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Texts -- Jeremiah 50:1--51:64 (NET)

Context
Judgment Against Babylon
50:1 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah . 50:2 “Announce the news among the nations ! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention ! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say : ‘Babylon will be captured . Bel will be put to shame . Marduk will be dismayed . Babylon’s idols will be put to shame . Her disgusting images will be dismayed . 50:3 For a nation from the north will attack Babylon . It will lay her land waste . People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’ 50:4 “When that time comes ,” says the Lord , “the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together . They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the Lord their God . 50:5 They will ask the way to Zion ; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten . 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep . Their shepherds have allow them to go astray . They have wandered around in the mountains . They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place . 50:7 All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said , ‘We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the Lord , their true pasture . They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted .’ 50:8 “People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia ! Be the first to depart ! Be like the male goats that lead the herd . 50:9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north . They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed . 50:10 Babylonia will be plundered . Those who plunder it will take all they want,” says the Lord . 50:11 “People of Babylonia, you plundered my people . That made you happy and glad . You frolic about like calves in a pasture . Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion . 50:12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame . The land where you were born will be disgraced . Indeed , Babylonia will become the least important of all nations . It will become a dry and barren desert . 50:13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited . It will be totally desolate . All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. 50:14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon , all you soldiers who are armed with bows . Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back ! For she has sinned against the Lord . 50:15 Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall . Her walls will be torn down . Because I, the Lord , am wreaking revenge , take out your vengeance on her ! Do to her as she has done ! 50:16 Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon . Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time . Let all the foreigners return to their own people . Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army . 50:17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away . First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones . 50:18 So I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all , say : ‘I will punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria . 50:19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture . They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan . They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead . 50:20 When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel . No sin will be found in Judah . For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive . I, the Lord , affirm it!’” 50:21 The Lord says , “Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod ! Pursue, kill , and completely destroy them! Do just as I have commanded you! 50:22 The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction . 50:23 Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that ‘hammer ’ has been broken and shattered! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations ! 50:24 I set a trap for you, Babylon ; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured . 50:25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored . I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath . For I , the Lord God who rules over all , have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia . 50:26 Come from far away and attack Babylonia! Open up the places where she stores her grain ! Pile her up in ruins ! Destroy her completely! Do not leave anyone alive ! 50:27 Kill all her soldiers ! Let them be slaughtered ! They are doomed , for their day of reckoning has come , the time for them to be punished .” 50:28 Listen ! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon . They are coming to Zion to declare there how the Lord our God is getting revenge , getting revenge for what they have done to his temple . 50:29 “Call for archers to come against Babylon ! Summon against her all who draw the bow ! Set up camp all around the city! Do not allow anyone to escape ! Pay her back for what she has done . Do to her what she has done to others. For she has proudly defied me, the Holy One of Israel . 50:30 So her young men will fall in her city squares . All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time ,” says the Lord . 50:31 “Listen ! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” says the Lord God who rules over all . “Indeed , your day of reckoning has come , the time when I will punish you. 50:32 You will stumble and fall , you proud city; no one will help you get up . I will set fire to your towns ; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” 50:33 The Lord who rules over all says , “The people of Israel are oppressed . So too are the people of Judah . All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free . 50:34 But the one who will rescue them is strong . He is known as the Lord who rules over all . He will strongly champion their cause . As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth , but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia . 50:35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians ,” says the Lord . “They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia , against her leaders and her men of wisdom . 50:36 Destructive forces will come against her false prophets ; they will be shown to be fools ! Destructive forces will come against her soldiers ; they will be filled with terror ! 50:37 Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots . Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women ! Destructive forces will come against her treasures ; they will be taken away as plunder ! 50:38 A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up . All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols . Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear . 50:39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there. Ostriches will dwell in it too. But no people will ever live there again . No one will dwell there for all time to come. 50:40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there . No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord . 50:41 “Look ! An army is about to come from the north . A mighty nation and many kings are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth . 50:42 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears . They are cruel and show no mercy . They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses . Lined up in formation like men going into battle , they are coming against you, fair Babylon ! 50:43 The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming . Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. 50:44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose . For there is no one like me . There is no one who can call me to account . There is no ruler that can stand up against me. 50:45 So listen to what I, the Lord , have planned against Babylon , what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia . Their little ones will be dragged off . I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. 50:46 The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured . Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations .” 51:1 The Lord says , “I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. 51:2 I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff . They will winnow her and strip her land bare . This will happen when they come against her from every direction , when it is time to destroy her. 51:3 Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor . Do not spare any of her young men . Completely destroy her whole army . 51:4 Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia , mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. 51:5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God , the Lord who rules over all . For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel . 51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people . Flee to save your lives . Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins . For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge . He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done . 51:7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand . She had made the whole world drunk . The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad . 51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed . Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds ! Perhaps she can be healed ! 51:9 Foreigners living there will say, ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed . Let’s leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country . For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven , stacked up into the clouds .’ 51:10 The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done !’ 51:11 “Sharpen your arrows ! Fill your quivers ! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media . For he intends to destroy Babylonia . For that is how the Lord will get his revenge – how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple . 51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall ! Bring more guards ! Post them all around the city! Put men in ambush ! For the Lord will do what he has planned . He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon . 51:13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon, the time of your end has come . You who are rich in plundered treasure , it is time for your lives to be cut off . 51:14 The Lord who rules over all has solemnly sworn , ‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers . They will swarm over it like locusts . They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’ 51:15 He is the one who by his power made the earth . He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place, by his understanding he spread out the heavens . 51:16 When his voice thunders , the waters in the heavens roar . He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons . He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain . He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. 51:17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant . Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham . There is no breath in any of those idols. 51:18 They are worthless , objects to be ridiculed . When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed . 51:19 The Lord, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob , is not like them . For he is the one who created everything , including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own . He is known as the Lord who rules over all . 51:20 “Babylon, you are my war club , my weapon for battle . I used you to smash nations . I used you to destroy kingdoms . 51:21 I used you to smash horses and their riders . I used you to smash chariots and their drivers . 51:22 I used you to smash men and women . I used you to smash old men and young men . I used you to smash young men and young women . 51:23 I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks . I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen . I used you to smash governors and leaders .” 51:24 “But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wicked things they did in Zion right before the eyes of you Judeans,” says the Lord . 51:25 The Lord says , “Beware ! I am opposed to you, Babylon! You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth . I will unleash my power against you; I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain . 51:26 No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone . No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house. For you will lie desolate forever ,” says the Lord . 51:27 “Raise up battle flags throughout the lands . Sound the trumpets calling the nations to do battle. Prepare the nations to do battle against Babylonia. Call for these kingdoms to attack her: Ararat , Minni , and Ashkenaz . Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Send horses against her like a swarm of locusts . 51:28 Prepare the nations to do battle against her. Prepare the kings of the Medes . Prepare their governors and all their leaders . Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. 51:29 The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. For the Lord will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia a wasteland where no one lives . 51:30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting . They will remain in their fortified cities . They will lose their strength to do battle. They will be as frightened as women . The houses in her cities will be set on fire . The gates of her cities will be broken down . 51:31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured . 51:32 They will report that the fords have been captured , the reed marshes have been burned , the soldiers are terrified . 51:33 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says , ‘Fair Babylon will be like a threshing floor which has been trampled flat for harvest . The time for her to be cut down and harvested will come very soon.’ 51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devoured me and drove my people out . Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me. He filled his belly with my riches . He made me an empty dish . He completely cleaned me out .” 51:35 The person who lives in Zion says , “May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives .” Jerusalem says , “May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.” 51:36 Therefore the Lord says , “I will stand up for your cause . I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. I will dry up their sea . I will make their springs run dry . 51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives . 51:38 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. 51:39 When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out , they will fall asleep forever , they will never wake up ,” says the Lord . 51:40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs , rams , and male goats .” 51:41 “See how Babylon has been captured ! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations ! 51:42 The sea has swept over Babylon . She has been covered by a multitude of its waves . 51:43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins . She has become a dry and barren desert . No one lives in those towns any more. No one even passes through them . 51:44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon . I will make him spit out what he has swallowed . The nations will not come streaming to him any longer . Indeed , the walls of Babylon will fall .” 51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people ! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord ! 51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land . For a report will come in one year . Another report will follow it in the next . There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler .” 51:47 “So the time will certainly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon . Her whole land will be put to shame . All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst . 51:48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon . For destroyers from the north will attack it,” says the Lord . 51:49 “Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed , just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon . 51:50 You who have escaped the sword , go , do not delay . Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem . 51:51 ‘We are ashamed because we have been insulted . Our faces show our disgrace . For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms in the Lord’s temple .’ 51:52 Yes , but the time will certainly come ,” says the Lord , “when I will punish her idols . Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan . 51:53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold , I will send destroyers against her,” says the Lord . 51:54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon , the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians . 51:55 For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon , and put an end to her loud noise . Their waves will roar like turbulent waters . They will make a deafening noise . 51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon . Her warriors will be captured ; their bows will be broken . For the Lord is a God who punishes ; he pays back in full . 51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk , along with her governors , leaders , and warriors . They will fall asleep forever and never wake up ,” says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all . 51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all says , “Babylon’s thick wall will be completely demolished . Her high gates will be set on fire . fire . The peoples strive for what does not satisfy . satisfy . The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed .” 51:59 This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah , son of Mahseiah , when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign . (Seraiah was a quartermaster .) 51:60 Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies written about Babylon . 51:61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah , “When you arrive in Babylon , make sure you read aloud all these prophecies . 51:62 Then say , ‘O Lord , you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer . Certainly it will lie desolate forever !’ 51:63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. 51:64 Then say , ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint .’” The prophecies of Jeremiah end here .

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Sin

    [nave] SIN. Index of Sub-Topics Miscellany of Minor Sub-Topics; Unclassified Scriptures Relating to, Defining, and Illustrating; Confession of; Consequences of, Entailed Upon Children; Conviction of; Forgiveness of; Fruits of; Kn...

  • Persia

    [nave] PERSIA An empire which extended from India to Ethiopia, comprising one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, Esth. 1:1; Dan. 6:1. Government of, restricted by constitutional limitations, Esth. 8:8; Dan. 6:8-12. Municipal gov...

  • North country

    [ebd] a general name for the countries that lay north of Palestine. Most of the invading armies entered Palestine from the north (Isa. 41:25; Jer. 1:14,15; 50:3,9,41; 51:48; Ezek. 26:7).

  • Media

    [ebd] Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) "Madai," Gen. 10:2; (2) "Medes," 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) "Media," Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) "Mede," only in Dan. 11:1. We first hear of this peop...

  • MAGISTRATE

    [isbe] MAGISTRATE - maj'-is-trat (shephaT, corresponding to shaphaT, "to judge," "to pronounce sentence" (Jdg 18:7)): Among the ancients, the terms corresponding to our "magistrate" had a much wider signification. "Magistrates and ...

  • Lintel

    [ebd] (1.) Heb. mashkoph, a projecting cover (Ex. 12:22, 23; ver. 7, "upper door post," but R.V. "lintel"); the head-piece of a door, which the Israelites were commanded to mark with the blood of the paschal lamb. (2.) Heb. kaphta...

  • JEREMIAH (2)

    [isbe] JEREMIAH (2) - jer-e-mi'-a: 1. Name and Person 2. Life of Jeremiah 3. The Personal Character of Jeremiah 4. The Prophecies of Jeremiah 5. The Book of Jeremiah 6. Authenticity and Integrity of the Book 7. Relation to the Sept...

  • GOVERNOR

    [ebd] (1.) Heb. nagid, a prominent, conspicuous person, whatever his capacity: as, chief of the royal palace (2 Chr. 28:7; comp. 1 Kings 4:6), chief of the temple (1 Chr. 9:11; Jer. 20:1), the leader of the Aaronites (1 Chr. 12:27...
    [isbe] GOVERNOR - guv'-er-ner: The word "governor" is employed in English Versions of the Bible in rendering a great variety of Hebrew and Greek words. In certain cases strict consistency is neither observed nor possible. 1. In the...
    [smith] In the Authorized Version this one English word is the representative of no less than ten Hebrew and four Greek words. The chief of a tribe or family. A ruler in his capacity of lawgiver and dispenser of justice. A ruler con...

  • FAINT

    [isbe] FAINT - fant (`ayeph, `uph, ya`aph, `alaph, aTaph, dawway, yaghea`, macac, rakhakh, paghar, kahah; ekluo, ekkakeo, kamno): The Hebrew vocabulary for the depressing physical conditions and mental emotions which are rendered i...

  • Exile

    [ebd] (1.) Of the kingdom of Israel. In the time of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser II. carried away captive into Assyria (2 Kings 15:29; comp. Isa. 10:5, 6) a part of the inhabitants of Galilee and of Gilead (B.C. 741). After the destruct...

  • Divination

    [ebd] of false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are mentioned in Ezek. 21:21, by a...

  • Chaldea

    [ebd] The southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used of the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. The Hebrew name is Kasdim, which is usually rendered "Chaldean...

  • Cankerworm

    [ebd] (Heb. yelek), "the licking locust," which licks up the grass of the field; probably the locust at a certain stage of its growth, just as it emerges from the caterpillar state (Joel 1:4; 2:25). The word is rendered "caterpill...

  • CAPTAIN

    [isbe] CAPTAIN - kap'-tin: In the King James Version there are no fewer than 13 Hebrew words, and 4 different Greek words, which are rendered by this one English word. In the Revised Version (British and American) some of these are...

  • Babylon

    [ebd] the Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning "The Gate of God." In the Assyrian tablets it means "The city of the dispersion of the tribes." The monumental list of its kings reaches back to B.C. 2300, and includes K...
    [smith] in the Apocalypse, is the symbolical name by which Rome is denoted. (Revelation 14:8; 17:18) The power of Rome was regarded by the later Jews as was that of Babylon by their forefathers. Comp. (Jeremiah 51:7) with Reve 14:8 T...
    [nave] BABYLON City of Built by Nimrod, Gen. 10:10. In the land of Shinar, Gen. 10:10; 11:2. Tower of, Gen. 11:1-9. Capital of the kingdom of Babylon, Dan. 4:30; 2 Kin. 25:13; 2 Chr. 36:6, 7, 10, 18, 20. Gates of, Isa. 45:1, 2...

  • BABEL

    [smith] (confusion), Bab?ylon (Greek form of Babel), is properly the capital city of the country which is called in Genesis Shinar, and in the later books Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. The first rise of the Chaldean power wa...

  • Armoury

    [ebd] the place in which armour was deposited when not used (Neh. 3:19; Jer. 50:25). At first each man of the Hebrews had his own arms, because all went to war. There were no arsenals or magazines for arms till the time of David, ...

  • Armour

    [ebd] is employed in the English Bible to denote military equipment, both offensive and defensive. (1.) The offensive weapons were different at different periods of history. The "rod of iron" (Ps. 2:9) is supposed to mean a mace o...

  • Archer

    [ebd] a shooter with the bow (1 Chr. 10:3). This art was of high antiquity (Gen. 21:20; 27:3). Saul was wounded by the Philistine archers (1 Sam. 31:3). The phrase "breaking the bow" (Hos. 1:5; Jer. 49:35) is equivalent to taking ...

  • ARMOR; ARMS

    [isbe] ARMOR; ARMS - ar'-mer, arms. I. ARMOR IN GENERAL--OLD TESTAMENT II. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; POLYBIUS III. OFFENSIVE WEAPONS 1. Rod 2. Sling 3. Bow and Arrows 4. Spear--Javelin 5. Sword IV. DEFENSIVE WEAPONS 1. Shield 2. Helmet...

Arts

Hymns

(Note: In "active" or "on" condition, the hymns music will be played automatically when mouse hover on a hymns title)
  • [Jer 50:5] Come, Let Us Join With Faithful Souls
  • [Jer 50:5] Come, Let Us Use The Grace Divine

Questions

Sermon Illustrations

God Leaves a Remnant; God’s Names

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The writer called the Timnite Samson's wife even though the engaged couple had not yet consummated their marriage (v. 15)."The usual length of a [wedding] celebration was seven days and the marriage was not consummated until ...
  • Ruth carried out Naomi's instructions exactly, further demonstrating her loyal love to her mother-in-law, and encouraged Boaz to pursue the possibility of marriage (vv. 6-9)."Note that the threshingfloor was a public place an...
  • Judah and Benjamin were the only tribes the writer mentioned because these were the tribes that made up the Southern Kingdom that had suffered exile in Babylon. Those who gave to the reconstruction project evidently included ...
  • The fact that Nehemiah did not move back to Susa when he finished the wall and secured the city shows that his concern was not primarily those projects. The larger goal of reestablishing the Jews in the land to which God had ...
  • The events of the Book of Esther took place during the Persian period of ancient history (539-331 B.C.) and during the reign of King Ahasuerus in particular (486-464 B.C.).Chronology of the Book of Esther483Ahasuerus' militar...
  • The king gave the Jews permission to defend themselves by killing their enemies. Evidently this meant that they not only met attack with resistance but in some cases initiated attack against those who they knew would destroy ...
  • "But it is just here, when everything is blackest, that his faith . . . like the rainbow in the cloud . . . shines with a marvelous splendor."89This short section contains probably the best known verses in the book (vv. 23-27...
  • 30:6 David had evidently become self-confident and had forgotten his complete dependence on the Lord (cf. John 15:5). Prosperity often tempts us with a false sense of our security (cf. Prov. 1:32; Jer. 22:21), and David slipp...
  • 72:1-4 This prayer for the ability to rule justly and righteously is similar to Solomon's request for wisdom that he voiced at the beginning of his reign (1 Kings 3:9). His references to the mountains and hills are probably m...
  • Baxter, J. Sidlow. Explore the Book. 6 vols. London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1965.Bromiley, Geoffrey W. God and Marriage. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980.Bullock, C. Hassell. An Introduction to the Poe...
  • The recurrence of the Hebrew word massa', translated "oracle"or "burden,"prescribes the boundaries of this section of text.140These chapters present the nations over which Immanuel is ruler, and they expand the idea of God's ...
  • This is a message of the destruction of the anti-God religious and commercial system that Babylon has symbolized throughout history (cf. Rev. 17-18).21:1 This oracle concerns the wilderness of the sea. This enigmatic title pr...
  • This section of Isaiah on "The Lord's redemption of His servant [Israel]"(44:23-47:15) has included an announcement of redemption (44:23-28), the identification of the instrument of redemption, Cyrus (45:1-13), and a reminder...
  • The biblical records of the times in which Jeremiah ministered are 2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 33-36. His contemporary prophets were Zephaniah and Habakkuk before the Exile, and Ezekiel and Daniel after it began.King Manas...
  • Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
  • The Book of Jeremiah is not theologically organized in the sense that it develops a certain theological emphasis as it unfolds, as Isaiah does. Rather it presents certain theological truths in greater or lesser degree through...
  • I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
  • 1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
  • The first series of prophetic announcements, reflections, and incidents that comprise this part of the book deals with Jeremiah's ministry to his own people.64The second main division of the book contains oracles against fore...
  • 8:18 The prospect of this catastrophic invasion overwhelmed Jeremiah with sorrow. It made him weak, and he could not get over his anguish.8:19 He could hear his people in captivity bitterly crying out. They longed for Jerusal...
  • 9:10 The Lord took up a lamentation on behalf of the land that suffered because of His people's sin. The coming invasion would leave the land deserted even by beasts and birds. The rest of this message indicates that the inva...
  • This scathing exposé of the folly of idolatry resembles several polemics in Isaiah (cf. Isa. 40:18-20; 41:6-7; 44:9-20; 46:5-7). Verses 12-16 appear again in 51:15-19."Why did so easy a target as idolatry need so many at...
  • This pericope contains one of Jeremiah's "confessions,"a self-revelation of the prophet's own struggles to cope with God's actions (cf. 10:23-24; 15:10-12, 15-21; 17:9-11, 14-18; 18:18-23; and 20:7-18).219The heart of this on...
  • This prophecy about Israel's neighbors anticipates chapters 46-51, which contain oracles against Gentile nations.12:14 The Lord promised to judge Judah's neighbor nations that had robbed His people of what the Lord had given ...
  • This is the first of several symbolic acts that Jeremiah performed to communicate divine messages (cf. 16:1-4; 18:1-12; 19:1-2, 10-11; 27:1-28:17; 32:1-15; 43:8-13; 51:59-64). Other prophets did the same thing (cf. Isa. 20:2-...
  • 14:1 A message came to Jeremiah from Yahweh concerning some droughts (Heb. plural) that overtook Judah.241Droughts were a punishment for covenant violation in Israel (cf. Lev. 26:18-19; Deut. 28:23-24).14:2 Judah was in mourn...
  • The following three pericopes bracket assurance of imminent judgment for Judah with promises of distant blessing for Israel and the nations. This passage promises deliverance from the captivity for the Israelites. It appears ...
  • The next five sections (vv. 1-4, 5-8, 9-11, 12-13, and 14-18) continue the theme of Judah's guilt from the previous chapter. These pericopes have obvious connections with one another, but they were evidently originally separa...
  • 25:15 The Lord instructed Jeremiah to take from His hand, figuratively, a cup of His wrath and to cause all the nations to whom the Lord would send him to drink from it. The cup is a common figure for the wrath of God in Scri...
  • 29:1-3 Jeremiah sent a letter to all the Judahites who had gone into exile in Babylon with King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) in 597 B.C. We do not know the date of its composition, but Jeremiah probably wrote it within a few years o...
  • This was another of Jeremiah's symbolic acts (cf. 16:1-4; 18:1-12; 19:1-2, 10-11; 27:1-28:17; 43:8-13; 51:59-64).32:1 A message came to the prophet from the Lord about 587 B.C., the year before Jerusalem fell.32:2 Jerusalem w...
  • 33:1 Jeremiah received another message from the Lord while he was still confined in the court of the guard (cf. 32:2).33:2 The Lord introduced Himself as the Creator and Establisher of the earth (cf. 32:17; Gen. 1). This was ...
  • This chapter belongs after chapter 36 chronologically, either after 36:8 or 36:32. It serves as an appendix to the historical incidents recorded there. Perhaps the writer or final editor placed it here to show that Yahweh exe...
  • This chapter on Egypt contains three separate prophecies that Jeremiah delivered about the fate of that nation. Their purpose seems to have been to discourage King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.) and the pro-Egyptian party in Judah ...
  • This oracle is similar to the one in Isaiah 15 and 16.555Other oracles against Moab appear in Ezekiel 25:8-11, Amos 2:1-3, and Zephaniah 2:9, but this is the longest one. It is very difficult to say when Jeremiah gave this or...
  • The Edomites lived to the southeast of Judah, south of Moab. The Zered River was their northern border, the Gulf of Aqabah (about 100 miles to the south) the southern, the Arabah the western, and the desert the eastern border...
  • Jeremiah wrote almost as much about Babylon's future as he did about the futures of all the other nations in his other oracles combined. The length of this oracle reflects the great importance of Babylon in his ministry as we...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
  • 9:1 In his vision Ezekiel heard the Lord (cf. v. 4) cry out loudly for the executioners (guards), who would punish the people of Jerusalem, to draw near to Him with their weapons in hand. The Lord had predicted that the peopl...
  • 21:1-2 Again the Lord told His prophet to speak a message of judgment against Jerusalem, the pagan sanctuaries, and the whole land of Israel (i.e., Judah). This would be a clarification of the figures used in the previous par...
  • Four messages announce God's judgment on Jerusalem for her unfaithfulness (vv. 22-27, 28-31, 32-34, 35).23:22-24 Because of her behavior the Lord promised to turn Oholibah's soldier-lovers against her, even the Babylonians, C...
  • It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
  • This message forms a fitting conclusion to the whole section of prophecies about Israel's restoration to the Promised Land (chs. 33-39) as well as to those about future invasion (chs. 38-39).39:25-26 The Lord promised to rest...
  • 5:29 Belshazzar kept his promise (v. 16) though Daniel's honors only lasted a few hours at most, typical of the honors of this world. The king's response is surprising. We might have expected him to execute Daniel for confron...
  • Whereas the previous verses have focused on the Antichrist, those in this pericope concern Israel. Here we learn that this "end time"will definitely be a time of intense persecution of Jews. This section constitutes the clima...
  • An oracle is a message of judgment. Amos proceeded to deliver eight of these, seven against Israel's neighbors including Judah (1:3-2:5) and one against Israel (2:6-6:14).12The order is significant. The nations mentioned firs...
  • 4:1 Amos opened this second message as he did the first (ch. 3), with the cry, "Hear this word."He addressed the wealthy women of Samaria, calling them "cows of Bashan."Bashan was a very luxuriant region of Transjordan east a...
  • 4:6 The Lord had brought famine throughout the land to warn His people about their disobedience and His displeasure, but this judgment did not move them to repent (cf. 1 Kings 8:37). Famine was one of the curses that God said...
  • The second description of Nineveh's fall is more philosophical than the first one and ends with a statement by Yahweh that gives the reason for its fall (v. 13).2:8 Nineveh had been as placid as the waters around the city for...
  • This section, evidently another message that Nahum delivered concerning Nineveh's fall, begins by comparing it to the fall of another great city. Nahum proceeded to use many figures of speech to describe how various segments ...
  • 2:12 The Babylonians could expect distress because they had built their cities at the expense of the lives of their enemies. We speak of "blood money"as money obtained by making others suffer, even shedding their blood. Babyl...
  • 2:13 Zephaniah also prophesied the destruction of Assyria to Judah's north (really northeast) and her capital Nineveh (cf. Isa. 13:1-14:27; 21:1-10; Jer. 50-51). Since Nineveh fell to the combined forces of Babylonia, Media, ...
  • Chapter 8 not only contains two major messages from the Lord (vv. 1-17, 18-23) but 10 minor messages, "a decalogueof divine words,"155that make up the two major ones. "Thus says the Lord"introduces each of these minor message...
  • "The full fate of Israel is not recounted in the rejection of the good Shepherd God raised up to tend them. The complete tale of woe centers in their acceptance of the bad shepherd God will raise up to destroy them. The one d...
  • Jesus first explained the sphere and nature of the apostles' temporary ministry to Israel.10:5-6 The apostles were to limit their ministry to the Jews living in Galilee. They were not to go north or east into Gentile territor...
  • Matthew separated the explanation of this parable from its telling in the text (vv. 24-30). He evidently did this to separate more clearly for the reader the parables Jesus spoke to the multitudes from the parables He told Hi...
  • The Triumphal Entry happened on Monday. The cursing of the fig tree took place on Tuesday, and the disciples' mention of its withering followed on Wednesday (cf. Mark 11:1-14).78021:18-19 Jesus passed the lone fig tree somewh...
  • 24:1 The connective "and"(NASB, Gr. kai) ties what follows to Jesus' preceding denunciation of the generation of Jews that rejected Him and the divine judgment that would follow (23:36-39). However the "apocalyptic"or "eschat...
  • This pericope parallels 9:30-37. Both sections deal with true greatness, and both follow predictions of Jesus' passion. This second incident shows the disciples' lack of spiritual perception and their selfishness even more th...
  • 3:17-18 If Peter's charges against his hearers were harsh (vv. 13-15), his concession that they acted out of ignorance was tender. Peter undoubtedly hoped that his gentle approach would win a reversal of his hearers' attitude...
  • This is the final scene that furnishes background information before the revelation of the seven bowl judgments. Again what John saw was mainly on the earth."The total scene in 14:14-20 closes the section on coming judgment (...
  • The final three bowl judgments all have political consequences.16:12 The problem that this judgment poses for earth-dwellers is not a result of the judgment itself but its consequences, namely, war. It does not inflict a plag...
  • 16:17 This final judgment has the greatest impact of all since the air into which the angel pours his bowl is what humans breathe.535The loud voice is probably once again God's since it comes from the throne in the heavenly t...
  • 17:1 The fact that this chapter describes the judgment of Babylon referred to in 14:8 and 16:19 seems clear. It was one of the angels who poured out the bowl judgments who served as John's guide as he viewed these events in h...
  • 17:3 The angel carried John away in the Spirit to a wilderness area (cf. 1:10; 4:1; 21:10). This wilderness may refer to the desert near literal Babylon,558or it may anticipate the desolate condition of the harlot.559There he...
  • 17:7 The angel promised to interpret these revelations that were so baffling to John, particularly the mystery concerning the woman and the beast. More information about the beast follows in verses 7-14 and more about the wom...
  • 18:1 John next saw another scene on earth (Gr. Meta tauta eidon, "After these things I saw,"cf. 4:1). Another angel of the same kind as in 17:1 (i.e., one who descends from heaven to fulfill a special mission; cf. 10:1; 20:1)...
  • 18:4 Another voice from heaven instructed God's people to separate themselves from the system that the city symbolizes so they would avoid getting caught in her judgment. The being speaking is evidently an angel who speaks fo...
  • Three groups of people mourn Babylon's destruction in these verses: kings (vv. 9-10; cf. Ezek. 26:15-18), merchants (vv. 11-13, 15-17a; cf. Ezek. 27:36), and sea people (vv. 17b-19; cf. Ezek. 27:29-36).18:9 World government l...
  • In contrast to the earth-dwellers, God's people will rejoice when Babylon falls (cf. 11:10). The songs in 19:1-5 may be their response to this invitation. Heaven rejoiced over the fall of ancient Babylon too (Jer. 51:48-49).6...
  • 18:21 The angelic act of throwing the millstone into the sea is symbolic of Babylon's fate (cf. Jer. 51:63-64). As it is impossible for that huge stone to rise to the surface, so the economic system that has driven this world...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is His name: He shall thoroughly plead their cause.'--Jer 50:34.AMONG the remarkable provisions of the Mosaic law there were some very peculiar ones affecting the next-of-kin. The n...
  • Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of th...
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