; " and by that they understand, like Credner (Joel, S. 298), the young grasshopper after it has laid aside its third skin, when the wings are still enveloped in rough horny sheaths, and stick straight up from the back of the animal. But this explanation rests on an erroneous interpretation of Nali. iii. 17. 1ED means to shudder, and is used of the shivering or quivering of the body (Ps. cxix. 120), and of the hair (Job iv. 15); and p£ does not mean a particular kind of locusts, though Jerome, on Nah. iii. 17, renders it attelabus (parva locusta est inter locustam et bruchum, et modicis pennis reptans potins quam volans, semperque subsiliens), but is a poetic epithet of the locust, " the devourer." If any one prefers to view l»D as referring to the nature of the locusts, he may, with Bochart and Rosenmiiller, think of the locustarum species, qua habet caput hirsutum. But the epithet a horrid " is probably intended merely to point out the locusts as a fearful scourge of the country. On this view, the comparison refers to both clauses, and is meant to set forth not merely the enormous multitude of the soldiery, but also the devastation they make of the country. In ver. 28 mention is further made of the kings of the Medes (see on ver. 11), together with their governors and lieutenant-governors (see on ver. 23), and, in order to give prominence to the immense strength of the army, of " all the land of his dominion;" on these expressions, cf. xxxiv. 1 and 1 Kings ix. 19. The suffix refers to the king of Media, as the leader of the whole army; while those in " her governors, and all her lieutenant-governors," refer to the country of Media. — Ver. 29 f. On the advance of this mighty host against Babylon, to execute the judgment determined by the Lord, the earth quakes. The mighty men of Babylon cease to offer resistance, and withdraw dispirited, like women, into inaccessible places, while the enemy sets fire to the houses, breaks the bars, and captures the city. The prophet views all this in spirit as already present, and depicts in lively colours the attack on the city and its capture. Hence the historic tenses, tfjnni, iflRJ, I7in, etc. HD|J is used of the permanence, i.e. of the realization of the divine counsels, as in xliv. 23 f. On the singular, see Ewald, § 317, a. "To make the land," etc., as in iv. 7, xviii. lf>, etc. " They sit (have taken up their position) in the strongholds" (mountain fastnesses), i.e. in inaccessible places; cf. 1 Sam. xiii. 16, 2 Sam. xxiii. 14. nm,;: is but to be regarded as a Kal form from ri'J;j; on its derivation from nri'f, see on Isa. xli. 17. "They have become women; " cf. 1. 37. The subject of the verb Vm is the enemy, who set fire to the dwellings in Babylon. "Runner runs against runner," i.e. from opposite sides of the city there come messengers, who meet each other running to tell the king in his castle that the city is taken. The king is therefore (as Graf correctly remarks against Hitzig) not to be thought of as living outside of the city, for