Jeremiah 6:22

"Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They lay hold on the bow and the spear, they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us; and pangs, as of a woman in travail."

"Everyone set in array, as a man for the battle ..." (Jeremiah 6:23). This reference to an army marching in closed ranks "could not apply to the barbaric Scythians."[18]

The Babylonians indeed were a merciless and cruel invader, but perhaps not so terrible as the Assyrians; and some have found an element of mercy in God's deliverance of Judah to Babylon instead of Assyria; but either nation was more than terrible enough.

Feinberg noted that the use of cavalry in a military charge, as contrasted with the use of horses in drawing the chariots such as those used in Egypt, was apparently a new thing here.[19]