of the Chaldeans:
JOHN CALVIN be a contest between men, they fight one with another; but the way of God is different, for he can thunder from heaven, and thus lay prostrate the highest mountains.
We now, then, perceive the purpose of the Prophet by saying, that desolators would come from God to destroy Babylon, were it to ascend above the clouds. It follows,
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Jeremiah 51:54
54. A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
54. Vox clamoris e Babylone, et confractio magna e terra Chaldaeorum.
Jeremiah in a manner exults over Babylon, in order that the faithful, having had all obstacles removed or surmounted, might feel assured that what the Prophet had predicted of the fall of Babylon would be confirmed, he then brings them to the very scene itself, when he says, that there would be the voice of a cry from Babylon, and that there would be great breaking or distress from the land of the Chaldeams
We, at the same time, may render {,}שברshober, here ``crashing,'' so that it may correspond with the previous clause: he had said, The voice of a cry from Babylon; now he says, a crashing from the land of the Chaldeans They call that sound crashing, which is produced by some great shaking; as when a great mass falls, it does not happen without a great noise. This, then, is properly what the Prophet means. We have already stated why he used these words, even that the faithful might have before their eyes the event itself, which as yet was incredible. It follows, ---
Jeremiah 51:55
55. Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:
55. Quia perdens Jehova Babylonem (hoc est perdet, aut vastabit proprie est
{)}שדדet perdet (nunc aliud est verbum) ex ea vocem magnam (vel, magnificam;) et sonuerunt fluctus eorum tanquam aquae magnae, editus est sonitus vocis eorum.
The reason for the crashing is now added, even because God had resolved to lay waste Babylon, and to reduce it to nothing. Jeremiah again calls the faithful to consider the power of God. He then says, that it would not be a work done by men, because God would put forth his great power, which cannot be comprehended by human minds. He then sets the name of God in opposition to all creatures, as though he had said, that what exceeds all the efforts of men, would yet be easily done by God. He, indeed, represents God here as before our eyes, and says that
Babylon would perish, but that it was God who would lay it waste. He thus sets forth
God here as already armed for the purpose of cutting off Babylon. And he will destroy from her the magnificent voice, that is, her immoderate boasting.
What follows is explained by many otherwise than I can approve; for they say that the waves made a noise among the Babylonians at the time when the city was populous; for where there is a great concourse of men, a great noise is heard, but solitude and desolation bring silence. They thus, then, explain the words of the
Prophet, that though now waves, that is, noises, resounded in Babylon like great waters, and the sound of their voice went forth, yet God would destroy their great or magnificent voice. But I have no doubt but that what the Prophet meant by their