Deuteronomy 28:49 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far—swift as the eagle—whose tongue thou shalt not understand— "The Chaldeans might be said to come from far, in comparison with the Moabites, Philistines, and other neighbours, who used to infest Judea. Much the same description is given of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah 5:15 who, in like manner, compares them to eagles. Lamentations 4:19. But this description cannot be applied to any nation with such propriety, as to the Romans. They were truly brought from far, from the end of the earth: Vespasian and Adrian, the two great conquerors and destroyers of the Jews, both came from commanding here in Britain. The Romans too, for the rapidity of their conquests, might very well be compared to eagles: and perhaps not without an allusion to the standard of the Roman armies, which was an eagle; and their language was more unknown to the Jews than the Chaldee." See Bishop Newton, as above.