59 Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. It was in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements. 60 Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. 61 He told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. 62 Read, 'You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal - a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.' 63 "When you've finished reading the page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink. 64 Then say, 'That's how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after the disaster I'm going to bring upon her.'"
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 51:59-64
Commentary on Jeremiah 51:59-64
(Read Jeremiah 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, Revelation 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.