Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 51:33
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
33. at the time when it is trodden ] i.e. made smooth and hard in preparation for the corn which is to be threshed upon it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Translate, The daughter of Babylon is as a threshing-floor at the time when it is trampled, i. e., trodden hard in readiness for the threshing: yet a little while and the harvest-time shall come to her, i. e., overtake her. In the East, the grain when reaped is carried at once to the threshing-floor, a level spot carefully prepared beforehand, usually about 50 feet in diameter, and trampled hard. The grain after it has been beaten out by a sledge drawn over it by oxen is separated from the chaff and stored up in granaries.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 33. The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor] The threshing wheel is gone over her; she is trodden under foot.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Babylon had been a threshing instrument by which, and a threshing-floor in which, God had threshed many other nations; God now intended to make it as a
threshing-floor wherein he would thresh the Chaldeans.
It is time to thresh her: some think because of the next words, that the words were better translated it is time to tread her, (so the word properly signifies,) as men use to prepare their threshing-floors against the time of harvest, for the time of this harvest was near;
her harvest signifieth the harvest which the justice of God would have from the ruin of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. like a threshing-floor, it istime to thresh herrather, “like a threshing-floor at thetime of threshing,” or “at the time when it is trodden.”The treading, or threshing, here put before theharvest, out of the natural order, because the prominentthought is the treading down or destruction of Babylon. In theEast the treading out of the corn took place only at harvest-time.Babylon is like a threshing-floor not trodden for a long time; butthe time of harvest, when her citizens shall be trodden under foot,shall come [CALVIN]. “Likea threshing-floor full of corn, so is Babylon now full of riches, butthe time of harvest shall come, when all her prosperity shall be cutoff” [LUDOVICUS DEDIEU]. GROTIUSdistinguishes the “harvest” from the “threshing”;the former is the slaying of her citizens, the latter the pillagingand destruction of the city (compare Joe 3:13;Rev 14:15; Rev 14:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,…. “The Lord of hosts”, the Lord God omnipotent, and can do all things; “the God of Israel”, and therefore will plead their cause, and take vengeance on Babylon:
the daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor; on which the nations of the earth had been threshed, or punished and destroyed; and now she was like a threshing floor, unto which should be gathered, and on which should be laid, her king, princes, and the people of the land, and be there beat and crushed to pieces. The Targum renders it the congregation of Babylon; and the Septuagint the houses of the king of Babylon; so the Arabic version:
[it is] time to thresh her; not the floor, but the sheaves on it: or, “it is the time to tread her” u; as corn was trodden out by the oxen; or rather as threshing floors, being new laid with earth, were trodden, and so made hard and even, and by that means prepared for threshing against the harvest; when the corn would be ripe, cut down, and gathered in, and laid up, as follows:
yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come; when she would be ripe for ruin, and God would, by his instruments, put in the sickle of his wrath, and cut her down, her king, her princes, her cities, and her people; see Re 14:15. The Targum is,
“and yet a very little while, and spoilers shall come to her.”
u “tempus calcandi eam”, Pagninus, Calvin; “tempus calcare eam”, Montanus; “eo tempore quo illa calcari solet”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
BY this similitude the Prophet confirms what he had before said, even that God would be the avenger of his Church, and would justly punish the Babylonians, but at the suitable time, which is usually called in Scripture the time of visitation, He then compares Babylon to a threshing-floor, not indeed in the sense which interpreters have imagined, but because the threshing-floor only serves for the time of harvest, and is afterwards closed up and not used. Babylon, then, had been for a long time like a threshing-floor, because there had been no treading there, that is, no noise or shouting. But God declares that the time of harvest would come, when the threshing-floor would be used. Oxen did then tread the corn; for the corn was not beaten out with flails, as with us and in most places in France, though the inhabitants of Provence still use the treading. In Judea they tread out the corn on floors, and oxen were used for the purpose. Now, the reason for the similitude seems evident; for the time would come when God would smite Babylon, as oxen after harvest tread out with their feet the corn on the threshing-floor, which for the rest of the year is not wanted, but remains closed up and quiet. Hence I have said that what we have before seen as to the time of visitation is confirmed; for it was strange at the first view to promise deliverance to the Jews, while yet Babylon was increasing more and more and extending the limits of its monarchy. (Isa 28:24.) God shows in that passage that it was no matter of wonder if he did not daily exercise his judgments in an equal degree; and he bids us to consider how husbandmen act, for they do not sow at the same time wheat and barley and other kinds of grain; nor do they always plough, or always reap, but wait for seasonable times. “Since, then, husbandmen are endowed with so much care and foresight as I have taught them, why may not I also have my times rightly distributed, so that there may be now the harvest, and then the treading or threshing? and should I not at one time sow wheat, and at another cumin?” for the Prophet adds these several sorts. The same is the mode of reasoning in this place, though the Prophet speaks more briefly.
He then says that Babylon would be like a threshing-foor, and how? because it had been as a place closed up and wholly quiet; for God had spared the Chaldeans, and, as we shall hereafter see, they had been so inebriated with pleasures that they feared no danger.
And then immediately he explains himself, — it is time to tread or thresh her. Then Babylon became like a threshing-fioor, for she had not been trodden or threshed for a long time, as the threshing-floor is not used for nine or ten months through the whole year. But he adds, yet a little while, and come will her harvest
We learn from this and other passages that treading or threshing was in use among the Jews and other eastern nations only during harvest. In other places, corn is often kept in the ears for five and six years. Some thresh the corn after six, or eight, or nine months, as it suits their convenience. But there are many countries where the corn is immediately threshed; it is not stored up, but is immediately conveyed to the threshing-floor, and there it is trodden by oxen or threshed with flails. As then it was usual immediately to tread the corn, hence God declares that the time of harvest would come when Babylon would be trodden, as the threshing-floor is trodden after harvest. (95)
We must observe that a little while is not to be understood according to the notions of men; for though God suspends his judgments, he yet never delays beyond the time; on the contrary, he performs his work with all due celerity The Prophet Haggai says,
“
Yet a little while, and I will shake the heaven and the earth.” (Hag 2:7)
But this was not fulfilled till many years after. But we must remember what is in Habakkuk, —
“
If the vision delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be slow.” (Hab 2:5)
He says that prophecies delay, that is, according to the judgment of men, who make too much haste, and are even carried away headlong by their own desires. But God performs his work with sufficient celerity, provided we allow him to arrange the times according to his own will, as it is just and right for us to do. Whenever, then, the ungodly enjoy ease and securely indulge themselves, let this fact come to our own minds, that the threshing-floor is not always trodden, but that the time of harvest will come whenever it pleases God. This is the use we ought to make of what is here said. It follows, —
(95) By identifying the time of threshing and the time of harvest, it is that we can see the meaning of this verse. Mention is first made of threshing or treading — the punishment prepared for Babylon; then it is said that what led to that — the harvest, would shortly come. The verb “come” is to be understood in the third line, it being given only in the last, —
33. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, — Babylon shall be like a threshing-floor; Come shall the time of threshing her; Yet a little while, and come to her shall the time of harvest.
The order as to the threshing and harvest is similar to what is often found in the prophets, — the last thing, being the main thing, is mentioned first, and then what precedes or leads to it. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) The daughter of Babylon . . .More literally, The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, in the time when it is trodden (i.e., when it is being prepared for the actual process), yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come to her. The imagery is so familiar that it hardly needs an illustration (see Psa. 1:4; Isa. 21:10; Isa. 28:27-28; Mic. 4:13). The time of her harvest of the Authorised version is ambiguous. What is meant is that the heaped-up treasures of Babylon are but as the harvest which shall be reaped by her conquerors, and the city itself as the threshing-floor on which men shall trample on the plunder.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. A threshingfloor Trodden hard and ready for the time of harvest, which is also the time of threshing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 51:33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
Ver. 33. The daughter of Babylon. ] Proud of her wealth and strength, as young maids many are of their beauty.
And the time of her harvest shall come.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 51:33
33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
At the time it is stamped firm;
Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her.
Jer 51:33 It is uncertain if this should be a separate literary unit or part of Jer 51:27-32. The speaker of Jer 51:20-32 is YHWH, so too, here. Babylon’s fate is set. Her doom is sure! What she did to others will be done to her.
threshing This is often used in judgment imagery (cf. Isa 21:10; Isa 41:15-16).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. See note on Jer 7:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
is like: Isa 21:10, Isa 41:15, Isa 41:16, Amo 1:3, Mic 4:13, Hab 3:12
it is time to thresh her: or, in the time that he thresheth her
the time: Isa 17:5-11, Isa 18:5, Hos 6:11, Joe 3:13, Mat 13:30, Mat 13:39, Rev 14:15-20
Reciprocal: Psa 68:30 – company of spearmen Psa 107:39 – oppression Psa 137:8 – daughter Isa 13:22 – her time Isa 47:1 – daughter Isa 49:19 – they that Jer 12:14 – against Lam 3:34 – crush Lam 4:18 – our end is near Hag 2:6 – it is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 51:33. A threshing-floor is a place where grain is beaten and then the chaff is blown away. Babylon has already been compared to chaff (verse 2) and hence the prediction is repeated that the city was destined to be threshed.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 51:33. The daughter of Babylon is like a thrashing-floor Gods people have been sorely bruised and trodden under foot by the Babylonians, as corn in a thrashing-floor: see note on Isa 21:10. It is time to thrash her It is time for her to feel the miseries she has made others suffer. The word thrash often signifies to subdue by force and power. Yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come There shall be a clear riddance made of her inhabitants and their treasures, as the harvest clears the fields, and leaves them empty and bare. By her harvest may be meant the slaughter and spoiling of her inhabitants; and by the thrashing, or treading, which follows the harvest, the destruction of the city itself.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
51:33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest {s} shall come.
(s) When she will be cut up and threshed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Israel’s sovereign God announced that: even though Babylon had threshed other nations in the past, her own time of threshing would come.