Jeremiah 51:58

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 51:1-58

The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. Let us then observe here, I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been in and the use that God in his providence had made of it (Jer. 51:7): Babylon hath been a golden cup, a rich and glorious empire, a golden city (Isa. 14:4), a head of gold... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 51:58

Thus saith the Lord of hosts ,.... Because what follows might seem incredible ever to be effected; it is introduced with this preface, expressed by him who is the God of truth, and the Lord God omnipotent: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken ; or rased up; the foundations of them, and the ground on which they stood made naked and bare, and open to public view; everyone of the walls, the inward and the outward, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it. Curtius says F19 ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:58

The broad walls of Babylon - Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, "The city was a regular square, each side of which was one hand red and twenty stadia, the circumference four hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twenty-five brazen gates." - Herod. lib. 1 c. 178. Had not Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction of this wall and its very vestiges,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:58

Verse 58 The Prophet again introduces God as the speaker, that what he said might obtain more attention from the Jews; and for this reason he subjoined a eulogy to the last verse, and said that the king spoke, whose name is Jehovah of hosts We have stated elsewhere what is the design of such expressions, even that men may rise above everything seen in the world when God’s power is mentioned, that they may not try to contain it in their own small measure. Then the Prophet now again repeats the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 51:50-58

Conclusion of the prophecy. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 51:52-64

The book cast into the river. I. MEN DO NOT SUFFER FOR THEIR SINS WITHOUT WARNING FROM GOD . Seraiah was to go to Babylon and see that he read there the words of the prophecy concerning the city. God has warned us of the doom of sin, and he has sent the warning to us. We have not to search for it. It sounds in our ears. It is written large in the Bible. It is repeated in the lessons of providence. II. IF A DIVINE WARNING IS DISREGARDED IT IS USELESS... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 51:58

The broad walls of Babylon … and her high gates. See Herod; 1.179, 181, and the parallel accounts from other authors, cited by Duncker ('Hist. of Antiquity,' 3.373, etc.), who taxes Herodotus with exaggeration, but admits as probable that the walls were not less than forty feet broad. Utterly broken; rather, destroyed even to the ground (literally, made bare). The people; rather, peoples. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 51:58

The broad walls. I. THE EMPIRE OF SIN HAS SUCH WALLS . Those referred to here may be taken as a type of them. They were: 1 . To separate. Have we not proof of this in the wide distance, the invincible barriers, Which keep the ungodly from sympathizing, associating, or in any way uniting, with the people of God? The kingdom of evil remains shut up from the kingdom of God. Mansoul cannot be entered by way of the gates; the messengers of the King seek admission, but cannot... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 51:58

The broad walls - Herodotus makes the breadth of the walls 85 English feet.Broken - See the margin. i. e., the ground beneath them shall be laid bare by their demolition.The people - Or, peoples. Jeremiah concludes his prophecy with a quotation from Habakkuk; applying the words to the stupendous works intended to make Babylon an eternal city, but which were to end in such early and utter disappointment. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 51:58

Jeremiah 51:58 . The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, &c. That the walls of Babylon were of a prodigious height and thickness, Herodotus tells, who says, they were 200 cubits high, and 50 cubits in breadth, lib. 1. cap. 178. “We are astonished,” says Bishop Lowth, in his note on Isaiah 13:19, “at the accounts which ancient historians of the best credit give, of the immense extent, height, and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon; nor are we less astonished, when... read more

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