Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword, they will each return to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 16. Harvest. Such were usually unmolested. Calmet.—Babylon was so large, that people sowed corn within the walls. Curt. v.—The environs were well cultivated. Pliny xviii. 17.—Dove, or the destroyer; for the Hebrew word signifies either the one or the other. Challoner. Calmet. 25:38 and 46:16.—Lit. “from before the sword of the dove.” The power of Babylon is no more. Bible.—The king is compared to a dove, for his swiftness; or God is meek, though terrible. Worthington.—Land. The other nations were set free as well as the Jews. Calmet.