Jeremiah 51:20

"Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin; and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight saith Jehovah. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyeth all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith Jehovah."

No comment is necessary on Jeremiah 51:20-24, which are merely a somewhat tedious way of saying that God will break in pieces just about everything that pertained to Babylon.

"O destroying mountain ..." (Jeremiah 51:25). Keil uses several pages talking about a volcano here; but we believe Robinson was correct when he said, "The language here is purely figurative."[11] Why did the Lord choose such a metaphor? It could be because of that false mountain called the "Tower of Babel" that had been erected there in the remote past, or because of that Ziggurat, the mountain-like temple of Babylon's pagan religious system. God would roll the whole nation down the multiple terraces of their false mountain.

"Thou shalt be desolate forever, saith Jehovah ..." (Jeremiah 51:26). Thompson complained that, "Cyrus entered Babylon without any appreciable resistance and left the city intact; and this is quite contrary to the description of devastation that appears in Jeremiah 51:26."[12] There are other phases of these prophecies against Babylon that indicate quite clearly that there would be a long period during which Babylon would be the "hindermost" of nations, and that the total desolation promised would be accomplished gradually, but that it would last forever. All of this took place exactly as prophesied. See further comment on this in the previous chapter in the discussion under Jeremiah 51:11-16.