50:1 The superscription that begins the final oracle against the nations identifies the object of this long section as Babylon. It introduces not only the last grouping of oracles but also what are by far the longest in the oracles against the nations. The prophet pulls out all the stops to articulate the destruction that was coming Babylon’s way. Jeremiah understood that the Babylonians were being used by God as an instrument of his judgment against Judah and the other nations, but this fact did not exonerate them from the onus of their own evil intentions. The Babylonians did not do their bloody work motivated by the glory and will of God, but rather for their own imperialistic interests. They were oppressors of other nations to the highest magnitude.

The heart of the Babylonian empire …