31 One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
31 One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side;
31 Runner after runner comes racing in, each on the heels of the last, Bringing reports to the king of Babylon that his city is a lost cause.
31 One runner will run to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
31 The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 51:31
Commentary on Jeremiah 51:1-58
(Read Jeremiah 51:1-58)
The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again. Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the same with the New Testament Babylon, Revelation 18:9,19. The ruin of all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and superstition, the persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to destruction as ancient Babylon. Then will vast multitudes mourn for sin, and seek the Lord. Then will the lost sheep of the house of Israel be brought back to the fold of the good Shepherd, and stray no more. And the exact fulfilment of these ancient prophecies encourages us to faith in all the promises and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.