Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

sent--namely, the Medes and Persians (Isa 10:5-6; Isa 13:3). brought down--"made to go down" to the sea (Isa 42:10), in order to escape the impending destruction of Babylon. nobles--rather, "fugitives," namely, the foreigners who sojourned in populous Babylon (Isa 13:14), distinct from the Chaldeans [MAURER]. whose cry is in the ships--exulting in their ships with the joyous sailors--cry, boastingly; their joy heretofore in their ships contrasts sadly with their present panic in fleeing to them (Isa 22:2; Zep 2:15). Babylon was on the Euphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed into the Persian Gulf. Thus it was famed for ships and commerce until the Persian monarchs, to prevent revolt or invasion, obstructed navigation by dams across the Tigris and Euphrates.