---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Jeremiah 50:1. THE WORD THAT THE LORD SPAKE AGAINST BABYLON — This is also a new head of discourse. The prophecy contained in this and the following"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/jeremiah/50"
---

Verse [Jeremiah 50:1](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/1). ***THE WORD THAT THE LORD SPAKE AGAINST BABYLON*** — This is also a new head of discourse.
The prophecy contained in this and the following chapter was sent to the captives in Babylon in the *fourth* year of the reign of Zedekiah. They are very important; they predict the total destruction of the Babylonish empire, and the return of the Jews from their captivity. These chapters were probably composed, with several additions, out of the book that was then sent by Jeremiah to the captives by the hand of Seraiah. See [Jeremiah 51:59-64](../../../kjv/jeremiah/51/59-64).

Verse [Jeremiah 50:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/2). ***Declare ye among the nations*** — God's determination relative to this empire.
***Set up a standard*** — Show the people where they are to assemble.
***Say, Babylon is taken*** — It is a thing so firmly determined, that it is as good as already done.
***Bel*** — The tutelar deity of Babylon is *confounded*, because it cannot save its own city.
***Merodach*** — Another of their idols, is *broken to pieces*; it was not able to save *itself*, much less the whole empire.
***Her idols are confounded*** — It is a reproach to have acknowledged them.
***Her images*** — Great and small, golden and wooden, *are broken to* *pieces*; even the *form* of them no longer appears.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:3](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/3). ***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.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/4). ***In those days, and in that time*** — In the times in which Babylon shall be opposed by the Medes and Persians, both Israel and Judah, seeing the commencement of the fulfilling of the prophecies, shall begin to seek the Lord with much prayer, and broken and contrite hearts. When the decree of Cyrus comes, they shall be ready to set off for their own country, deploring their offenses, yet rejoicing in the mercy of God which has given them this reviving in their bondage.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/5). ***Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual**********covenant*** — All our *former covenants* have been broken; let us now make one that shall *last for ever*. He shall be the LORD OUR GOD, and WE will no more worship *idols*. This covenant they have kept to the present day; whatever their present moral and spiritual state may be, they are no idolaters, in the gross sense of the term.
The description that is here given of the state of this people, their feelings and their conduct, finely exhibit the state of *real* *penitents*, who are fervently seeking the salvation of their souls.
1. *In those days*, when Jesus Christ is manifested in the flesh; *and in that time*, when through him is preached the remission of sins, and the people who hear are pricked in their conscience.
2. *The children of Israel and the children of Judah together*. - No distinctions being then felt or attended to; for all feel themselves *sinners*, who have come short of the glory of God. Even national distinctions and religious differences, which bind men fastest, and hold them longest, are absorbed in the deep and overpowering concern they feel for their eternal interests.
3. *Going and weeping shall they go*. - Religious *sorrow* does not preclude *activity* and *diligence*. While they are *weeping* for their sins, they are *going on* in the path of duty, seeking the Lord while he may be found, and calling upon him while he is near.
4. *They shall ask the way to Zion. - Real penitents* are the most *inquisitive* of all mortals; but their inquiries are limited to one object, *they ask the way to Zion*. What shall we do to be saved? How shall we shun the perdition of ungodly men, c.
5. *With their faces thitherward*. - They have *turned FROM sin*, and *turned TO God*. They have left the paths of the destroyer, and their hearts are towards God, and the remembrance of his name. Thus they are profiting by that light which has convinced them of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
6. *Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord*. - Religion is a *social principle*, and begets a *social feeling* in the soul. No man who feels his own sore, and the plague of his heart, wishes to venture *alone* in the way to heaven. He feels he wants counsel, support, comfort, and the company of those who will watch over him in love. Like David, the true penitent is a companion of all those who fear the Lord. These heavenly feelings come from one and the same Spirit, and lead to the same end hence they say, -
7. *Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant*. It is said, that to be *undecided, is to be decided*. They who are not *determined* to go to heaven, will never reach it. If the heart be not *laid under obligation*, it will do nothing. "I hope I am in earnest; I trust I shall be in earnest about the salvation of my soul, it is very proper I should be so;" and such like, show an *irresolute* soul. Such persons are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
*Let us therefore bind ourselves*. We have trifled too long; been *indecisive* too long; have *halted* too long between two opinions. We know now that *Jehovah* is God; let us, therefore, enter into a *covenant* with him. Let this covenant be a *perpetual* one: let us not make it for a *day*, for any *particular time*, but *for ever*; and let it never be *broken*. Let *our part* be kept inviolable: *we* *ARE and WILL BE thy people*; and God's part will never fail, *I AM* *and WILL BE your God*.
The covenant requires a *sacrifice*. - Hence ברית *berith* signifies *both*. Christ crucified is the great covenant sacrifice. By him God becomes united to us, and through him we become united to God.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/6). ***My people hath been lost sheep*** — He pities them; for their pastors, kings, and prophets have caused them to err.
***They have gone from mountain to hill*** — In all *high places* they have practised idolatry.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:7](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/7). ***Their adversaries said, We offend not*** — God has abandoned them; we are only fulfilling his designs in plaguing them.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:8](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/8). ***Remove out of the midst of Babylon*** — The sentence of destruction is gone out against it; prepare for your flight, that ye be not overwhelmed in its ruin.
***Be as the he-goats before the flocks.*** — Who always run to the head of the flock, giving the example for others to follow. This may be addressed to the elders and persons of authority among the people.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:9](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/9). ***An assembly of great nations*** — The army of Cyrus was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, c. Though all these did not come from the *north* yet they were arranged under the *Medes*, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon.
***Their arrows*** — They are such expert archers, that they shall never miss their mark.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:10](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/10). ***Chaldea shall be a spoil*** — She has been a spoiler, and she shall be spoiled. They had destroyed Judea, God's *heritage*; and now God shall cause her to be destroyed.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/11). ***As the heifer at grass*** — Ye were wanton in the desolations ye brought upon Judea.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/12). ***Your mother*** — Speaking to the Chaldeans: BABYLON, the *metropolis*, or mother city, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, a desert, neither fit for man nor beast.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/15). ***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.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/16). ***Cut off the sower*** — Destroy the gardens and the fields, that there may be neither fruits nor tillage.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/17). ***Israel*** — All the descendants of Jacob have been harassed and spoiled, first by the Assyrians, and afterwards by the Chaldeans. They acted towards them as a lion to a sheep which he has caught; first he devours all the flesh, next he breaks all the bones to extract the marrow.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/18). ***As I have punished the king of Assyria.*** — The Assyrians were overthrown by the *Medes* and the *Chaldeans*. The *king* is here taken for all their kings, generals, c., Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, &c. To them succeeded the Chaldean or Babylonish kings. Nebuchadnezzar came against Judea several times and at last took the city and burnt it, profaned and demolished the temple, wasted the land, and carried the princes and people into captivity.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/19). ***I will bring Israel again*** — This seems to refer wholly to the ten tribes; for Carmel, Bashan, Mount Ephraim, and Gilead, were in their territories.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:20](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/20). ***In those days and in that time*** — This phrase appears to take in the whole of an epoch, from its commencement to its end. See [Jeremiah 50:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/4).
***I will pardon them*** — So as to deliver them from their captivity, and exact no more *punishment* from *them whom I reserve*; namely, the *remnant* left in the Babylonish captivity.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:21](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/21). ***Go up against the land of Merathaim - and against the**********inhabitants of Pekod*** — No such *places* as these are to be found any where else; and it is not likely that *places* are at all meant. The ancient *Versions* agree in rendering the first as an *appellative*, and the last as a *verb*, except the Chaldee, which has *Pekod* as a proper name. Dr. *Blayney* translates: -
"Against the land of bitternesses, go up:
Upon it, and upon its inhabitants, visit, O sword!"

Dr. *Dahler* renders thus: -

"March against the country doubly rebellious,
And against its inhabitants *worthy* of punishment."

The latter of these two versions I take to be the most literal. The words are addressed to the *Medes* and *Persians*; and the country is *Chaldea*, doubly rebellious by its *idolatry* and its insufferable *pride*. In these *two*, it was exceeded by no other land.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:23](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/23). ***The hammer of the whole earth*** — Nebuchadnezzar dashed to pieces the nations against whom he warred. He was the scourge of the Lord.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:24](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/24). ***I have laid a snare for thee*** — It was not by *storm* that Cyrus took the city. The *Euphrates* ran through it; he dug a channel for the river in another direction, to divert its stream; he waited for that time in which the inhabitants had delivered themselves up to debauchery: in the dead of the night he turned off the stream, and he and his army entered by the *old channel*, now void of its waters. This was the *snare* of which the prophet here speaks. See *Herodotus*, lib. i., c. 191.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:26](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/26). ***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!

Verse [Jeremiah 50:27](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/27). ***Slay all her bullocks*** — Princes, magistrates, &c., &c.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:28](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/28). ***Declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord*** — Zion was desolated by Babylon; tell Zion that God hath desolated the desolator.
***The vengeance of his temple.*** — Which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged, profaned, and demolished, transporting its sacred vessels to Babylon, and putting them in the temple of his god Bel.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:29](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/29). ***Call together the archers*** — The preceding verses are the prediction: here, God calls the *Medes* and *Persians* to fulfil it.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:31](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/31). ***O thou most proud*** — זדון *zadon*. PRIDE in the abstract; proudest of all people.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:32](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/32). ***And the most proud*** — זדון *zadon*, as before. Here *pride* is personified and addressed, as if possessing a being and rational powers.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:34](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/34). ***Their Redeemer*****is*****strong*** — And it was not that he *wanted power*, and that Nebuchadnezzar had *much*, that Jerusalem was taken; but because the people had *sinned*, and would *not* *return*; and therefore *national sins* called for *national* *punishments*. These have taken place; and now the Lord of hosts shows them that the *power of the Chaldeans* is mere *weakness* against his *might*.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:35](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/35). ***A sword*** — War and its calamities, or any grievous plague; and so in the following verses.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:38](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/38). ***A drought*****is*****upon her waters*** — May not this refer to the *draining of the channel of the Euphrates*, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on [Jeremiah 50:24](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/24). The original is, however, חרב *chereb*, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:39](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/39). ***The wild beasts of the desert*** — *Dahler* translates these various terms, "The wild cats, the jackals, and the ostriches." And *Blayney* the same. *Wicklif*, "Dragons, woodewoses, and ostriches." *Coverdale*, "Wild beestes, apes, and estriches."

Verse [Jeremiah 50:40](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/40). ***As God overthrew Sodom*** — As the very *ground* on which these cities stood, with all the *plain*, now lies under the *Dead* *Sea*; so *Babylon* and the *adjacent country* shall be rendered totally barren and unfruitful, and utterly incapable of being inhabited. And this is the *fact* concerning both countries. See [Jeremiah 49:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/49/18).

Verse [Jeremiah 50:41](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/41). ***Behold, a people shall come from the north*** — This and the two following verses are nearly the same with [Jeremiah 6:22-24](../../../kjv/jeremiah/6/22-24). But *here*, destroyers against *Babylon* are intended; *there*, destroyers against *Jerusalem*.

Verse [Jeremiah 50:44](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/44). ***Behold, he shall came up like a lion*** — The same words as in [Jeremiah 49:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/49/19), &c., where see the note. [Jeremiah 49:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/49/19).

Verse [Jeremiah 50:46](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/46). ***At the noise of the taking of Babylon*** — [Jeremiah 49:21](../../../kjv/jeremiah/49/21). In the *forty-ninth* chapter, these words are spoken of *Nebuchadnezzar;* *here*, of *Cyrus*. The taking of Babylon was a wonder to all the surrounding nations. It was thought to be impregnable.

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