Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 51:2

And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

2. strangers ] mg. (with A.V.) fanners, which (differing only in vocalisation from the other reading) suits the subsequent verb. So Syr. and Targ. The figure is that of men winnowing corn.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Fanners – Or, winnowers.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 2. And will send – fanners] When the corn is trodden out with the feet of cattle, or crushed out with a heavy wheel armed with iron, with a shovel they throw it up against the wind, that the chaff and broken straw may be separated from it. This is the image used by the prophet; these people shall be trodden, crushed, and fanned by their enemies.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Wicked men are compared to chaff, Psa 1:4. Such as execute judgment on them are called fanners, Jer 15:7; so Mat 3:12; because as the fanner keepeth what is in the fan unquiet in a continual motion and agitation, by which (advantaged by the wind) he emptieth it of the chaff; so the executioners of Gods vengeance, by a succession of judgments, keeps a people from quiet, till all their chaff be winnowed out, and the fan be emptied of all but the more solid grain. For (he saith) as the fanner first riddleth what he hath in his fan one way, then another, first throweth it up, then lets it fall into the fan; so the enemies should be round about Babylon, and God would be on every side and every way destroying them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. fanners(See on Jer15:7). The fanners separate the wheat from the chaff; so God’sjudgments shall sweep away guilty Babylon as chaff (Ps1:4).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And I will send unto Babylon farmers, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land,…. Or, “strangers that shall fan her” c; meaning the Medes and Persians, who should be like a strong wind upon the mountains, where corn, having been threshed, was fanned, and the chaff carried away by the wind; and such would the Chaldeans be in the hand of the Persians, scattered and dispersed among the nations as chaff with the wind, and their cities be emptied of inhabitants, and of their wealth and riches. The Targum is,

“I will send against Babylon spoilers, that shall spoil and exhaust the land:”

for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about; in the time of the siege they shall surround her on all sides, so that none might escape; as Babylon had been a fanner of the Lord’s people, now she should be fanned herself, and stripped of all she had; see

Jer 15:7.

c “alienos”, Cocceius; some in Vatablus; so Kimchi, Ben Melech, Abendana.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Here he explains himself more clearly, without the metaphor he had used. He no longer uses the similitude of wind when he declares that he would send fanners At the same time some take זארים, zarim, in the sense of aliens, who would banish her; but this would be harsh. I then doubt not but that the Prophet alludes to the wind before mentioned. He does not indeed continue that metaphor; but yet what he says corresponds with it. Instead of wind he now mentions fanners, or winnowers; but this cannot be understood except of enemies. A clearer explanation is still found in the word empty, after having said that the Persians and the Medes would fan or winnow Babylon. He compares her, no doubt, to chaff. As then the chaff, when ventilated, falls on the ground, so he says a similar thing would happen to the Babylonians.

But he adds, And shall make empty her land, that is, the land of Babylon. He says that the whole country would be so plundered, that nothing would be left remaining. And he confirms this declaration, because they shall be, he says, around her. By this expression he intimates that there would be no escape for the Chaldeans.

It often happens that men stealthily escape, when pressed by their enemies; for though enemies may watch all passages, yet they often do not find out all hiding-places. But the Prophet says, that their enemies would so surround them, that the Chaldeans would not be able to take with them anything which they might save from their enemies’ hands. He adds, in the day of evil. By this phrase he intimates again, that the Chaldeans were already devoted by God to destruction. It is, then, the same thing as though he had said, that as soon as her enemies came, it would be all over with Babylon and the whole nation, — how so? for it would be the day of her utter ruin. It follows, —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(2) Fanners, that shall fan her.The Hebrew word as it stands means strangers, but a change of the vowel-points would give etymologically winnowers or fanners, though the word is not found elsewhere. On the whole it would seem best to accept the meaning of strangers, the prophet connecting it with the verb for fan, which contains the same consonants, for the sake of a rhythmical assonance. The imagery in either case is that of the familiar picture of the threshing-floor, where the strong wind scatters the chaff in all directions (Psa. 1:4; Psa. 35:5; Isa. 17:13; Isa. 29:5). The word for empty is the same as that used with an emphatic significance in Jer. 19:7.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Fan her Rather, winnow her.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments