For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
From thence she shall be taken - i:e., from the north country.
Their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man - "expert" is literally prosperous. Besides "might," "expertness" is needed, that an arrow may do execution. The margin has a different Hebrew reading х mashkiyl (H7919), instead of maskiyl (H4905)], destroying-literally, bereaving, childless-making (Jeremiah 15:7). Septuagint and Syriac support the English version.
In vain - without killing him at whom it was aimed (2 Samuel 1:22).