Or, "Summon the archers to Babylon, even all who bend the bow: encamp against her etc." In this portion of the prophecy the capture of Babylon is regarded as the punishment due to her for burning the temple Jeremiah 50:28.

Call together the archers - The preceding verses are the prediction: here, God calls the Medes and Persians to fulfill it.

Call together the archers against Babylon,.... The Medes and Persians, who were well skilled in archery, especially the Elamites; see Isaiah 22:6; hence Horace (d) makes mention of "Medi pharetra"; and Cyrus in Xenophon (e) says, that he had under his command sixty thousand men that wore targets and were archers; See Gill on Jeremiah 50:9. Some render it "many", as the Targum; and the sense is, either gather many together against Babylon, a large army; or cause many to hear the vengeance against Babylon; publish this good news; so the word used by the Targum signifies; and this will be done by Gospel preachers, with respect to mystical Babylon, Revelation 14:6;

all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape; surround it on every side; besiege it so closely that none may be able to escape:

recompence her according to her work: according to all that she hath done, do unto her; which is the law of retaliation; See Gill on Jeremiah 50:15; and with it compare Revelation 18:6;

for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel; behaved haughtily and contemptuously towards the Lord and his people; burning the city and temple of Jerusalem; profaning the vessels of it, and ill treating the captive Jews; so the Targum,

"because she hath spoken ill against the people of the Lord, saying words which were not right before the Holy One of Israel;''

which may fitly be applied to antichrist the man of sin, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself as God; opening his mouth in blasphemy against him and his saints, 2 Thessalonians 2:4.

(d) Carmin. l. 2. Ode 16. (e) Cyropaedia, l. 2. c. 1.

The pride of Babylon is humbled through the utter destruction of the people and the land. - Jeremiah 50:29. "Summon archers against Jerusalem, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her round about. Let there be no escape for her; recompense to her according to her work; according to that which she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath presumed against Jahveh, against the Holy One of Israel. Jeremiah 50:30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall fail in that day, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 50:31. Behold, I am against thee, O Pride! said the Lord, Jahveh of hosts; for thy day hath come, the time [when] I visit thee. Jeremiah 50:32. And Pride shall stumble and fall, and he shall have none to lift him up; and I will kindle fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that is round about him. Jeremiah 50:33. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the Children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together, and all who led them captive kept hold of them; they refused to let them go. Jeremiah 50:34. Their Redeemer is strong; Jahveh of hosts is His name: He shall surely plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, and make the inhabitants of Babylon tremble. Jeremiah 50:35. A sword [is] against the Chaldeans, saith Jahveh, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes, and against her wise men. Jeremiah 50:36. A sword [is] against the liars, and they shall become fools; a sword is against her heroes, and they shall be confounded. Jeremiah 50:37. A sword [is] against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the auxiliaries which [are] in the midst of her, and they shall become women; a sword is against her treasures, and they shall be plundered. Jeremiah 50:38. A drought is against her waters, and they shall become dry; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols. Jeremiah 50:39. Therefore shall wild beasts dwell [there] with jackals, and ostriches shall dwell in it; and it shall no more be inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Jeremiah 50:40. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhabitants, saith Jahveh, no man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn in it."

Further description of the execution of God's wrath. Archers shall come and besiege Babylon round about, so that no one shall escape. The summons, "Call archers hither," is a dramatic turn in the thought that the siege is quickly to ensue. השׁמיע is used here as in Jeremiah 51:27, to summon, call by making proclamation, as in 1 Kings 15:22. רבּים does not signify "many," as the ancient versions give it; this agrees neither with the apposition which follows, "all that bend the bow," nor with Jeremiah 50:26, where all, to the last, are summoned against Babylon. Raschi, followed by all the moderns, more correctly renders it "archers," and derives it from רבה equals רבב, Genesis 49:23, cf. with Jeremiah 21:10, like רב, Job 16:13. The apposition, "all those who bend the bow," gives additional force. חנה with accus. means to besiege; cf. Psalm 53:6. "Let there be no escape" is equivalent to saying, "that none may escape from Babylon." The Qeri להּ after יהי is unnecessary, and merely taken from Jeremiah 50:26. On the expression "render to her," etc., cf. Jeremiah 25:14; and on "according to all," etc., f. Jeremiah 50:15. "For she hath acted presumptuously against Jahveh," by burning His temple, and keeping His people captive: in this way has Babylon offended "against the Holy One of Israel." This epithet of God is taken from Isaiah, cf. Isaiah 51:5. This presumption must be punished.

Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

29. archers-literally, "very many and powerful"; hence the Hebrew word is used of archers (Job 16:13) from the multitude and force of their arrows.

according to all that she hath done-(See on [995]Jer 50:15).

proud against the Lord-not merely cruel towards men (Isa 47:10).

50:21-32 The forces are mustered and empowered to destroy Babylon. Let them do what God demands, and they shall bring to pass what he threatens. The pride of men's hearts sets God against them, and ripens them apace for ruin. Babylon's pride must be her ruin; she has been proud against the Holy One of Israel; who can keep those up whom God will throw down?