Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
Prepare slaughter - charge to the Medes and Persians, as if they were God's conscious instruments.
For his children - Belshazzar's.
For the iniquity of their fathers - (Exodus 20:5.)
That they do not rise - to occupy the places of their fathers, nor fill the face of the world with cities. Maurer translates, 'enemies;' as the Hebrew х `aariym (H5892)] means in 1 Samuel 28:16; Psalms 139:20 - namely, lest they inundate the world with their armies. So the Chaldaic, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic similarly translate, 'fill the earth with wars.' Like thorns, they choke the earth, and are enemies of the human race: God, therefore, is consulting for the safety of all in sweeping them utterly away. Vitringa translates, 'disturbers.' In the English version, which the Vulgate favours, the meaning is, 'lest they fill the land with such cities' of pride as Babylon was.