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Jeremiah 50:2

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

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.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Confounded … confounded - ashamed … ashamed.

Merodach - This deity, in the inscriptions Marduk, was the tutelary god of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar, who called his son Evil-Merodach, appears to have been especially devoted to his service. He was really identical with Bel, and his equivalent among the planets was Jupiter: and as such he was styled “King of heaven and earth.”

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
The king of Babylon was kind to Jeremiah, yet the prophet must foretell the ruin of that kingdom. If our friends are God's enemies, we dare not speak peace to them. The destruction of Babylon is spoken of as done thoroughly. Here is a word for the comfort of the Jews. They shall return to their God first, then to their own land; the promise of their conversion and reformation makes way for the other promises. Their tears flow not from the sorrow of the world, as when they went into captivity, but from godly sorrow. They shall seek after the Lord as their God, and have no more to do with idols. They shall think of returning to their own country. This represents the return of poor souls to God. In true converts there are sincere desires to attain the end, and constant cares to keep in the way. Their present case is lamented as very sad. The sins of professing Christians never will excuse those who rejoice in destroying them.