Rashi on TanakhJeremiah 51

Leb-kamai Casdim (Chaldeans) according to cypher of ‘At-bash’ (א"תב"ש). the desire of a destroyer The desire of the king of Persia and Media, who is a destroyer. Heb. רוּחַ (talent in O.F.).

and they shall scatter her Heb. וְזֵרוּהָ.

and empty her land Heb. וִיבֹקְקוּ.

To...the archer shall bend This is an elliptical verse. [The meaning is:] To wherever I say, there the archer shall bend his bow.

and he shall not be healed with his coat of mail Heb. וְאַל יִתְעַל.

For Israel is not widowed He has not forgotten him to avenge him.

for their land of the Chaldeans.

Flee Israel, from within Babylon.

a golden cup Until now, Babylon was [a golden cup] in the Lord’s hand with which to intoxicate the whole earth with the wine of wrath.

therefore, nations are mad They have become drunk and have become mad.

her judgment has touched the sky Their retribution has reached high up to the sky.

“The Lord has brought forth our merits” We have been remembered by Him favorably, and the merits of our forefathers have come before Him.

Polish Heb. הברו, an expression of cleaning.

the quivers Heb. השלטים, the quivers into which the arrows are placed.

for the Lord both planned already many days.

and did His plan. It is customary for Scripture to speak with the word גַם twice, one after the other, and following the latter, comes the former.

your end has come Heb. קצך, your end.

the measure of your violence Heb. אַמַתבִּצְעֵךְ, the measure of your violence. Another explanation: אַמַתבִּצְעֵךְ means: the measure of your end. Cf. “When... completes (יִבַצַע)” (Isa. 10:12).

by Himself (en soi meme in French.)

indeed Heb. כי אם, an expression of ‘in truth.’

I have...filled you with men I will fill you with camps of peoples, as many as locusts.

and they shall raise a battle- cry against you And they shall raise their voice against you.

Every man is brutish [i.e.,] whoever makes a graven image for a god.

molten images [As translated], an expression [denoting] molten images.

at the time of their visitation When the Holy One, blessed be He, visits retribution upon them and upon their worshippers.

and the tribe of His inheritance Jacob mentioned above at the beginning of the verse.

for Me a shatterer Heb. מפץ. Until now, I have appointed you as a destroyer and a shatterer of the nations upon whom I decreed exile.

And I will recompense Babylon After all this, when I complete My vengeance upon the nations through him.

prepare Heb. קַדְשוֹ.

a marshal Heb. טפסר, an expression of an army [or an expression of a lord].

bristling Heb. סמר. (Herisse in French), covered with spikes. Cf. “It made the hair of my flesh stand up like spikes (תְּסַּמֵר)” (Job 4:15).

and was in pain Heb. ותחל, an expression of חַלְחָלָה pain.

failed Heb. נשתה, [lit.] jumped. Compare “the hip sinew (הנשה)” (Gen. 33:32), so called because it jumped [was dislocated] from its place.

is like a granary at the time it is threshed Behold, now it is full, like a granary at the time they have threshed its grain, when it is full of wheat.

A little more time and she shall he emptied and shall resemble a granary at the time of the beginning of the harvest, when it is empty.

the plundering done me and my food The cry of violence done me and my food, for they have eaten my food.

they growl Heb. נערו, an expression of a braying (נוֹעֵר) donkey.

in their heat, I will place their wine feasts I will intend that their wine feasts shall be in the hot season so that they become drunk.

in order that they become joyful and sleep Heb. וישנו, and sleep soundly.

a perpetual sleep Heb. שנתעולם, a perpetual sleep, and so it happened to them; out of their wine feast and drunkenness they were destroyed and slain, and the city was captured, as it is written in Daniel (5:2): “Belshazzar said while he tasted the wine, etc.”; (5:4), “They drank wine, etc.”; (5: 30), “On that night, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain”; (6:1), “And Darius the Mede received the kingship.”

like lambs Heb. כברים, lambs (and Jonathan renders:) like bulls.

Sheshach Babylon in the ‘At-bash’ (א"תב"ש), cipher.

The sea has ascended upon Babylon A huge army, like the waters of [the sea].

on Bel On the deity of Babylon.

what he has swallowed That all the inhabitants of the land were humbled under him.

shall no longer stream Heb. יהרו, and shall not gather. Cf. “And all the nations shall stream (ונהרוּ) to it” (Isa. 2:2). Like the waters of the river, all of which go to the sea.

because of the rumor that is heard in the land This rumor concerning Belshazzar that he was slain.

for a rumor shall come one year In that very year there will come a rumor that Babylon has been destroyed by itself from heaven as it is stated: “And Babylon, the beauty of the kingdoms the glory of the pride of the Chaldee, shall be like God’s overturning of Sodom and Gemorrah” (Isa. 13: 19).

and after it in a year [In] the second [year].

a rumor that is good for you [viz.] “So said Cyrus, the king of Persia..., Whoever among you of all His people...” (Ezra 1:2f).

and one ruler upon another ruler Darius the Mede reigned one year, and in the second year Cyrus the Persian.

As Babylon was [a cause] for the slain of Israel to fall therein.

so in Babylon shall fall the slain of all her land.

Fugitives from the sword Israel, who was exiled into her midst, who escaped the sword of Nebuzaradan.

for we have heard reproach For the Chaldeans were saying and reproaching us, saying, “The hand of our god is exalted for we have destroyed His house.”

the mortally wounded shall groan Heb. יאנק. The mortally wounded shall cry. When they kill a person with an arrow or with a spear, and he groans when they remove the spear, that is אנקה.

and should she fortify Heb. תבצר, an expression of a strong fortress.

from Me shall spoilers come upon her From Me, from the heavens that are higher than she, shall the spoilers come upon her.

the stirring of their voice was uttered The sound of their cry is heard.

shall be overthrown Heb. תתערער, an expression of digging. An expression like “Dig under it, dig under it (עָרוּ), until its foundation” (Psalms 137:7).

for much futility For much futility which it will bring upon them.