The pride of Babylon is humbled through the utter destruction of the people and the land. - Jeremiah 50:29. "Summon archers against Jerusalem, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her round about. Let there be no escape for her; recompense to her according to her work; according to that which she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath presumed against Jahveh, against the Holy One of Israel. Jeremiah 50:30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall fail in that day, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 50:31. Behold, I am against thee, O Pride! said the Lord, Jahveh of hosts; for thy day hath come, the time [when] I visit thee. Jeremiah 50:32. And Pride shall stumble and fall, and he shall have none to lift him up; and I will kindle fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that is round about him. Jeremiah 50:33. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the Children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together, and all who led them captive kept hold of them; they refused to let them go. Jeremiah 50:34. Their Redeemer is strong; Jahveh of hosts is His name: He shall surely plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, and make the inhabitants of Babylon tremble. Jeremiah 50:35. A sword [is] against the Chaldeans, saith Jahveh, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes, and against her wise men. Jeremiah 50:36. A sword [is] against the liars, and they shall become fools; a sword is against her heroes, and they shall be confounded. Jeremiah 50:37. A sword [is] against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the auxiliaries which [are] in the midst of her, and they shall become women; a sword is against her treasures, and they shall be plundered. Jeremiah 50:38. A drought is against her waters, and they shall become dry; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols. Jeremiah 50:39. Therefore shall wild beasts dwell [there] with jackals, and ostriches shall dwell in it; and it shall no more be inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Jeremiah 50:40. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhabitants, saith Jahveh, no man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn in it."

Further description of the execution of God's wrath. Archers shall come and besiege Babylon round about, so that no one shall escape. The summons, "Call archers hither," is a dramatic turn in the thought that the siege is quickly to ensue. השׁמיע is used here as in Jeremiah 51:27, to summon, call by making proclamation, as in 1 Kings 15:22. רבּים does not signify "many," as the ancient versions give it; this agrees neither with the apposition which follows, "all that bend the bow," nor with Jeremiah 50:26, where all, to the last, are summoned against Babylon. Raschi, followed by all the moderns, more correctly renders it "archers," and derives it from רבה equals רבב, Genesis 49:23, cf. with Jeremiah 21:10, like רב, Job 16:13. The apposition, "all those who bend the bow," gives additional force. חנה with accus. means to besiege; cf. Psalm 53:6. "Let there be no escape" is equivalent to saying, "that none may escape from Babylon." The Qeri להּ after יהי is unnecessary, and merely taken from Jeremiah 50:26. On the expression "render to her," etc., cf. Jeremiah 25:14; and on "according to all," etc., f. Jeremiah 50:15. "For she hath acted presumptuously against Jahveh," by burning His temple, and keeping His people captive: in this way has Babylon offended "against the Holy One of Israel." This epithet of God is taken from Isaiah, cf. Isaiah 51:5. This presumption must be punished.

Jeremiah 50:35 Parallel Commentaries

sword

Jeremiah 47:6 O you sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere you be quiet? put up yourself into your scabbard, rest, and be still.

Leviticus 26:25 And I will bring a sword on you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when you are gathered together within your cities...

Isaiah 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

Ezekiel 14:2 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Hosea 11:6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaves the flock! the sword shall be on his arm, and on his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up...

upon her princes

Jeremiah 50:27,30 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation...

Jeremiah 51:39,57 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake...

Isaiah 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call on my name...

Daniel 5:1,2,30 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand...

her wise men

Jeremiah 8:9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: see, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?

Jeremiah 10:7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you does it appertain: for as much as among all the wise men of the nations...

Isaiah 19:11-13 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say you to Pharaoh...

Isaiah 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder...

Isaiah 44:25 That frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

Isaiah 47:13,14 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up...

Daniel 4:7,8 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them...