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| 1 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the heart of those that rise against me, a destroying wind; |
Against Babylon – Mystic Babylon, Christendom. D26; HG64:1
And against them – All in sympathy with Babylon. D39
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I will raise up against Babylon – Compare Eze. 5:8 Additional Comments.
A destroying wind – The wind of Elijah's vision. 1 Kings 19:11 |
| 2 and I will send unto Babylon strangers, who shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. |
The day of trouble – Rendered "evil" in "I create evil." (Isa. 45:7) A125
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| 3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail; and spare not her young men: destroy utterly all her host. |
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| 4 And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. |
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| 5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; for their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. |
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| 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be ye not cut off in her iniquity: for this is the time of Jehovah's vengeance: he shall render unto her a recompence. |
Flee – No one is responsible to flee unless he sees that it is Babylon, but the very suggestion that it is Babylon means that one should make a thorough investigation to see if it is so. Q65:T
Present Truth will guide us into closer fellowship with God and separateness of mind, heart and service from Babylon. SM127:2
For those who obey this command there is but one place of refuge, "The secret place of the Most High" (Psa. 91:1)--the place or condition of complete consecration. D43
Out of the midst – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) D43; R436:5, R2538:1
The Lord's people are not to look back at the things that are to be destroyed. R5456:4
With a full renunciation of the things of the present time. R5456:5
And deliver – This call must be heard and heeded before the disaster comes; for it will come suddenly, as in an hour. SM411:2
Whoever shall seek to save his life must lose it. Whoever shall lose his life will thereby be preserving it. (Luke 9:24) R5456:5
LORD'S vengeance – A part of the work of the second advent will be the overthrow of antitypical Babylon. R5092:3; D39
A recompence – In the time of trouble God will repay his enemies according to their deeds. D39
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| 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore have the nations become mad. |
A golden cup – Representing the Bible, the Divine Standard or authority. SM407:1
"Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations." (Rev. 17:4) C156
The cup suggests that the unfaithful church had once been the receptacle of divine truth. R5092:1
Made all the earth drunken – Not that every doctrine presented by Papacy was false and intoxicating; but that a stupefying potion was put into the wine already in the cup. SM407:2
So strong is the power of this intoxication that its inconsistencies are not discerned by those intoxicated. SM408:1
Nations have drunken – As heathen philosophies were joined with Christianity a poisonous draught was mixed and poured into the "golden cup" of truth, making all nations drunk. R5910:6
"She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." (Rev. 14:8) C156
Wine – False doctrine. R5092:1
The nations are mad – Intoxicated with her errors. C156
As error spread, the spirit of ambition superseded the spirit of humility. R5910:6
The pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul, combined with that of the torture of the wicked, resulted in the doctrine of eternal torture. R5911:1
During the Dark Ages millions were tortured, exiled, and murdered in multitudinous ways. R5911:2
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| 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and ruined. Howl over her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. |
Is suddenly fallen – Both literal and symbolic Babylon. R2498:3
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." (Rev. 18:2) C156
She has been spewed out of his mouth, and the Almighty now calls upon his true people to "come out of her." (Rev. 18:4) R5478:2
And destroyed – And broken. C156
Howl for her – "And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, Alas, that great city." (Rev. 18:19) C156
"The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her." (Rev. 18:11) R1371:6
Take balm – Human remedies. D469
For her pain – Her wound. C156
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| 9 We have treated Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto the heavens, and is lifted up to the skies. |
Babylon – The chief empire of earth in Jeremiah's day; an illustration of a prophecy which has had one literal fulfillment, and is about to have its second or higher fulfillment. R436:5[R436]
Is not healed – Illustrated by preparations for war among nations which confess allegiance to the Prince of Peace. R4411:6*[R4411*]
The protests and warnings of the righteous are steadily ignored by the world. D542[D542]
There is no balm in Gilead, and no physician there. (Jer. 8:22) D469[D469]
Forsake her – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) D543[D542]
Get out from under her influence; stand free from this bondage to error and worldliness. R5696:6[R5696]
His own country – To the true Church, or to the world, as the case may be, according as each is thus proved to be of the wheat or the tares. C156[C156]
Her judgment – Her punishment. C156[C156]
Reacheth unto heaven – "Her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev. 18:5) R1371:6[R1371]
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| 10 Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God. |
Declare in Zion – There is a nominal spiritual Zion, and a nominal fleshly Zion. D23; A297; T33
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| 11 Sharpen the arrows; take the shields. Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for this is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple. |
The kings – Of Christ's Kingdom, the Royal Priesthood. R2498:4
Of his temple – The Christ. T70
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| 12 Lift up a banner towards the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. |
The walls – Civil power. D40
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| 13 Thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy rapacity. |
Upon many waters – "The waters that thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." (Rev. 17:15) R1371:6, R5846:2
The literal was built on the river Euphrates and derived wealth and splendor from that source; the symbolic is seated upon many waters--peoples, nations, from which it derives its support. R45:1
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| 14 Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, I will assuredly fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall raise a shout against thee. |
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They shall lift up a shout –
When this word "shout" [Strong's H1959] is elsewhere used it is always in connection with the treading out of grapes. Isa. 16:9,10; Jer. 25:30; Jer. 48:33 |
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| 15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding. |
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| 16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the end of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. |
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| 17 Every man is become brutish, so as to have no knowledge; every founder is put to shame by the graven image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. |
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| 18 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. |
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| 19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name. |
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The former – The one who "forms," i.e., the maker. Same thought as the "potter." |
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| 20 Thou art my maul, my weapons of war: and with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and I will with thee destroy kingdoms; |
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With thee – Spiritual Israel (see vs. 19). Here God declares that He uses the saints to tear down and destroy the kingdoms and nations. Compare with Psa. 149:6-9. |
| 21 and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and its driver; |
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| 22 and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; |
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| 23 and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and rulers. |
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| 24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, in your sight, all their evil which they have done in Zion, saith Jehovah. |
Babylon – Christendom, the nominal Christian church, especially the Papacy. D26, D39
Of Chaldea – Babylonia, Christendom, all the nations of the so-called Christian world. D39
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| 25 Behold, I am against thee, mount of destruction, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burning mountain. |
Mountain – Kingdom. A318
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Will make thee a burnt mountain – A destroyed kingdom. |
| 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; for thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith Jehovah. |
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Shall not take of thee – Babylon, Christendom is NOT to be the head of the great antitypical pyramid. No the true Kingdom of Christ will be based upon the true foundation of Christ and the Apostles. Eph. 2:20
A stone for a corner – No. The chief corner-stone is Christ. Isa. 28:16 |
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| 27 Lift up a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare nations against her; call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the bristly caterpillars. |
Set ye up a standard – The standard of the truth. D40
Blow the trumpet – The seventh trumpet, the last trump, the trump of God, the trump of knowledge and liberty. B148
Not metallic trumpets. The angelic movements under the seventh trumpet are as noiseless as they have been under the other six. HG26:1
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| 28 Prepare nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their rulers, yea, all the land of their dominion. |
The kings – Of Christ's Kingdom, the Royal Priesthood. R2498:4
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| 29 And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. |
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| 30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they are sitting in the fortresses; their might hath failed, they are become as women: they have set her dwelling places on fire; her bars are broken. |
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| 31 Courier runneth to meet courier, and messenger to meet messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is taken from end to end; |
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| 32 and the passages are seized, and the reedy places are burnt with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. |
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| 33 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, at the time of its being trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her. |
Of her harvest – "Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (Rev. 14:15) R1371:6
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| 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel; he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. |
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| 35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitress of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. |
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| 36 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her spring dry. |
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| 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. |
For dragons – "An habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev. 18:2) R1371:6
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| 38 They shall roar together like young lions, growl as lions' whelps. |
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| 39 When they are heated, I will prepare their drink, and I will make them drunken, that they may exult, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah. |
They – Babylon's great ones, highly esteemed by her subjects, called by various dignified and high sounding titles. R1951:4
Perpetual sleep – As clergy, with high-sounding titles and offices, they shall never awake or exist again as such. R1951:4
Olam, lasting, not endless. R3725:5*
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| 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. |
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| 41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! |
How is Sheshach taken – Representing Babylon. The religious element will be the last to fall. (Jer. 25:26) HG94:1
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| 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of its waves. |
The sea – Restless, anarchistic masses of mankind. A318
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| 43 Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no one dwelleth, neither doth a son of man pass thereby. |
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| 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon is fallen. |
Bel in Babylon – The God of Babylon, the Pope. D40
Out of his mouth – He shall repudiate in his extremity the "great swelling words" and blasphemous titles which he has for so long appropriated to himself. D40
The wall of Babylon – The civil power that once defended it and that in a measure does so still. D40
Built of ignorance and superstition, whose great foundations were laid centuries ago. SM409:2
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| 45 Go ye out of the midst of her, my people, and deliver every man his soul from the fierce anger of Jehovah! |
Go ye out – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) R1371:6, R2538:1
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| 46 lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; for a rumour shall come one year, and after that a rumour in another year, and violence in the earth, ruler against ruler. |
Rumour that shall be heard – "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars." (Mark 13:7,8; Luke 21:8,9) R5969:2*
Another year – A second year. R5969:2*
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| 47 Therefore behold, days are coming when I will punish the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. |
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| 48 And the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall shout aloud over Babylon; for out of the north the spoilers shall come against her, saith Jehovah. |
The heaven – The powers of spiritual control. A318
And the earth – Society. A318
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Destroyers shall come unto her from the north – "Higher gate which lieth toward the north... six men came... every man with a slaughter weapon in his hand.." - Eze. 9:1, 2 |
| 49 As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. |
So at Babylon – Because of her greater responsibility, against her will burn the fierceness of his wrath and indignation. D28
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At Babylon shall fall the slain – Compare Isa. 34:3. |
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| 50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go, stand not still: remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. |
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| 51 --We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our face: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house. |
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| 52 --Therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that I will punish her graven images; and throughout her land the wounded shall groan. |
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| 53 Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith Jehovah. |
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| 54 The sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans; |
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| 55 for Jehovah spoileth Babylon, and he will destroy out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like great waters, the noise of their voice resoundeth. |
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| 56 For the spoiler is come against her, against Babylon, and her mighty men are taken; their bows are broken in pieces; for Jehovah, the *God of recompences, will certainly requite. |
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| 57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. |
Made drunk – An intoxication of error, false doctrines and theories. R4287:3
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| 58 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly laid bare, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; so that the peoples will have laboured in vain, and the nations for the fire: and they shall be weary. |
Her high gates – Representing mystic Babylon's worldly wisdom, human ingenuity and dexterity of organization to maintain control of the symbolic waters. SM409:2
Be burned with fire – Be destroyed. D40
The same symbol of fire is used by St. Peter in referring to the same trouble and destruction. SM424:3
Shall labour in vain – To prop and save the walls of Babylon. D40
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| 59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Nerijah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain. |
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Serariah – Serayah, Strong's Hebrew 8304, ser-aw-yaw'; or Serayahuw, ser-aw-yaw'-hoo; from Hebrew 8280 (sarah) and Hebrew 3050 (Yahh); Jah has prevailed; Serajah, the name of nine Israelites :- Seraiah. - Not to be confused with the name Sarah. |
| 60 And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. |
Jeremiah wrote in a book – The prophets did not confine themselves to oral teachings. R1145:3
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| 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, see that thou read all these words; |
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| 62 and say, Jehovah, thou hast spoken concerning this place, that thou wilt cut it off, so that none shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. |
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| 63 And it shall be, when thou hast ended reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates; |
Midst of Euphrates – Peoples, nations. B209
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Cast it into the midst of Euprhrates – Babylon, Christendom (Christ's Kingdom, falsely so-called, that mixture of church united with the state that existed in Europe – R5854) is brought down to the level of the people who once supported her (Euphrates.) |
| 64 and shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise, because of the evil that I will bring upon it: and they shall be weary. Thus far the words of Jeremiah. |
Shall Babylon sink – Into the restless sea of ungovernable peoples. D111
Showing that her destruction will be sudden, violent and complete. D37
And shall not rise – "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all." (Rev. 18:21) R1371:6, R5478:2
The "sea" of anarchy will swallow up the false systems. R5478:2
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Babylon shall sink, and shall not rise – Exactly as is stated in Nahum 1:9-10. |