A drought is upon her waters— A sword is upon her waters, that they may be dried up; because it is a land of idols, and they glory in vain gods. Our translators, after the example of the Vulgate and others, read חרב choreb, in this place a drought, differently from the reading and sense given to it in the preceding verses, חרב chereb, a sword, as supposing that a sword has nothing to do with waters, But the sword is used metaphorically, to denote either the instrument of divine vengeance generally, or the operations and effects of war in particular; in either of which senses it may be applied to waters as well as to treasures. And the allusion here is evidently to the stratagem of Cyrus, who drained off the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the city of Babylon, by means of which his troops by night marched along the bed of the river into the heart of the city, and surprised it.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 50:38
Jeremiah 50:38
38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.