Jeremiah 51:30

30 Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon's homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.

Jeremiah 51:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 51:30

The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight
Or, "ceased from fighting" ^F8 for it seems, upon Cyrus's first coming, the king of Babylon and his army gave him battle; but being overthrown, they retired to the city ^F9, and dared never fight more: they have remained in [their] holds;
in the towers and fortresses of Babylon, never daring to sally out of the city, or appear in the field of battle any more; even though Cyrus sent the king of Babylon a personal challenge, to end the quarrel by a single combat ^F11: their might hath failed;
their courage sunk and was gone; they had no heart to face their enemy: they became as women;
as weak as they, as the Targum; timorous and fearful, having no courage left in them, and behaved more like women than men: they have burnt her dwelling places;
that is, the enemy burnt their houses, when they entered into the city, to inject terror into them: her bars are broken;
the bars of the gates of the city, or of the palaces of the king and nobles, and of the houses of the people, by the soldiers, to get the plunder; see ( Isaiah 45:1 Isaiah 45:2 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Mxlhl wldx) "cessaverunt a praelio", V. L. "desinent pugnare", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "cessarunt pugnare", Schmidt. So Pagninus, Montanus.
F9 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 5. c. 19. Herodot. l. 1. sive Clio. c. 190.
F11 Xenophon, ib. l. 5. c. 10.

Jeremiah 51:30 In-Context

28 Set apart the nations for battle against her- the kings of Media, her governors and all her officials, and all the lands they rule.

29 The earth quakes and trembles, because the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.

30 Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon's homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.

31 Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end [to end].

32 The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.