Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
Ver. 2. Declare ye among the nations.] Let all take notice of the good news; there shall be a general jail delivery, sing therefore Io triumphe.
Say, Babylon is taken.] So Isaiah 21:9 .
Bel is confounded.] This Bel was Nimrod, whose nephew Ninus set him up for a god. Merodach (a restorer of their empire, a whereof Nimrod had been founder) was likewise idolised. They are called "dirty deities" - foedites et stercora, a name good enough for them - and said to be confounded. See Isaiah 46:1. "Sorrows" also; because "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God." Psa 16:4
a Merodach σκηπρουχος sive Sceptrifer Chaldaica appellatione.