Babylon hath been hitherto as a golden cup, out of which God would have all the nations of the earth drink their bitter draught of his wrath and indignation: they have drunk out thence, and have been so grievously afflicted by her cruelty, that they have been ready to run mad with grief.

LI. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Babylon is suddenly fallen: howl and mourn, O ye her associates, for the downfal of so great a monarchy; and, if it may be, use some helps for her recovery.

LI. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, &c.

Alas, we have not slackened our endeavours, shall they say, to have succoured and relieved her, but all in yain; for her wound, which God's wrath hath inflicted upon her, is utterly incurable: away therefore, let us shift for ourselves; let us run every man to his own country, and leave her to the revenge of the Almighty, which is indeed so great, as that it reacheth to the very heavens, &c. LI. 10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. The Lord hath magnified his great mercy and truth to us, in that he hath taken upon him the patronage and protection of us his people and hath been thus openly revenged of our enemies; oh come, therefore, and let us declare in his holy temple the great works of our God,

LI. 11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields.

Now, therefore, ye Medes and Persians, address yourselves to the fight scour up your armours; brighten your arrows.

LI. 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. O thou great and wealthy Babylon, that wert seated upon the famous river of Euphrates, which divided itself for thy commodity and. made many islands for thy profit and defence, thine end is

now come.

LI. 14 Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

I will fill thee with enemies so thick, as if they were swarms of caterpillars. See for the rest of the verse, chap. xxv. verse 30. LI. 17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; &c. See chap.

x. verse 14.

LI. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like them. See chap. x.

verse 16.

LI. 20 Thou art my battle ar and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms.

O Babylon, I have hitherto made use of thee, for the subduing of divers kingdoms, and for breaking of many nations in pieces.

LI. 25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out

mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Behold, I am against thee now, O Babylon, thou huge pile of perdition; which hath hitherto crushed the whole earth with thy vastness and power, &c. I will make thec like a hill of rubbish, a heap of burnt ruins.

LI. 27 Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause her horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.

Muster up together the kingdoms of both Armenias, and of the lesser Asia; set generals and captains over the appointed bands; cause the troops of horses to come in, as thick as the swarms of caterpillars; and all, to go up against Babylon.

LI. 33 The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor: the sheaves, that are in her, must be beaten and thoroughly trodden out: her harvest is now near at hand, wherein God will lay upon her, with the flail of his heavy judgments.

LI. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, &c.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, shall Jerusalem say, hath devoured me; he hath utterly destroyed me.

LI. 35 The violence done to me and to my flesh &c.

And now, let God repay to Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonians the violence, which they did to me and my people.

LI. 38 They shall roar together like lions: &c.

They shall roar together, in their pain and horror, like lions, that yell for hunger.

LI. 39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

When they are heated with wine in their feasts, and drunken in their merry banquets, quaffing healths and praising their gods in the bowls of my temple, even then will I bring the sword of Cyrus upon them, and smite them that they shall sleep their last. See Daniel, chap. v.

LI. 41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! &c.

What an incredible thing is this? How can it be, that Babylon, the great mistress of the world, should thus be spoiled and defaced? LI. 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: &c.

The innumerable and mighty host of the Medes is, like a raging sea, broken in upon Babylon.

LI. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up.

I will break in pieces and put to shame the idol Bel, that was worshipped of the Babylonians; and will fetch out of his mouth those many and sich offerings, which were made to that dunghill deity..

LI. 45 Go ye out of the midst of her. See verse 6.

LI. 46 Ruler against ruler.

Cyrus against Belshazzar.

LI. 48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon.

The heavens and the earth and all creatures shall rejoice, and praise God for the just destruction, that is brought upon Babylon. LI. 49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

As Babylon hath slain my people of Israel, so the Babylonians shall be slain, all the earth over; and in Babylon shall fall those of all the countries round about, which shall be there slaughtered.

LI. 51 For strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.

Pagans have come into the sanctuary of God's temple, and have defiled it, and razed it to the ground.

LI. 52 And through all her land the wounded shall groan. Through all her land, those, that are not slain, right out, shall lie groaning and roaring for the pain of their wounds.

LI. 57 I will make drunk her princes, &c. See verse 39.

LI. 58 And the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

In vain shall the people labour to quench that fire, which is kindled for the consuming of Babylon.

THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.

1. 1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary ! Woe is me for Jerusalem! How woefully is the case altered with her! She, that was of late exceeding populous, and thronged in her streets with men, is now left alone, like a solitary widow: she, that of late was a commander of many provinces, is now become a tributary to an usurping commander.

I. 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. No time gives her any respite from her mourning: night and day doth she pour out her tears,

I. 3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtake her between the straits.

Many Jews, to avoid the miserable servitude of the Chaldees, have betaken themselves to a voluntary transmigration to other nations, hoping there to find rest; but even there, have these Babylonian persecutors overtaken them, so that they are surprised in those straits, which could no way be avoided.

I. 5 Her adversaries are the chief. Her adversaries are her commanders.

1. 9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. She cannot hide her shame any longer: that loathsome annoyance of hers, which she would fain have concealed, appears even in her very outward garments; and so faithless is, she grown, that she will not apprehend the assurance of her final deliverance.

I. 12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

O all ye passengers, that travel this way, stay awhile, and behold my miserable ruins; and indeed, can ye pass by, and not view them, and not seriously consider of them? And, if ye do seriously think of them, say then, was there ever city or people in so woeful a plight as I am?

I. 13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them.

God hath seemed from above to cast firebrands into my towers and palaces, whereby my goodly buildings are consumed.

I. 14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. That yoke of my grievous servitude under the Chaldees, which my sins have justly called for, is bound about my neck by his punishing hand.

I. 17 Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. Jerusalem is counted as an abomination unto them, as loathsome and unclean.

I. 19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me.

I called for the aid of my associates and allies, but they deceived me. I. 21 Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.

Thou wilt bring upon them the judgments, which thou hast threatened; and then, they shall be in the like plight that I am in.

II. 1 And remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger. And remembered not his temple, the place of his former abode, in the day of his anger.

II. 3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel. He hath, in his anger, weakened and cut off all the strength of

Israel.

II. 6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly. That tabernacle of his, which he had settled amongst us for our comfort and protection, he hath now turned up, as if it were a garden, fit to be digged up for the use of plantation.

II. 7 They have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.

As we had wont, in our solemn feasts, to make a noise of joy and thankful acclamations in thy temple, so now they make no less noise of tumult and insultation over us.

II. 8 He hath stretched out a line.

He hath destinated and appointed it to razing and ruin.

II. 13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? &c. With what example of like misery shall I go about to comfort thee?

II. 14 But have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

They have seen false visions; and pretended to bring those mcssages from God, which were never sent; and, by this means, have wronged thee, and have been the causes of this thy captivity.

II. 22 Those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

Those, whom I have borne and bred up with all care and anxious diligence, hath mine enemy consumed,

III. 1 am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

I, Jeremiah, am the man, that have seen this great affliction, which the Lord hath, in just anger, brought upon his people.

III. 2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

He hath brought me into the gloomy darkness of affliction, and hath given me no glimpse of comfort.

III. 4 My fresh and my skin hath he made old,

He hath worn out my body with sorrow.

III. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travel.

He hath besieged me with evils, and compassed me about with misery and grief.

III. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old, He hath shut me up under discomfort and heaviness; and laid me aside in the dungeon, as a dead man out of sight."

III. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stones, he hath made my paths crooked.

He hath laid in my way unremovable impediments, and hath crossed me in my designs. So also verse 11.

II. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.

my

He hath beaten me down with such force, as that teeth are broken; and my mouth, being dashed against the ground, is full of gravel with the fall.

III. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

I recall to my mind these following meditations, and thereupon I receive hope and comfort.

III. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.. It is good for a man to be exercised early with afflictions, and to acquaint himself with God's chastisements.

III. 28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

Such a one will sit silently alone; and patiently bear that hand of
God, which is upon him;

III. 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may hope.

be

And humbles himself under that good hand to the very dust, if there may be hope, by his true humiliation and fervent prayers, to obtain favour from God.

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