The word that the LORD spake against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Ver. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon.] Which was built by Nimrod, as Nineveh was afterwards by his nephew Ninus. Gen 10:11 Of the greatness of this city, besides what we read in holy writ, much may be read in Herodotus and Pliny. It was the head city of the Assyrian and Chaldean monarchy, which lasted above seventeen hundred years, till Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom. Isaiah prophesied against it in several Chapter s. Habakkuk maketh it his whole business. Jeremiah had set forth how Sheshach, that is, Belshazzar, should drink the dregs of the cup of God's wrath. Jer 25:26 Here, and in the next chapter, he discourseth it more at large, showing how it was that Babylon was to drink of that cup; and for more certainty, it is spoken of in this prophecy as already done.