Jeremiah 51:25 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain— The Vulgate renders it more properly, O corrupting mountain, which corruptest the whole earth. Babylon, though seated in a low watery plain, is here called a mountain, not only on account of its lofty buildings, but of its pride, and as being the first and most haughty seat of idolatry. See Revelation 17:5. The similitude made use of in the subsequent part of the verse is strong and expressive. Earthquakes were frequent in Palestine; and the sacred writers have embellished their writings with repeated allusions to this terrible phaenomenon. The prophet here compares a powerful nation doomed to destruction, to a ruinous mountain, or rather a volcano, which would soon be consumed, and involve other mountains in its ruins, and be so entirely wasted by its flames, that its very stones would be rendered useless. See Michaelis's notes, and Newton's Dissertations, vol. 1: p. 279.