Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 50:33–end
We have in these verses,
I. Israel's sufferings, and their deliverance out of those sufferings. God takes notice of the bondage of his people in Babylon, as he did of their bondage in Egypt; he has surely seen it, and has heard their cry. Israel and Judah were oppressed together, Jer 50:33. Those that remained of the captives of the ten tribes, upon the uniting of the kingdoms of Assyria and Chaldea, seem to have come and mingled with t hose of the two tribes, and to have mingled tears with them, so that they were oppressed together. They were humble suppliants for their liberty, and that was all; they could not attempt any thing towards it, for all that took them captives held them fast, an…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 50:38
drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the three previous verses, "A sword." However, all the pointed manuscripts read, "A drought," as English Version. Cyrus turned off the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel and so marched through the dried-up bed into the city (Jer 51:32). Babylonia once was famed for its corn, which often yielded from one to two hundredfold [HERODOTUS]. This was due to its network of water-courses from the Euphrates for irrigation, traces of which [LAYARD] are seen still on all sides, but dry and barren (Isa 44:27).
their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are more calculated to frighten than to attract (Jer 51:44, Jer 5…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Jeremiah 50:38
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up,.... Either on the waters of the land of Chaldea in general, from whence should follow barrenness, and so a want of the necessaries of life; hence Kimchi interprets it of a consumption of riches, and all good things; or on the waters of Babylon, the river Euphrates, which ran through it; the channel of which was diverted by Cyrus, and drained and made so dry, that he marched his army up it into the city. Some say Babylon was taken three times, by this stratagem of turning the river Euphrates another way; first by Semiramis; and after Cyrus by Alexander: this may well be applied to the drying up of the river Euphrates, upon the pouring…
