(62) Then shalt thou say, O Lord . . .--The words which recite the predictions of Jeremiah 50:3; Jeremiah 50:39 are of the nature of an implied prayer, reminding Jehovah of that which He had promised, and entreating him to fulfil it. "Thou hast said" was to be the ground of the suppliant's prayer for the fulfilment.

51:59-64 This prophecy is sent to Babylon, to the captives there, by Seraiah, who is to read it to his countrymen in captivity. Let them with faith see the end of these threatening powers, and comfort themselves herewith. When we see what this world is, how glittering its shows, and how flattering its proposals, let us read in the book of the Lord that it shall shortly be desolate. The book must be thrown into the river Euphrates. The fall of the New Testament Babylon is thus represented, Re 18:21. Those that sink under the weight of God's wrath and curse, sink for ever. Babylon, and every antichrist, will soon sink and rise no more for ever. Let us hope in God's word, and quietly wait for his salvation; then we shall see, but shall not share, the destruction of the wicked.Then shall thou say, O Lord,.... Acknowledging this prophecy to be of God; believing the accomplishment of it; and praying over it, and for it, like a good man, as doubtless he was:

thou hast spoken against this place; the city of Babylon, where Seraiah is now supposed to be:

to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever; this is the substance of the whole prophecy, that the destruction of Babylon should be an utter and a perpetual one; and which is expressed in the same words that are here used, Jeremiah 50:3.