Jeremiah 50:41

Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 50:41-46. Behold, a people shall come from the north — Namely, the Medes; and a great nation — That is, who are a great nation; for this is no more than an explicative of the foregoing sentence. And many kings — Namely, the kings of the Persians, Armenians, Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and others who fought under Cyrus’s banner, as allies or friends to him. Their voice shall roar like the sea — The noise of an army is fitly compared to the roaring of the sea when it rages and is tempestuous. Every one put in array — In exact and firm order, as if the whole host were but one man. The king of Babylon hath heard, &c. — Belshazzar was of himself a weak and dissolute prince, and was soon routed in the field; and so dismayed that he shut himself up in Babylon. Behold, he shall come up like a lion — See notes on Jeremiah 49:19-21, where we have applied unto Edom what is here spoken against Babylon. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard, &c. — These words are intended to express the greatness of the destruction of Babylon, which should be such as should make all that part of the world to shake and tremble; and the nations, whether near or far remote, should be astonished at the downfall of so great a city and potent an empire.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

50:33-46 It is Israel's comfort in distress, that, though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong. This may be applied to believers, who complain of the dominion of sin and corruption, and of their own weakness and manifold infirmities. Their Redeemer is able to keep what they commit to him; and sin shall not have dominion over them. He will give them that rest which remains for the people of God. Also here is Babylon's sin, and their punishment. The sins are, idolatry and persecution. He that will not save his people in their sins, never will countenance the wickedness of his open enemies. The judgments of God for these sins will lay them waste. In the judgments denounced against prosperous Babylon, and the mercies promised to afflicted Israel, we learn to choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An application to Babylon of the doom against Jerusalem Jeremiah 6:22-24.

Jeremiah 50:41

The coasts of the earth - See the Jeremiah 6:22 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

41-43. (Compare Jer 6:22-24). The very language used to describe the calamities which Babylon inflicted on Zion is that here employed to describe Babylon's own calamity inflicted by the Medes. Retribution in kind.

kinds—the allies and satraps of the various provinces of the Medo-Persian empire: Armenia, Hyrcania, Lydia, &c.

coasts—the remote parts.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Medes and Persians with their armies, who shall also have many other kings who, from the several parts of the earth, shall join with them and help them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation,.... The Modes and Persians, whose country lay north of Babylon: See Gill on Jeremiah 50:9;

and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth; the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, Jeremiah 51:27; and of the Armenians and other nations that Cyrus had subdued and brought with him in his army against Babylon, as Xenophon (s) relates. Ten kings shall be raised up against mystical Babylon, and hate her, and burn her with fire, Revelation 17:12.

(s) Cyropaedia, l. 5. c. 15.

Geneva Study Bible

Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from {c} the ends of the earth.

(c) Meaning, that the Persians would gather their army from many nations.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

41. a people] the Persians. See reference in mg.

from the north] Cp. Jeremiah 50:9.

41–43. A repetition, with the necessary changes, of Jeremiah 6:22-24, where Jerusalem is the object of the threat. See notes there.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 41- Jeremiah 51:4. - The instruments of the judgment. The section is partly a cento from other prophecies. Thus vers. 41-43 are a repetition of JeremiahJeremiah 50:41

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The agents who execute the judgment. - Jeremiah 50:41. "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. Jeremiah 50:42. 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. Jeremiah 50:43. The king of Babylon hath heard the report concerning them, and his hands have fallen down: distress hath seized him, writing pain, like [that of] the woman in childbirth. Jeremiah 50:44. 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 me, and who will appoint me a time [to plead my defence]? and what shepherd [is there] that will stand before me? Jeremiah 50:45. 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 flock; assuredly [their] habitation shall be astonished at them. Jeremiah 50:46. At the cry, 'Babylon is taken,' the earth is shaken, and a cry [for help] is heard among the nations.

Jeremiah 51