I will call. — Literally, I am calling. The evil is not merely future, but is actually begun.
All the families of the kingdoms of the north. — In the Hebrew the words are in apposition, all the families, even the kingdoms of the north. The words point chiefly to the Chaldæans and other inhabitants of Babylonia, but may probably include also the Scythians, who about this time spread like a deluge over Asia Minor and Syria, and penetrated as far as Ascalou (Herod. i. 105).
They shall set every one his throne. — i.e., shall usurp the administration of justice, and set up their thrones of judgment in the space near the gates in which kings usually sat to hear complaints and decide causes (2 Samuel 15:2; Psalms 127:5). In Jeremiah 39:3 we have a literal fulfilment of the prediction.
Against all the walls. — As the previous words speak of a formal usurpation of power, so do these of invasion and attack, the storming of the lesser cities of Judah, while Jerusalem became the centre of the foreign government.