After prophecies against the following nations:
Egypt (46)
Philistia (47)
Moab (48)
Ammon (49:1-6)
Edom (49:7-22)
Damascus (49:23-27)
Kedar and Hazor (49:28-33)
Elam (49:34-39)
Now we enter into a two-chapter prophecy against Babylon (Jer. 50-51).
In Jeremiah 50 God foretold "a nation" would come "out of the north" against Babylon (50:3). He called them "a horde of great nations from the land of the north" (50:9). Indeed, during the lifetime of Daniel the Medes and the Persians took Babylon in one night. King Belshazzar was having a drunken feast and saw the proverbial "handwriting on the wall." That night the city was breached and taken.
And there was a reason for her fall. She "sinned against the LORD" (50:14). Again we see God holding a "heathen" nation to His standard. They should have been moral, kind, merciful, etc, but God said, "She has given herself up...As she has done to others, so do to her" (50:15). The law of reaping what is sown came into play for this nation.
Israel would be saved through this. "Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is His name; He will vigorously plead their case" (50:34), and God said, "I will bring Israel back to his pasture" (50:19).
Nathan