Jeremiah 50:15

Jer 50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it [is] the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

Ver. 15. Shout against her round about.] As they did once at Jericho; she shall come down assuredly.

She hath given her hand,] {a} i.e., She hath yielded, and cried quarter; add hereunto that two princes of Babylon, being displeased by Belshazzar, sent for Cyrus to take the city, and showed him how he might best do it. This was "giving the hands" saith Calvin.

As she hath done, do unto her.] Neque enim lex iustior ulla est. See Jdg 1:5. {See Trapp on "Jdg 1:5"}

{a} Deditionis est signum. Dare manus est fateri ae victum.

“ Victum tendere palmas

Ausanii videre. ” - Virg.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

50:15 The Lord’s judgment was fulfilled when Babylon surrendered and her walls fell. The Lord’s vengeance carried out justice by doing to Babylon what she had done to others (cp. Deut 19:21; Luke 6:38).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, yielded, or made peace.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Shout--Inspirit one another to the onset with the battle cry.

given . . . hand--an idiom for, "submitted to" the conquerors (Ch1 29:24, Margin; Lam 5:6).

as she hath done, do unto her--just retribution in kind. She had destroyed many, so must she be destroyed (Psa 137:8). So as to spiritual Babylon (Rev 18:6). This is right because "it is the vengeance of the Lord"; but this will not justify private revenge in kind (Mat 5:44; Rom 12:19-21); even the Old Testament law forbade this, though breathing a sterner spirit than the New Testament (Exo 23:4-5; Pro 25:21-22).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Shout against her round about] Encompass her with lines and with troops; let none go in with relief, none come out to escape from her ruin.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jeremiah proceeds in exhorting the Persians and the Medes, not that he had ever spoken to them; but this mode of speaking, as it has been said, availed to confirm the minds of the godly, so that they might feel assured that what had proceeded from the mouth of Jeremiah was not vain. Here, then, he assumes the person of God himself, and with authority commands the Persians and the Medes as to what they were to do. He says again, Cry aloud against her. By crying aloud or shouting, he means the cry of triumph which soldiers send forth when a city is taken, or rather, as I think, the encouraging cries, by which soldiers rouse one another when they make an attack; for battles are never without shoutings, nor the storming of cities. God titan bids the soldiers to animate one another in their usual way to make a strenuous effort. Shout, he says, and then adds, all around.

He then says, She hath given her hand By these words he intimates that Babylon would not be able to resist. Hands are wont to be given as a token of union; but he is also said to give his hand who confesses himself to be conquered. In this sense we may take the words of Jeremiah, that Babylon had given her hand, because she could not defend herself against the Medes and Persians. But as we know flint the city was taken by treachery, in this manner also was fulfilled what Jeremiah had announced, when two Satraps, in order to revenge private wrongs, sent for Cyrus: for thus it happened that Babylon, or those within it, willingly stretched forth the hands.

It is added, her foundations have fallen, and her walls have been overthrown; not that Cyrus attacked the city with warlike engines, for he entered in by the fords; but still the soldiers readily mounted the walls. Jeremiah then speaks figuratively, as though he had said, that the Chaldeans were mistaken in thinking that they had strong fortresses, because the walls would avail them nothing, however high and wide they were. And we know what ancient historians relate of these walls and towers. The event was almost incredible; for no one could have thought it possible that a city so fortified could be taken by assault. But the Prophet derides this confidence, and declares that the walls would be overthrown, together with their foundations But as it was a thing difficult to be believed, he again adds a confirmation, that it would be the vengeance of Jehovah; as though he had said, that the destruction of Babylon ought not to be estimated according to the thoughts of men, because God would there put forth his wonderful power. In the meantime, he animates again the Persians and the Medes to take vengeance, and to render to the Babylonians what they had deserved. The Prophet in short intimates that the Persians and the Medes would be armed to execute God’s vengeance on the Babylonians.

But we must notice the last clause, Do to her as she has done to others; for we hence learn, what we have also observed elsewhere, that a reward is rendered to every one, so that they who have been cruel to others, do find how dreadful is God’s judgment. God does not always execute his judgment by men; but still this is ever true,

“Woe to thee who plunderest, for thou shalt be plundered;”

and also this,

“Judgment without mercy shall be to him who hath showed no mercy;”

and still further,

“With what measure any one measures, the same shall be rendered to him.”

(Isaiah 33:1; James 2:13; Matthew 7:2.) This truth, then, remains fixed and unchangeable. But God in various ways renders to the ungodly their reward; for he sometimes punishes them by the hand of man, and sometimes he suspends his judgment. Here he shows that the Persians and the Medes would be the executioners of his vengeance, even as the Chaldeans themselves had been as it were his scourges when he chastised his people for their sins; for he had employed the Chaldeans in carrying on war against the Jews. But God has many ways by which he calls each one to an account. Thus at length he punished the Chaldeans, because they indulged only their avarice and ambition in oppressing the Jews; for it was not their purpose to punish the Jews as they deserved; but their own lust, as I have just said, led them to cruelty and slaughter. It was, therefore, but just that they should in their turn be chastised by God’s hand. It follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) She hath given her hand.—The words paint the attitude of one who submits and stretches forth his hand, as a sign that he gives himself into the power of the conqueror. (Comp. Ezr_10:19; 2Ch_30:8; Lam_5:6.) So in Latin “dare manum” was a synonym for submission (Cic. de Amic. 26).

Her foundations are fallen.—Better, with the LXX., bastions or bulwarks.

As she hath done, do unto her.—We note an identity of thought and almost of language with Psa_137:8. Had the Psalmist heard the prophecy, or the prophet the psalm? The former seems the more probable alternative.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. submitted herself] lit. as mg. given her hand. Cp. Gen_24:2; Gen_47:29; 2Ki_10:15; 1Ch_29:24 (mg.); 2Ch_30:8 (mg.); Ezr_10:19; Lam_5:6. Cp. also the Latin manus dare.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shout against her round about,.... As soldiers do when they make an assault upon a place, to encourage one another, and dismay the besieged; just as the Israelites did when they surrounded Jericho:

she hath given her hand; submitted to the conqueror, and sued for mercy. The Targum is,

"she is delivered into her hand;''

the hand of the Persians, by two princes of Babylon, who went off to Cyrus, and showed him how to take the city; or rather it was delivered by Zopyrus into the hands of Darius:

her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down; not at the taking of it by Cyrus, but afterwards by Darius; for this respects the conclusion of its destruction, which was progressive and gradual:

for it is the vengeance of the Lord: which he decreed, threatened, and took, and that on account of his people, who had been ill treated here; so the Targum,

"for it is the vengeance of the people of the Lord:''

and her enemies are called upon to

take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her; that is, to execute the Lord's vengeance, of which the Persians were the instruments; and who were to go according to the law of retaliation, which is a just one; to do to Babylon as she had done to Jerusalem, and other places, she had utterly destroyed. These words seem to be referred to, and much the same are used of mystical Babylon, Rev 18:6.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Shout - i. e., spoken of the war-cry. So in Isa 42:13, where God is compared to a warrior, it is said He shall shout (the King James Version cry), i. e., raise the war-cry.

Site hath given her hand - The sign of submission (compare 1Ch 29:24 margin).

Foundations - Or, buttresses. The Septuagint: “battlements.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hand, to form leagues; or she faints, (Septuagint) and submits, Lamentations v. 6.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Shout against her round about; either as soldiers use to shout when they fall upon their enemy, or as they use to shout and triumph when they are entered city, or whet their enemies flee.

She hath given her hand; either acknowledging themselves overcome, and yielding themselves to the power of their enemies, or, as some think, confederating with the Lydians; but the former is more probable

Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: that is, she is wholly subdued and conquered, as if her walls were thrown down, for literally her walls were not beaten down by Cyrus, for he took the city by surprise

For it is the vengeance of the Lord: God is he who brings this vengeance upon Babylon, though it be by your hands.

As she hath done, do unto her: it is very observable, that there is hardly any sins which the Lord so ordinarily punisheth in the like kind, as those which are oftener against the laws of justice and charity. The common fate of cruel and uncharitable men is to meet with others to do to them as they have done to others; unmerciful men find no mercy. See Psa 137:8,9; Jdg 1:6,7. Adonibezek acknowledged God’s justice in it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Shout against her; i.e. raise the battle cry. (comp. Isa_42:13) She hath given her hand. This action is generally mentioned as a pledge of friendship or a ratification of a promise; (2Ki_10:15 Eze_17:18 Ezr_10:19) but the notion of surrender or submission would naturally follow. (so in 2Ch_30:8) Dr. Payne Smith well quotes the words of Turnus, when begging his life of Aeneas, "Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre" ("AEneid," 12:936). Her foundations. The word is difficult, but a comparison with the Syriac suggests the rendering, her walls. "Foundations" is obviously wrong.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Given her hand - Acknowledging themselves overcome, and yielding. As she hath done - Unmerciful men find no mercy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

she gave her hand like a person who has no strength and stretches forth his hand to whomever he sees, to beg mercy and aid. Cf. We gave our hand to Egypt” (Lam. 5:6).

her foundations have fallen Heb. אשיותיה. The strength of her foundations. Cf. “And the foundations (וְאֻשַּׁיָא) shall be fastened” (Ezra 4:12). And in the language of the Mishnah: Those who dig for foundations (לְאֻשִׁין) [Baba Kamma 50a]. Cf. “And strengthen yourselves (והתאוששוּ)” (Isa. 46:8), equivalent to והתחזקוּ, and strengthen yourselves.

as she did to the city of the Lord.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.