Jeremiah 50:31

Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) O thou most proud.—Literally, O Pride, the prophet using the word (Zadon) as a proper name for Babylon, as he had before used Merathaim and Pekod (Jeremiah 50:21). It is analogous in its meaning to the Rahab of Isaiah 51:9; Psalm 87:4; Psalm 89:10, as the name of Egypt. The word points, perhaps, to the self-exaltation of Nebuchadnezzar as embodying that of his people (Daniel 4:30).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

50:21-32 The forces are mustered and empowered to destroy Babylon. Let them do what God demands, and they shall bring to pass what he threatens. The pride of men's hearts sets God against them, and ripens them apace for ruin. Babylon's pride must be her ruin; she has been proud against the Holy One of Israel; who can keep those up whom God will throw down?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Babylon is here called Pride, just as in Jeremiah 50:21 she was called Double-rebellion.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31. most proud—literally, "pride"; that is, man of pride; the king of Babylon.

visit—punish (Jer 50:27).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Babylon is particularly branded for pride, which is the swelling of a man’s heart in a self-opinion, caused from something wherein he excelleth, or thinks that he excelleth, another, We have a large account of the pride of Babylon Isaiah 14:12-14, and particularly of one of their kings, Daniel 5:20,21. The sinner exalteth himself against God, and either judgeth himself wiser or moro mighty than he.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts,.... Or, O "pride", or O "man of pride" (i); intolerably proud, superlatively so, as the kings of Babylon were, as Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar likewise, the present king; so the Targum interprets it of a king,

"behold, I send my fury against thee, O wicked king;''

and is applicable enough to the man of sin, that monster of pride, that exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped, 2 Thessalonians 2:4; and therefore it is no wonder that the Lord is against him, who resists all that are proud; and woe to him and them that he is against:

for the day is come, the time that I will visit thee; in a way of vindictive wrath and justice, for pride and other this; see Jeremiah 50:27.

(i) Heb. "superbia", Schmidt; vel "vir superbiae", Piscator; so Abarbinel.

Geneva Study Bible

Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31, 32. O thou proud one … the proud one] Heb. as mg. (O Pride and Pride respectively), applied as a proper name to Babylon. With these vv. cp. Jeremiah 21:13 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - O thou most proud; rather, O Pride! Just as in ver. 21 Babylon is called Merathaim, and as Egypt is, in Hebrew poetry, called Rahab, i.e. "boisterousness" or "arrogance" (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9; Job 26:12; Psalm 87:4; Psalm 89:10). Jeremiah 50:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah 50:30 is a repetition of Jeremiah 49:26. - Jeremiah 50:31. The Lord will now visit the presumption of Babylon. The day of punishment has arrived. On "behold, I am against thee," cf. Jeremiah 21:13. "O arrogance, pride!" is directly addressed to Babylon: in Jeremiah 50:32 also there is a like designation of Babylon as the personification of pride. On the words "for thy day is come," cf. Jeremiah 50:27. "And I will kindle a fire," etc., stands as in Jeremiah 21:14, where, however, "in its forest" is found instead of "in his cities." The former, indeed, is the reading rendered by the lxx in this passage; but they have acted quite arbitrarily in this, since Jeremiah, for the most part, varies individual words when he repeats a thought. "In his cities" does not suit very well, inasmuch as the other cities of the country belonged to Babylon, the μητρόπολις as hers, and in Jeremiah 51:43 they are spoken of as hers; cf. Jeremiah 19:15; Jeremiah 34:1; Jeremiah 49:13, etc.