The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
After the predictions of judgment to be inflicted on other nations by Babylon, follows this one against Babylon itself, the longest prophecy, consisting of 100 verses. The date of its utterance was the 4th year of Zedekiah, when Seraiah, to whom it was committed, was sent to Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59-60). The repetitions in it make it likely that it consists of prophecies uttered at different times, now collected by Jeremiah to console the Jews in exile, and to vindicate God's ways, by exhibiting the final doom of Babylon, the enemy of the people of God, after her long prosperity. The style, imagery, and dialogues prove its genuineness, in opposition to those who deny this. It shows his faithfulness; though under obligation to the King of Babylon, he owed a higher one to God, who directed him to prophesy against Babylon.
The word that the Lord spake against Babylon - (cf. Isaiah 45:1-25; Isaiah 46:1-13; Isaiah 47:1-15, wherein Isaiah had already foretold the downfall of Babylon). But as the time of fulfillment drew nearer, the prophecies are now proportionally more distinct than then.