Jeremiah 51:31
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One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction of Babylon's fall, to which other prophets also bore witness. He is very copious and lively in describing the foresight God had given him of it, for the encouragement of the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it and was to be the result of it. Here is, I. The record of Babylon's doom, with the particulars of it, intermixed with the grounds of God's controversy with her, many aggravations of her fall, and great encouragements given thence to the Israel of God, that suffered such hard things by her (v. 1-58). II. The representation and ratification of this by the throwing of a copy of this prophecy into the river Euphrates (Jer 51:59-64).
Open source ↗51:31 This king was Nabonidus; at the time, he was at Borsippa, north of Babylon. His son Belshazzar was regent in Babylon. See Dan 5:1-30.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
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So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, which read: “Children of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that He may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped the grasp of the kings of Assyria.
Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.
The king of Babylon has heard the report, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,
My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.
The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.