Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
Set ye up a standard ... prepare the nations against her - (Jeremiah 50:29). As in Jeremiah 51:12 the Babylonians were told to "set up a standard," so here her foes are told to do so; the latter to good purpose, the former in vain.
Ararat - Upper or Major Armenia, the regions about mount Ararat.
Minni - Lower or Lesser Armenia. Rawlinson says that Van was the capital of Minni. It was conquered by Tettarrassa, the general of Tetembar II, the Assyrian king whose wars are recorded on the black obelisk now in the British Museum.
Ashchenaz - a descendant of Japhet (Genesis 10:3), who gave his name to the sea, the Euxine, which perhaps is the Greek corruption of the name Ashkenaz, first made in Greek inflection into Axeinos, now called the Black Sea; the region bordering on it is probably here meant-namely, Asia Minor, including places named Ascania, in Phrygia and Bithynia. Cyrus had subdued Asia Minor and the neighbouring regions, and from these drew levies in proceeding against Babylon.
Cause the horses to come up as ... rough caterpillars - the horsemen, in multitude and in appearance, bristling with javelins and with crests, resemble "rough caterpillars," or locusts of the hairy-crested kind (Nahum 3:15).