Jeremiah 50:3

Jer 50:3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

Ver. 3. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,] i.e., Out of Media and Persia, which lay northward from Chaldea. The Jews had their bane out of the north (as had been foretold, Jer 1:14-15), scil., from Babylon. And now Babylon is to be baned from the same quarter. This was some comfort, doubtless, to the poor Jews in captivity.

Which shall make her land desolate.] This was not fulfilled till many years after. Cyrus indeed began it, but Seleucus Nicanor finished it, by building near unto it another great city called Seleucia. {a}

{a} Plin., lib. vi. cap. 26.

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.

50:3 The nation . . . from the north was the Persian nation led by Cyrus in 539 BC. Persia was east of Babylon, but it first struck Babylonia in the north and then moved south. The attack destroyed the powerful Babylonian Empire.

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

To wit, the Medes and the Persians.

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

a nation--the Medes, north of Babylon (Jer 51:48). The devastation of Babylon here foretold includes not only that by Cyrus, but also that more utter one by Darius, who took Babylon by artifice when it had revolted from Persia, and mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants, hanging four thousand of the nobles; also the final desertion of Babylon, owing to Seleucia having been built close by under Seleucus Nicanor.

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 3. Out of the north there cometh up a nation] The Medes, who formed the chief part of the army of Cyrus, lay to the north or north-east of Babylon.

Shall make her land desolate] This war, and the consequent taking of the city, began those disasters that brought Babylon in process of time to complete desolation; so that now it is not known where it stood, the whole country being a total solitude.

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

Let what I have before said be borne in mind, that the Prophet makes use of many words in describing the ruin of Babylon; for it was not enough to predict what was to be; but as weak minds vacillated, it was necessary to add a confirmation. After having then spoken of the power of Babylon and its idols, he now points out the way in which it was to be destroyed — a nation would come from the north, that is, with reference to Chaldea. And he means the Medes and Persians, as interpreters commonly think; and this is probable, because he afterwards adds that the Jews would then return. As then Jeremiah connects these two things together, the destruction of Babylon and the restoration of God’s Church, it is probable that he refers here to the Medes and Persians. If, at the same time, we more narrowly view things, there is no doubt but that this prophecy extends further, and this will appear more evident as we proceed.

He simply says now that a nation would come from the north, which would turn the land to a waste This clause shews that this prophecy could not be fitly confined to the time when Babylon was taken by Cyrus; for we know that it was betrayed by two Satraps during a siege; and that it was at a time when a feast was held, as though there was peace and security, as Daniel testifies, with whom heathen writers agree. Now Xenophon testifies that Cyrus exercised great forbearance and humanity, and that he used his victory with such moderation, that Babylon seemed as though it had not been taken. It had, indeed, changed masters, but such was the change that the citizens readily submitted to it. But it was afterwards more hardly dealt with, when Darius recovered it by the aid of Zopyrus; for Babylon had revolted from the Persians, and shook off the yoke. Darius having in vain stormed it, at length recovered it by the help of one man; for Zopyrus, having cut off his nose, and mutilated his ears and his face, pretended, in this deformed manner, to be a fugitive, and complained of the cruelty and barbarity of his king, with whom yet he was most intimate. The city was soon afterwards taken by treachery in the night. Then about four thousand of the Persians were hung in the middle of the Forum, nor did Darius spare the people. The Prophet then seems to include this second destruction when he predicted that the whole land would be made desolate. Nor ought this to be deemed unreasonable, for the Prophets so spoke of God’s judgments, that they extended what they said further than to the commencement, as was the case in the present instance.

When, therefore, Babylon was taken by the Persians, it received the yoke; and she which ruled over all other nations, was reduced to a state of servitude. For the Persians, as it is well known, were very inhuman, and Isaiah describes them so at large. In the meantime, the city, as I have said, retained its external appearance. The citizens were robbed of their gold and silver, and of their precious things, and were under the necessity of serving strangers: this was bitter to them. But when Darius punished their perfidy and hung so many of the chief men, about four thousand, and also shed indiscriminately the blood of the people, and subjected the city itself to the plunder of his soldiers, then doubtless what the Prophet says here was more fully accomplished. It was yet God’s purpose to give only a prelude of his vengeance, when he made the Babylonians subject to the Medes and Persians. 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.

(3) Out of the north there cometh up a nation.—It is significant that the very phrase which had described the danger that threatened Judah from Babylon (Jer_1:10) is now used for the danger that threatened Babylon itself from Media. It is as though the prophet watched that northern quarter of the heavens, and saw storm after storm, torrent after torrent, bursting out upon the south. The nations are named in Jer_51:27-28. We are almost irresistibly reminded of the language in which the historians of the fourth and fifth centuries speak of the Gothic and Teutonic tribes that poured down upon the Roman Empire.

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

3. out of the north] characteristic of Jeremiah, but meaning with him first the Scythians and then the Babylonians, whereas the Persians are here meant.

they are fled, etc.] Cp. Jer_9:10.

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.

For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,.... The Medes and Persians, which under Cyrus were one nation; and which not only lay north of Judea, where this prophecy came, but of Babylon, against which they were to come; and might lay more north to it, before the enlargement of their dominions; and besides, Cyrus came through Assyria to Babylon, which lay north of it; see Isa 41:25. Thus, as Rome Pagan was sacked and taken by the Goths and Vandals, that came out of the north; so Rome Papal, and the antichristian states, will be destroyed by the Christian princes of the north, or those who have embraced what the Papists call the northern heresy; tidings out of the north shall trouble antichrist, Dan 11:44;

which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; that is, in process of time; for this desolation was not made at once; it was begun by Cyrus, made greater by Darius, and completed by Seleucus Nicator;

they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast; or, "from man to beast" (d); such as were not slain should either flee away or be carried captive; so that in time none should remain, either of man or beast; see Isa 13:19; and for the accomplishment of it on mystical Babylon see Rev 18:2.

(d) "ab homine et usque ad animal", Pagninus, Montanus; "ad bestiam", Schmidt.

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

Out of the north - Media lay to the northwest of Babylon. This constant use of the north, the quarter where the sun never shines, and therefore the region of darkness, is symbolic of the region from where danger ever comes.

They shall remove ... - Translate it (as in Jer 9:10): “from man even to cattle they are fled, they are gone.”

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

A nation, &c., viz., the Medes, (Challoner) under Darius, (Daniel v. 31.; Theodoret; Grotius) or rather under Cyrus, who came upon Babylon from the north, after conquering Asia; though he was born to the east of that city, Isaias lxi. 2, 25. He was a Mede by his mother, and ruler of that nation. He gave liberty to the Jews, as the prophet inculcates ten times. --- Desolate. Herodotus, Xenophon, &c., say not that Cyrus demolished any part of the city; but Berosus informs us that he took it without opposition, and levelled the outer walls. Hystaspes did more damage. (Herodotus iii. 150.)

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).

From Media, which lay northward to Babylon and Assyria, through which Cyrus’s way to Babylon lay. This prophecy seemeth not to relate only to Cyrus’s first taking of Babylon, who dealt very gently with it, but to a second taking of it by Darius the king of the Medes, who upon their defection from the Persian monarchy came and made a horrible devastation amongst them, hanging up (as some tell us) four thousand of their nobles, and slaying multitudes of the common people; or of the mischief done them afterward by Seleucus Nicanor, who is said to have built a city, which he called Seleucia, within fourscore and ten miles of Babylon, by which means he brought Babylon to an utter desolation.

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

3. Out of the north — The Medes were the destroyers of Babylon, and came from the northwest. They shall remove, etc. — Literally, from man to beast they are fled, they are gone.

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

Out of the north. There was a peculiar mystery attaching to the north in the Hebrew mind, as, in fact, the word very for "north" in Hebrew (literally, the hidden) indicates. The burnt offering was to be sacrificed on the north side of the altar, (Lev_1:11) and the four cherubim, in the vision of Ezekiel, are described as coming from the north. (Eze_1:4) The horror with which Babylon was regarded was intensified, apparently, by its northern position, (Jer_1:14) and now the "hidden" north again pours forth its swarms of warriors against Babylon herself. They shall remove, they shall depart; rather, they are fled, they are gone; almost the same clause occurs in Jer_9:10. The prediction is realized as past.

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

The north - From Media which lay northward to Babylon and Assyria.

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

arise against it ... live in it

Here "it" refers to Babylon in both phrases.

her land

The word "her" refers to Babylon.

make her land a desolation

The abstract noun "desolation" can be translated as a verb. AT: "destroy her land" (See: Abstract Nouns)

In those days and at that time

These phrases mean the same thing and emphasize the importance of that future time. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 33:15. (See: Doublet)

this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh declares" or "this is what I, Yahweh, declare" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

seek Yahweh their God

Seeking Yahweh their God represents either 1) asking God for help or 2) thinking about God and obeying him. (See: Metaphor)

They will ask

The word "They" refers to the people of Israel or the people of Judah who are returning from Babylon to Jerusalem.

join ourselves to Yahweh

This is figurative language used to explain a spiritual connection to Yahweh. (See: Idiom)

that will not be forgotten

This states that the covenant will be obeyed forever. It can be stated in active form. AT: "that no one will forget" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

raise

desolate

beast

life

kingdom of Israel

kingdom of Judah

God

Zion

eternity

covenant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

a nation...from the north [viz.] Persia and Media.

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.