And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey,
&c.] The Babylonians, who lived in a foreign country, and were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel; the temple was suffered of the Lord to fall into their hands as a prey; who spoiled it of all its riches and glory, and carried away the vessels of gold, of silver, and of brass, and other valuable things; see ( Jeremiah 52:17-23 ) ; and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil;
meaning the same persons, and the same thing, and the same use they should make of it; for not the wicked of the world in general are meant, but of the land, or this land; the land of Babylon, where the prophet was: and they shall pollute it;
by entering into it and spoiling it, by pillaging and burning it.