Jeremiah 51:55

Jer 51:55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:

Ver. 55. Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon.] Heb., Is spoiling. For it was long in doing; but as sure as if done together, and at once. In like sort many of the promises are not to have their full accomplishment till the end of the world; as those about the full deliverance of the godly, the destruction of the wicked, the confusion of Antichrist, &c.

And destroyed out of her the great voice.] Of the revellers and roaring boys; or of their enemies, as some rather sense it, breaking in upon them.

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.

Jer 51:55-57. Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice — “When cities are populous, they are of course noisy: see Isa 22:2. Silence is therefore a mark of depopulation; and in this sense we are to understand God’s destroying, or taking away out of Babylon, the great noise, which, during the time of her prosperity, was constantly heard there, ‘the busy hum of men,’ as the poet very expressly calls it. In this manner the mystical Babylon is threatened, Rev 18:22-23. Compare Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9; Jer 25:10.” — Blaney. Every one of their bows is broken — Their strength is quite broken, and they cannot defend themselves, or hurt their enemies. I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, &c. — I will permit her princes, her commanders, and directors to be intoxicated, so that they shall neglect what should be done for their defence, and thereby be slain.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

51:55-56 The destruction of Babylon was not a historical accident—the Lord was in control and would bring it to pass. • The noise (51:54) would dissolve into the silence of death. The invading army would kill or capture the Babylonian soldiers, and the population would flee into the countryside.

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

great voice--Where once was the great din of a mighty city. there shall be the silence of death [VATABLUS]. Or, the "great voice" of the revellers (Jer 51:38-39; Isa 22:2). Or, the voice of mighty boasting [CALVIN], (compare Jer 51:53).

her waves--"when" her calamities shall cause her to give forth a widely different "voice," even such a one as the waves give that lash the shores (Jer 51:42) [GROTIUS]. Or, "when" is connected thus: "the great voice" in her, when her "waves," &c. (compare Jer 51:13). CALVIN translates, "their waves," that is, the Medes bursting on her as impetuous waves; so Jer 51:42. But the parallel, "a great voice," belongs to her, therefore the wave-like "roar" of "their voice" ought also belong to her (compare Jer 51:54). The "great voice" of commercial din, boasting, and feasting, is "destroyed"; but in its stead there is the wave-like roar of her voice in her "destruction" (Jer 51:54).

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 55. The great voice] Its pride and insufferable boasting.

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

The reason for the crashing is now added, even because God had resolved to lay waste Babylon, and to reduce it to nothing. Jeremiah again calls the faithful to consider the power of God. He then says, that it would not be a work done by men, because God would put forth his great power, which cannot be comprehended by human minds. He then sets the name of God in opposition to all creatures, as though he had said, that what exceeds all the efforts of men, would yet be easily done by God. He, indeed, represents God here as before our eyes, and says that Babylon would perish, but that it was God who would lay it waste. He thus sets forth God here as already armed for the purpose of cutting off Babylon. And he will destroy from her the magnificent voice, that is, her immoderate boasting.

What follows is explained by many otherwise than I can approve; for they say that the waves made a noise among the Babylonians at the time when the city was populous; for where there is a great concourse of men, a great noise is heard, but solitude and desolation bring silence. They thus, then, explain the words of the Prophet, that though now waves, that is, noises, resounded in Babylon like great waters, and the sound of their voice went forth, yet God would destroy their great or magnificent voice. But I have no doubt but that what the Prophet meant by their great voice, was their grandiloquent boasting in which the Babylonians indulged during their prosperity. While, then, the monarchy flourished, they spoke as from the height. Their silence from fear and shame would follow, as the Prophet intimates, when God checked that proud glorying.

But what follows I take in a different sense; for I apply it to the Medes and the Persians: and so there is a relative without an antecedent — a mode of speaking not unfrequent in Hebrew. He then expresses the manner in which God would destroy or abolish the grandiloquent boasting of the Babylonians, even because their waves, that is, of the Persians, would make a noise like great waters; that is, the Persians, and the Medes would rush on them like impetuous waves, and thus the Babylonians would be brought to silence and reduced to desolation. When they were at peace, and no enemy disturbed them, they then gave full vent to their pride; and thus vaunting was the speech of Babylon as long as it flourished; but when suddenly the enemies made an irruption, then Babylon became silent or mute on account of the frightful sound within it. We hence see why he compares the Persians and the Medes to violent waves which would break and put an end to that sound which was before heard in Babylon. 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.

(55) Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon . . .—In Jer_51:54 the prophet hears the cry of the captured city. The “great voice” which Jehovah “destroys” or “makes to cease” is the stir and tumult of life that surged, as it were, through the city (Isa. 18:12, 13). The “waves” are those of the “sea” of the legions of her conqueror (see Jer_51:42), and they “roar” while the voices that were heard before are hushed in the silence of death.

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

55. the great voice] the hum of the city’s life.

and their waves] the surging hosts which pour into the city. See on Jer_51:42.

the noise of their voice] Cp. Jer_6:23; Isa_17:12.

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.

And I will make drunk her princes,.... With the wine of divine wrath; that is, slay them; though there may be an allusion to their being drunk with wine at the feast Belshazzar made for his thousand lords; who are the princes here intended, together with the king and his royal family, Dan 5:1;

and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: the counsellors of state, priests, magicians, and astrologers; officers in the army, superior and inferior ones; and the soldiers and warriors, whom Cyrus and his men slew; when they entered the city; compare with this Rev 19:18;

and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake; be all asleep in their drunken fits, and be slain therein; and so never wake, or live more. The Targum is,

"and they shall die the second death, and not come into the world to come;''

See Gill on Jer 51:39;

saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts; the King of kings and Lord of lords; the Lord of armies in heaven and earth; and can do, and does, what he pleases in both worlds.

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

Render, “For Yahweh wasteth Babylon, and will make to cease from her the loud noise (of busy life); and their wares (the surging masses of the enemy) roar like many waters: the noise of their shouting is given forth, i. e., resounds.”

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

Great voice, or boasting and songs of joy, usual at public meetings. --- Noise. They groan under affliction.

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 sword is not so much the sword of the Medes a the sword of the Lord. It is he who is to be looked at, a the spoiler of Babylon.

And destroyed out of her the great voice; and hath made to cease in that great city the noise caused from the multitudes of people in it walking up an, down, and trafficking together. The noise of her enemies that shall break in upon her shall be like the noise and roarings of the sea, when it dasheth upon the shore or upon some rocks. That shall be the only noise shall be heard in her, instead of the noises wont there to be made from the multitude of people, or from revellers.

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

The great voice; rather, the loud sound; i.e. the tumult of the city. When her waves; rather, and her waves; i.e. the conquering hosts. (Jer_46:7)

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

The great voice - The noises caused from multitudes of people walking up and trafficking together. A noise - The noise of her enemies that shall break in upon her shall be like the roaring of the sea.

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

the stirring of their voice was uttered The sound of their cry is heard.

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.