Jeremiah 50:26

Jer 50:26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

Ver. 26. Come against her.] This he speaketh to the Medes and Persians, who, though they were farther remote than they that could hear the prophet, yet God, who spake by him, could and did speak home to their hearts, stirring them up by a secret instinct to do this execution.

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.

Hebrew, from the end.

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

from the utmost border--namely, of the earth. Or, from all sides LUDOVICUS DE DIEU].

storehouses--or, "her houses filled with men and goods" [MICHAELIS]. When Cyrus took it, the provisions found there were enough to have lasted for many years.

as heaps--make of the once glorious city heaps of ruins. Vast mounds of rubbish now mark the site of ancient Babylon. "Tread her as heaps of corn which are wont to be trodden down in the threshing-floor" [GROTIUS].

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 26. Open her store-houses] At the time that Cyrus took the city, it was full of provisions and treasures of all kinds; the walls had suffered no injury; and when the inhabitants heard that the enemy was within, they thought they must have arisen out of the earth in the centre of the city!

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

The Prophet again addresses the Persians and the Medes, and encourages them to come against Babylon. We stated yesterday that the prophets are went to speak with authority, because they sustained the person of God; and we mentioned how necessary this mode of speaking was, for the world does not acknowledge that God speaks effectually.

Then he says first, Come ye against her; and then, Open her storehouses The word מאבס, meabes, means a cornhouse or a repository of any kind: hence some render it “granaries.” But it seems to me that the word is thus too much restricted, for the Prophet no doubt speaks of the treasures of Babylon. Now storehouses, (apothecas,) the Greeks call those repositories which contain all sorts of things, not only wine and oil, but goods of merchants, and also money. We call them in French, Arrieres-boutiques, or, magasins. But this word is to be extended to wine, to every kind of fruit, and then to treasures, and also to arms; for they were repositories of arms, of weapons of every kind. It is the same as though Jeremiah had said, that nothing would be so hidden among the Chaldeans but that the Medes and the Persians would find it out.

He then adds, Tread her as heaps. The word ערמים, oremim, means not heaps of stones, but on the contrary, of sheaves. Then he intimates that the Persians and the Medes would act cruelly, and tread them as corn is trodden on the floor. He lastly says, Destroy her utterly, that there way be to her no remnant He seems indirectly to set this in contrast with what God promised always to his people, that there would be some remnant, he then says that nothing would remain when God had executed his vengeance on the Chaldeans. The sum of what is said is, that the punishment of which the Prophet speaks would be such as would obliterate the very name of the Babylonian monarchy. This, as we said yesterday and also previously, was not completed in one day. But when the Prophets speak of God’s judgments, they do not regard only the preludes, but their words extend to the last judgment that awaits all the reprobate. It now 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.

(26) Open her storehouses.—The noun is not found elsewhere. Probably granaries would be a better rendering. The word for “heaps” is used in Song Son_7:2; Rth_3:7 for “heaps of corn,” and this is probably its meaning here. In Neh_4:2, however, it is used of heaps of rubbish. The stored-up provisions of the captured city are to be piled up in its open places, as men pile the sheaves of corn after harvest, and burnt (for “destroy” read devote to destruction), as had been done, e.g., in the capture of Jericho and other cities (Jos_6:24; Jos_11:12-13).

Let nothing of her be left.—Literally, let there be no remnant, as in marked contrast with the “remnant” of Israel (Jer_50:20).

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

26. from the utmost border] better, as mg. from every quarter. Heb. lit. “from the end.”

storehouses] better, as mg. granaries.

cast her up as heaps] “her” meaning the whole contents of the city, including the piled up treasures of grain.

destroy her utterly] See mg. and cp. Deu_13:15 f.

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.

Come against her from the utmost border,.... Or, "from the end" (a); from the end of the earth; from the Persian gulf, and the Caspian sea, on which the Persians and Medes bordered; from the most distant countries; for the Medes and Persians, who are here called unto, brought others along with them in their army from places still more remote; for this is not to be understood, with the Targum, of entering into Babylon on one "side"; or, with Jarchi, of beginning at one "end" of the city, that it might not be known, and be taken suddenly:

open her storehouses; where her gold, silver, jewels, and other precious things, lay: or, her barns or "granaries" (b), as the Targum and Kimchi; where the fruits and increase of the earth were laid up; and may figuratively design her cities and fortified places, full of inhabitants, as well as of riches and stores of all kinds:

cast her up as heaps; as heaps of rubbish to make a causeway of, and then tread upon them to make it smooth: or, "as heaps", or "sheaves" (c) of corn; tread upon them as oxen do, and thereby thresh them out; so Jarchi interprets it,

"thresh her as grains of wheat;''

and to this sense the Targum refers,

"consume her substance as they consume heaps of wheat;''

see Rev 18:12;

and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left; of the city of Babylon, its inhabitants, wealth, and riches; so complete should the destruction be, Rev 18:8.

(a) "a fine", Vatablus, Montanus, Schmidt; "a fine terrae", Piscator; "ab extremis finibus", Tigurine version, Grotius. (b) "horrea ejus", Montanus, Cocceius; "granaria ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. (c) "sicut acervos, sub. tritici", Vatablus; "frumenti", Piscator.

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

Against her - Or, to her, in order to plunder her. Her storehouses (literally granaries) are to burst open, the grain piled up in heaps, and finally they are to devote her to destruction, i. e., to burn her wealth with fire.

From the utmost border - (Or, “from the first of you even to the last”).

Let nothing of her be left - literally, let her have no remnant. Contrast Jer 5:10.

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

That. Hebrew, "her granaries; trample on her as on heaps of corn, destroy," &c. He alludes to the custom of oxen trampling out the corn, chap. li. 33.

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).

The prophet in the name of God calleth to the enemies of Babylon, the Medes, to come up from the furthest parts of their dominions, or from all parts, to fight against Babylon; to open the granaries, or store-houses, or treasuries of the Babylonians, and to cast up the cities as

heaps of rubbish, and utterly to destroy the city with such a total destruction that nothing of it should be left.

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

26. From the utmost border — And all intervening. The meaning is, let all come.

Storehouses — Literally, granaries.

Cast her up as heaps — Rather, “cast” it — namely, the grain — into heaps, that it may be devoted to destruction.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Come against her; rather, Come to her. Dr. Payne Smith infers that Babylon has already fallen, and that the persons addressed are not warriors only, but plunderers of every kind. This is almost too subtle. The prepositions "to" and "against" (literally, upon) are so frequently interchanged. (comp. Jer_46:22 Jer_49:9) From the utmost border; rather, all to gether; it is an idiom expressing universality. Those who are spoken of are regarded as a totality, "from the utmost end" of which its members come. Cast her up as heaps; rather, Cast it up as sheaves; i.e. ransack the repositories of Babylon"s wealth, and heap it up like corn; last of all, destroy her (rather, it) utterly. The verb is a very emphatic one. Its primary meaning is "to cut off, or shut off." Hence kherem, a devoted thing, is applied in the Law to that which is "tabooed," as it were, cut off from any but sacred uses. In Lev_27:21 it is used of a field wholly appropriated to the sanctuary, and in 1Sa_15:21 and 1Ki_20:42 to living beings doomed to destruction. Destruction is generally apart of the meaning; but it is not merely destruction, but an act of homage to the Divine justice.

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

Open her store-houses - The granaries, or treasures of the Babylonians.

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

Come against her from her border From the end of the city, commence upon her, that she not know, and she will be taken suddenly.

open her gates Jonathan renders: אִבּוּלָהָא, her gates, but it has no similar instance [in Scripture]. Menahem (Machbereth p. 14) classifies it as an expression of a manger.

thresh her Heb. סלוה.

stacks Granaries.

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.