I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
I was wroth with my people; I have ... given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy - reason for God's vengeance on Babylon: in executing God's will against His people, she had done so with wanton cruelty (Isaiah 10:5, etc.; Jeremiah 50:17; Jeremiah 51:33; Zechariah 1:15).
Polluted my inheritance - (Isaiah 43:28.)
Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke - even old age was disregarded by the Chaldeans, who treated all alike with cruelty (Lamentations 4:16; Lamentations 5:12) (Rosenmuller). Or, "the ancient" means Israel, worn out with calamities in the latter period of its history (Isaiah 46:4), as its earlier stage of history is called its "youth" (Isaiah 54:6; Ezekiel 16:60).